Roman eines Lebens: Die Aktualität der Bildung und ihre Geschichte im Bildungsroman by Wilhelm Vosskamp

Abstract

890 Reviews thatwhat is good German' isGerman used appropriately for the topic, comprehen sibly,and imaginatively?in Schiewe's terms (p. 373) it isGerman characterized by Angemessenheit, Pragnanz, and Variation. Rudolf Hoberg's essay entitled 'Besseres Deutsch: Was kann und soil eine wissenschaftlich begrundete Sprachpflege tun' is a succinct and eminently sensible summary ofwhat the criteria should be forgood German, by an academic linguistwho despite the stereotype does care deeply about quality in language?but is not convinced thatGerman civilization as we know it will perish when people no longerwrite sentences like 'Die Blumen sturben sicher, wenn du sie nicht bald begossest'. It is unlikely that the book will win over the self-appointed guardians of lin guistic excellence and sundry other pedants to the view thatmodern German has immense vitality and is in no way in decline. But what James and Lesley Milroy in their Authority in Language, 3rd edn (London: Routledge, 1999) refer to as the complaint tradition'?the idea that the language of the present is in often unspecified ways 'bad' compared with the language of the past?has a long history across many languages, and the desire for stable linguistic norms appears very deep-rooted. In themain, the essays in this book can be recommended without hesitation, but, unfortunately, theywill probably neither appeal tonor convince the public who have been avid consumers of Bastian Sick's books and who appear only too willing to be told that their command of theirnative language is inadequate. University of Manchester Martin Durrell Roman eines Lebens: Die Aktualitat der Bildung und ihreGeschichte imBildungsro man. ByWilhelm Vosskamp. Berlin: Berlin University Press. 2009. 210 pp. 39.90. ISBN 978-3-940432-42-1. Deconstruction was clever, but had pragmatic shortcomings. One was that ittended to undermine thehumanities' claim to educate rounded human beings, who would be not only critically independent but also responsible and able tomake decisions. If thehuman subject is an effectof language, learning thiswill not enhance a young person's sense of agency (or ability tomake an impact). Both the Berlin University Press, andWilhelm Vosskamp in this book, aremaking serious attempts to repair the damage. The BUP is doing this by means of itswhole, cleanly branded, cata logue of books designed to lightenWissenschaft and make itavailable to intelligent general readers, and Vosskamp by pleading the case for continuity between the enlightenment ideal of Bildung and the possibilities of self-development available to individuals in the information universe. Der Roman eines Lebens is thus two things at once. It is an intervention in the contemporary debate about higher education and a book about theBildungsroman. In the firstfunction it is entirely admirable, but as to the second, it is disappoint ing. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it isn't really a book with its own argument at all, but a collection of some of Vosskamp's articles on the Bildungsroman, stretching back to 1982, and including barely twenty-fiveoriginal MLR, 105.3, 2010 891 pages. The individual items are of course often extremely valuable. The character ization of the German discourse of Bildung and its contextualization in relation to contemporary Europe is handled with beautiful lucidity (the style throughout is exemplary in its rigour and clarity). The material about images and Utopia is compelling and insightful. The piece about Botho Strauss and Thomas Bernhard is thought-provoking, ifnot obviously relevant. The most persuasive component of Vosskamp's analyses in this volume, and the one forwhich he is justly renowned, ishis attention to the sort of reader identification that literature facilitates; a form of complex identification thatmakes itpossible to deal on the practical level of everyday life,aswell as on the level ofmoral and pragmatic decision-making, with philosophical aporia. However, without the Bildungsroman, these various pieces don't really cohere. And here we encounter a problem. For Vosskamp's argument about reader iden tification towork one has to believe thatmany readers were actually guided and focused by Goethe's rather ponderous Meister novels and that it actually makes sense (as itdoes in the case of theNovelle) to talk of a genre and a tradition here. Itmay be my own ignorance, but I don't believe these things...