Early Germanic Literature and Culture by Brian Murdoch, Malcolm ReadGerman Literature of the Early Middle Ages by Brian Murdoch

Abstract

MLR, IOI.2, 2oo6 565 note, serving to remind us how the Abadia has never shrunk from commenting on the issues of the day: 'ElTeatro de laAbadia aspira a relacionarse con lo que sucede en la sociedad [. . .] laHistoria, a veces tan comodamente olvidada' (p. I5). Gomez himself admits that the book is intended as a tribute to ten years of hard work, but the varied set of essays indicate theAbadia's defining urge to create 'elplacer inteligente' (P. I5). Of course, as an anniversary publication the book is blissfully free of any negative write-ups, and likewise is prone to a certain self-aggrandisement. When the intro duction boldly talks about a theatre's struggle to portray the human condition, one is tempted towonder how successful they have been or on what evidence this assertion isbased. It is certainly useful to get a clear idea of theAbadia's mission statement, but a critical reflection on the highs and lows would have provided thematerial necessary to substantiate their claims. Available only from the theatre itself and specialist book shops, this is awork more useful for those familiar with the theatre, either as regular visitors or as students of itswork. It is evident, however, that there is an audience for the 'placer inteligente' G6mez seeks to disseminate, and an audience who believe in 'elespiritu de La Abadia' (p. I5). In a theatrical scene dominated by corporate theatre and government-run companies, it is good to know that a little corner ofMadrid has an independent creative spirit worth nurturing. QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SIMON BREDEN Early Germanic Literature and Culture. Ed. by BRIAN MURDOCH and MALCOLM READ. (Camden House History of German Literature, i) Rochester, NY: Cam den House. 2004. x+334 pp. $85;E6o. ISBN I-57II3-I99-X. German Literature of the Early Middle Ages. Ed. by BRIANMURDOCH. (Camden House History of German Literature, 2) Rochester, NY Camden House. 2004. xiv+283 pp. $85;?E6o. ISBN I-57I I3-240-6. The first two volumes in the Camden House History of German Literature together provide the reader with an admirably innovativeguide to tacklingthe earliest literature in German and in related Germanic languages. The decision to make Old High German the focal point of the second, rather than of the first, volume of a literary history of German may initially seem surprising (as Brian Murdoch suggests in his preface to the second volume), but proves to be entirely justified by the lively and unusual intellectual programme of the first volume. The series opens with an interdisciplinary approach to 'Germanic' culture in all itsmanifestations, starting with problems of definition. The term 'Germanic' is in evitably a loaded one, with associations going well beyond the merely philological, and it therefore seems appropriate that the first block of essays should engage with the relatively recent intellectual and political history which colour our conception of the 'Germanic'. Thus Brian Murdoch and Malcolm Read outline the various basic approaches (philological, geographical, ethnological, historiographical) to the term; Heinrich Beck analyses the particular circumstances under which 'Germanische Al tertumskunde' (Germanic antiquity) was developed and promoted as an academic discipline in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and Herwig Wolfram examines historiographical texts which give aGermanic twist to the literary topos of the origo gentis (the origins of a given people). In conceptual terms these three contributions, which engage most directly with the recent cultural implications of the construction of the 'Germanic' (not least in relation to German national identity), are among the most ambitious in the volume. However, this dimension is also touched on in a num ber of other essays: for example, Adrian Murdoch's discussion of Germania Romana 566 Reviews quotes Heine in order to illustrate the significance ascribed to the 'Varusschlacht' in the nineteenth century. The subsequent essays in the volume are largely focused on providing an informed overview, either of particular literary or cultural practices, or of the body of literature associated with a particular Germanic language. So, for example, Rudolf Simek co vers Germanic religion and the conversion to Christianity, while the cultural status of thewritten word is addressed in fairly theoretical terms by Graeme Dunphy (look ing at theMuindlichkeit/Schriftlichkeit dichotomy), and in...