Feen-Mährchen: Zur Unterhaltung für Freunde und Freundinnen der Feenwelt (review)

Abstract

Goethe Yearbook 237 After establishing these and other frameworks for her study, ter Horst discusses Miss Sara Sampson and Minna von Barnhelm, particularly women who exhibit masculine traits. When she continues with WUhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, she is careful to explain her choice of genre, since this is the only novel she considers.There is a wealth of material for the exploration of gender identities in Goethe's inexhaustible book and the other works of Goethe, primarily dramas, which it suggests. Notable among the female figures ter Horst considers is, of course, Mignon. Thérèse and Natalie also figure prominently along with others, and many of their male counterparts as weU. It is a strength of this book that ter Horst continues to compare and contrast the characters from these authors in every part of the book and also provides a strong concluding chapter. Ter Horst's treatment of Kleist, particularly the Amazons in Penthesilea, incorporates relatively recent Uterary criticism and more classical material than is cited for the other authors, although there is adequate annotation and bibliographical information throughout. One of her general conclusions for the Kleist chapter reads: "In the works of Goethe and Lessing, the one-sex, theatrical model vies with the two-sex model. In Kleist's Penthesilea, however, the contradictions inherent in the ideology of the two-sex model are revealed through the use of a classical intertext, Homer's Iliad, in particular the combat between Hector and AchiUes. In Penthesilea, both the eponymous heroine and Achules identify, alternately, with Homer's defeated Hector and [. . . the] victorious AchiUes. Thus, a conventionally masculine subject position is not always associated with a biological male, nor is a conventionally feminine subject position always occupied by a biological female" (177). This is but one of the multiple permutations of gender identification discussed in ter Horst's analyses.To summarize her position,"Gender is not something that an individual possesses, nor is it simply imposed by the immediate culture; gender is established relationally, in an exchange with others as well as in dialogue with historical and literary models" (178). Ustfig contemporary gender theory, close reading and historical insights, ter Horst shows that longfamUiar texts can reveal new perspectives for readers with an interest in comparative gender analysis. Villanova University Erlis Wickersham Ulrich Marzolph, ed., Feen-Mährchen: Zur Unterhaltung für Freunde und Freundinnen der Feenwelt. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2000. 331 PPUlrich Marzolph edits this reprint of an 1801 edition of fairy tales foUowing in the French tradition of contes de fees, and in doing so, he makes available to us a type of text that once was very popular but is now typically difficult to obtain.The Feen-Mährchen stand between the more Uterary and courtly texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth century and the tales taken (as claimed by the Brothers Grimm) "directly" from the oral traditions of the "folk" that follow Ui the nineteenth century. As such, it is an intriguing document of tales published in German before the famous 1812 Grimms' Hausmärchen, and a useful guide for anyone interested in the traditions and developments of folk and fairy tales. (I use the Jack Zipes definition of "fairy tales" as those stories in written form that are "inspired by" folk tales, an open-ended understanding 238 Book Reviews that allows for inclusion of the transcription of seemingly "pure" oral traditions as well as the Uterary renditions of well-known tales.) These particular Feen-Mährchen reflect a wide variety of influences including some direct translations from the French, but above aU, they are characterized by a heavy-handed moral tone stressing virtue and patience, and describing Ui graphic detail the torture of those who must be put to the test but also of those who must be punished for their bad behavior. Certainly that also characterizes many of the famous versions of fairy tales from Charles Perrault and the Grimms, but these Feen tales tend to be longer, even more attentive to detaUed descriptions of the young girls' adventures and their horrors , and even plumper with "happy-ever-after" endings resulting from longwinded stories fuU of "einnehmendes Betragen" and "Sittsamkeit." The first tale, "Die...