Mathias Herweg (review)

Abstract

242 Reviews (5 times), 'chiasmus' (11 times). The constant reference to 'the tapping ofthe tongue' is confusing; what does tapping mean in this context? Finally, commas and possessive apostrophes run amok and numerous sentences are excruciatingly long, while others end seemingly unfinished. This is unfortunate. The work is based upon an engaging premiss; indeed, no ana? lysis to date has pursued the breakdown of relationship between signifierand signified within TTT to such levels. Yet the complex process of analysis is rendered unnecessarily more obscure and puzzling through the poor editing. It is therefore refreshing to arrive at the moments of illuminative prose within the text, where the direction and aims ofthe analysis are clear and precise. These moments are, however, rare, render? ing much of the text vague, hesitant, and repetitive, and obscuring the connections between the analysis and the hypotheses, and between the hypotheses and Cabrera Infante's source text. In conclusion, the work offers a perceptive interpretation of Tres tristestigres,and provides, although in a confusing, fragmented, and un-proofed prose, an interesting line of analysis of an interesting and provocative text. University of Exeter William Rowlandson Ludwigslied, De Heinrico, Annolied: Die deutschen Zeitdichtungen des friihen Mittel? alters im Spiegel der wissenschaftlichenRezeption und Erforschung. By Mathias Herweg. (Imagines Medii Aevi, 13) Wiesbaden: Reiefiert. 2002. xii + 584pp. ?58. ISBN 3-89500-268-2. This erudite volume is in fact a series of three studies, any one of which could have been presented as a worthymonograph in its own right. The Ludwigslied, De Heinrico, and the Annolied are three outstanding German works from the period of transition between Old and Middle High German which in recent years?this is especially true of the Annolied?have been the focus of much scholarly attention. Herweg is keen to stress the advantages of a comparative approach, particularly in his theo? retical introduction, and the later discussions often benefit from the opportunity to cross-reference approaches and results. Seeing these works as a group is one of the interesting innovations of the study, and to this end Herweg has elevated the slightly idiosyncraticterm Zeitdichtungas slgeneric tag to embrace the three. Indeed, the three texts have a great deal in common. All are tightly constructed small-scale poems, all mainly vernacular, though De Heinrico is oddly macaronic, all are historical writing with a biographical element, all praise a contemporary ruler forhis sacred and secular merits, all have political importance as they impact upon controversies surrounding their central figure, and given the sparsity of surviving texts from this period, each stands in relative isolation as a poetic epitome of its time, the Carolingian, Ottonian, and Salian periods respectively. Herweg seeks to provide a definitive statement of what can usefully be said about each of these works at the turn of the twenty-first century. His approach is in a sense a fashionable one, taking as its main framework the history of research, which traditionally such volumes would have covered in the prologue in the form of a brief Stand der Forschung. However, in Herweg's case this produces far more than a mere survey of the history of research; it is a critical engagement with existing scholarship which brings new insights or at least new accents at almost every stage. For this reason, the material is not arranged chronologically, but grouped according to key questions, around which a debate can unfold. In his comprehensive evaluation of the merits and demerits of his predecessors, Herweg guides us through a vast body of scholarly material, including even the most obscure early contributions, showing which are helpful and which lead only to dead ends. This frees scholars working on these poems in future from the burden of trawling through the entirety of obsolete research. MLRy ioo.i, 2005 243 Despite the comparative approach, the three works are largely discussed in their separate sections. Each of these begins with Herweg's own discussion ofthe historio? graphy ofthe poem (key words: Geschichtsbild and Herrscherbild), then moves to the textual transmission and editorial history, before turning to the controversies which have formed the focus of scholarly attention. The almost exciting account of the rediscovery ofthe Ludwigslied manuscript by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in...