Landmarks in German Short Prose by Peter Hutchinson (review)

Abstract

MLR, 102.2, 2007 587 Landmarks inGerman Comedy. Ed. by PETER HUTCHINSON. (British and Irish Stu dies inGerman Language and Literature, 35) Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2oo6. 245 PP. ?3; E47.40. ISBN 978-3-039I0-I85-6. The editor, introducing lectures given at Cambridge University, refers to troubling dimensions of the texts, and to complex reactions to comedy resulting from ploys by dramatist and director and the audience's background. He contrasts traditions of comedy inGermany and Austria, and thinks examples from theGDR unlikely to survive.However, performance of scenes with lastinguniversal appeal, as in Mozart's operas or in sketches byKarl Valentin, isbarelymentioned. Charlotte Woodford clarifies jokes inGryphius's Peter Squenz, applying secondary literaturecritically,and describes thediscrepancy between theoverblown rhetoric and the subject's banality. Gryphius's 'inappropriate register' (p. 30) satirizes and attacks characters and traditional literary forms.H. B. Nisbet treats Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm as a 'profoundly subversive work' (p. 37) and pinpoints aspects ofFrederick theGreat's militarism. His essay isamodel ofjudicious and observant comment on the play's disparate elements and the individuality ofTellheim andMinna. Michael Min den examines Kleist's attempt inDer zerbrocheneKrug to cope with his 'genre con fusion' (p. 62), relates details toexternal developments, and plays down featsof stage organization ensuring theplay's success. Adam isdismissed as a 'complete scoundrel' (p. 64), but on stage he is more intricate than suggested here. Ian Roe interpretsGrill parzer's Weh dem, der liigt! as an exercise in language and as an unmasking and over coming of prejudices, while the techniques highlight itsdeeper meaning: the nature of truth.Andrew Webber shows how Biuchner's Leonce und Lena previews thepost modern condition as inBeckett's Waitingfor Godot, relates it to theories by Bergson, Freud, und Bakhtin, and emphasizes the self-consciousness of the final marriage cer emony. W E. Yates explains Nestroy's EinenjYux will er sichmachen as a landmark re lated to thechanging European society of the I830s. He makes pertinent points about comedy ingeneral and refers to the colourful figures, theuse ofmusical numbers for satirical commentary, thebreaks in illusion, and the roleof chance, all part ofNestroy's 'wrapping up his dynamite' (pace Karl Kraus) to help 'create the climate of revolu tion' (p. i i8). Roger Paulin asks searching questions ofHauptmann's Der Biberpelz in a piece thatbetrays some discomfort with the dramatist's achievements, whereas Martin Swales presents Schnitzler's Reigen as 'a profound text about superficiality' (p. I39), highlighting its effecton production and audience, and thegeneral 'double take' in comedy. To readKraus's Die letztenTage derMenschheit as a comedy with its essential message of hatred ofwar may seem far-fetched,yetEdward Timms wants us to accept the 'tragic carnival' as black comedy prefiguringmodern political theatre. In his in-depth understanding ofHofmannsthal's Der Schwierige, Robert Vilain il luminates the characters, Hofmannsthal's debt toFrench comedy, his use of time and eternity,and his portrayal of theSoziale. Mary Stewart emphasizes the contrast be tween the shape of theplot and range ofmaterial inZuckmayer's Der Hauptmann von Kdpenick, discusses his blend of thecomic and the serious, and relates thisback to tra dition and forward toLacan and Derrida. Voigt emerges asmore alive than all around him, having achieved 'the restorative value of disrespect' (p. 192). Peter Hutchinson offers a convincing account ofDiirrenmatt's deliberate teasing of theaudience inDer Besuch der altenDame with his 'clashing registers' (p. i99), but curtails his treatment ofDiirrenmatt's finalscene. J.J.Long shows Bernhard's Die Macht derGezvohnheit as an example of 'generic interference' (p. 2 I2)working as a comedy.He points to the role of linguistic ineptitude, to repetition and the revelation of thedeath-drive in an essay that isdemanding in its more abstract formulations.Allyson Fiddler presents Jelinek's Burgtheater and its ironic genre description 'eine Posse mit Gesang' (p. 230), an anti 588 Reviews comedy with provocative political overtones. Fiddler rightly concludes that Jelinek asked questions here of thegenre and applied traditions fornew and unexpected uses. MELLEN UNIVERSITY BRIAN KEITH-SMITH Das deutschsprachigeProsagedicht: Theorie und Geschichte einer literarischenGattung derModerne. ByWOLFGANG BUNZEL. (Communicatio: Studien zur europaischen Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte, 37) Tiibingen: Niemeyer. 2005. viii+421 pp. E78. ISBN 978-3-484-63037-6. Small...