The Graph of Sex and the German Text: Gendered Culture in Early Modern Germany 1500-1700 (review)

Abstract

246 Reviews Stephenson realises that he has not produced in these two books a comprehensive study of Kepler's thought, but it is difficult to believe that anyone will be able or want to improve on his work on the two major topics he discusses. Still, one wishes that Kepler's Physical Astronomy in particular had been written with the reader more in mind. Its style probably betrays its origins as a dissertation. The Music of the Heavens has some of the same flaws, such as weighing down the book with chapters and sentences that are far too long; but it is easier to read and more comprehensible. That criticism aside, these two books make a major contribution to the study of Kepler and the Scientific Revolution. Frederic J. Baumgartner Department of History Virginia Polytechnic Institute Tatlock, Lynne, ed., The Graph of Sex and the German Text: Gendered Culture in Early Modem Germany 1500-1700 (Chloe Beihefte zum Daphnis, Band 19), Amsterdam and Atlanta, Rodopi, 1994; hardcover; pp. 453; 11figures;R.R.P. US$123.00 It is hard not to feel that German scholarship is a little behind the times. The articles assembled in this volume seek to 'explore the possibilities of gender as a category of analysis for study of early m o d e m German literature and culture' (p. 1). The potential of gender-based analysis has long been recognised in other disciplines. The tardiness of German scholars in comparison with those engaged in French and English studies for example, is acknowledged, somewhat disparagingly, in the articles by Sigrid Weigel and Merry E. Wiesner. However, the fact that it is overdue does not diminish the contribution of this diverse and exciting collection. The seventeen articles comprising the volume have been offered by experts in the area of early modern literature and culture and by scholars in thefieldof feminist theory. It is the result of a symposium held in Missouri in 1992. The papers, given in English or German, have been reproduced in their original language, to preserve the spirit of cross-cultural scholarship. Although all the essays are broadly focussed on issues of gendered identity, structures and processes, there is a diversity of approaches, perspectives and even definitions of gender that create a lively debate within the text itself. As Lynne Tatlock emphasises, discussion not unison is the aim of the exercise. And dispute is not to be ruled out! Reviews 247 The essays have been divided into four sections: the politics of gender; early m o d e m discourses of love and marriage; women, power and texts; and constructing sexual difference. Topics range from the persecution of witches to natural history, with an attempt made to plot the way in which masculine and feminine identities are reflected and indeed constructed in a range of texts. It is not possible to comment on all the articles here, but I hope the following brief overview will give a fair indication of the wealth of material and of thefruitfulinterplay between the texts, which is one of the most positive aspects of the work. The volume opens with Sigrid Weigel's article, 'Geschlechterdifferenz und Literaturwissenschaft' which establishes the context of current critical debate. She presents some of the paradoxes and problems facing those researching the history of women's literature. One such paradox confronts those trying to complete literary history by restoring 'lost' writings by women. In this archaeological enterprise, the processes of selection and ordering can lead to the exclusion of some texts and canonisation of others, the very categorisation that scholars are seeking to redress. Weigel proposes no solutions, merely stating that, in participating in the writing of literary history, w o m e n have lost their innocence. Weigel goes on to explore the relationship between the sexes as an emblem and allegory of cultural history. In establishing the interdisciplinary significance of gender difference in language, literature and culture, she sets the stage for the wideranging concerns of the articles that follow. Barbara Becker-Cantarino argues the rigidity of gender constructs in early m o d e m Germany, based on an analysis of the anonymous sixteenthcentury Historia von D. Johann Fausten and Grimmelhausen's...