Faithful Realism: Elizabeth Gaskell and Leo Tolstoy. A Comparative Study by Josie Billington (review)

Abstract

MLRy 99.2, 2004 565 termined concept. Schrader challenges what he sees as an over-comfortableperception of Kleist as a modern writer,situating him instead in a pre-modern intellectual world. University of Leeds Paul Rowe Deutsch-englische Literaturbeziehungen: der historische Roman Sir Walter Scotts und seine deutsche Vorldufer. By Frauke Reitemeier. (Beitrage zur englischen und amerikanischen Literatur, 18) Paderborn: Schoningh. 2001. 290 pp. ?46.40. ISBN 3-506-70829-5 (pbk). Frauke Reitemeier's Deutsch-englische Literaturbeziehungen uses the very basic, thor? ough approach characteristic of German dissertations. The introductory review of past research in the field addresses the basic question of German influences on Scott's historical novels in relation to previous works of genre criticism and literary history. The main chapters survey late eighteenth-century historical novels in English and German and compare them with Scott's works. Reitemeier sorts the books into sev? eral categories according to the roles ofthe narrator,protagonist, geographical setting, and historical context. Scott's novels are shown to share some of the characteristics of earlier English novels (similar setting, in particular) and the novels of Benedikte Naubert (the type of narrator, concentration on historical context, providing local and historical facts). Reitemeier includes a review ofthe general reception of German literature in Britain in the late eighteenth century along with this systematic 'mapping' of the novels' con? tent. Much ofthe chapter is not directly relevant to the text's main focus on historical novels, but instead provides useful background information. Between this section and Reitemeier's extensive bibliography, the book is a decent starting point for research into German-English literary contact in the late eighteenth century in any genre. The only puzzle is why this excursus appears in the middle ofthe sections comparing specific models forthe novel. It seems to lead quite organically towards the discussion of the evidence of specific German influences on Scott which concludes the book. This final chapter answers the questions posed at the beginning of the text con? cerning the oft-mentioned influence of Naubert. Scott is shown to have had relatively scant familiarity with English historical novels of his time, while documentary evi? dence shows that he had read at least two of Naubert's novels as an element of his wider interest in German letters. Reitemeier is careful to make no unsubstantiated claims concerning the connection between the two authors, but the investigation does show that it is at least possible that some aspects of Scott's works owe a debt to Naubert's influence. Deutsch-englische Literaturbeziehungen adds only a little to the reader's understanding and appreciation of specific novels, but it does an excellent job of placing the texts within a literary and historical context. The predictability of the analysis is a necessary side effectof its thoroughness. The systematic approach only increases the work's usefulness as a resource on the evolution of the historical novel. Cambridge Janet Bertsch Faithful Realism: Elizabeth Gaskell and Leo Tolstoy. A Comparative Study. By Josie Billington. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. 2002. 227 pp. ?35. ISBN 0-838-75458-9. Josie Billington's title takes the form of a conceit. In the firstplace she is arguing that Gaskell's realism is 'faithful' to the everyday flow of life, and she quotes Ruskin on 566 Reviews 'finish' in a work ofart:' Finish means nothing but consummate and accumulated truth [. . .] the fillingof space and the multiplication of life and thought' (p. 102). She supports her argument by reference to J.P. Stern's work on realism, and concludes: 'In? deed itis as though Gaskell's realist mode is showing us what realism itselfquintessentially is' (p. 102). We learn that this is a mode resistant to category, and inherently amorphous. It is irreducible to categories either ofwomen's studies or ofsocial history, therefore Gaskell cannot be regarded either as a social or a regional writer. This may flyin the face of conventional interpretation of a novel like Mary Barton, but Billing? ton seeks to solve the social 'alienation' inherent in her view of realism by another (and pseudo-Marxist) conceit: 'In just the same way does the craftsman lose control over his product in the market process, and so...