MLRy 99.1, 2004 265 Von Namen und Dingen: Erkundungen zur Rolle des Ich in der Literatur am Beispiel von Ingeborg Bachmann, Peter Bichsel, Max Frisch, GottfriedKeller, Heinrich von Kleist, Arthur Schnitzler, Frank Wedekind, Vladimir Nabokov und W. G. Sebald. By Iris Denneler. Wiirzburg: Konigshausen & Neumann. 2001. 181 pp. ?25. ISBN 3-8260-1940-7 (pbk). Walter Benjamin famously wrote in his Passagenwerk: 'Der Habitus eines gelebten Lebens: das ist es, was der Name aufbewahrt, aber auch verzeichnet.' Benjamin's re? flection on his own name both as an arbitrary sign and as a mimetic carrier of his life story highlights the double-edged nature of names which is the central concern of Iris Denneler's study. The book begins with a sketchy survey of the philosophical debate about the arbitrariness of language and signification, ranging from Plato to Frege and Saussure. Although Plato's notion of an adaequatio intellectus et rei was eventu? ally abandoned in favour of more complex and non-mimetic models of signification, the proper name maintains an intimate connection between signifier and signified throughout the centuries. Denneler's summary introduction prepares the ground for her investigation of names and naming in a variety of literary examples, ranging from recent writings by Bachmann, Bichsel, Frisch, Nabokov, and Sebald to nineteenthand early twentieth-century literature. Her treatment ofthe topic is neither systema? tic nor literary-historical; instead, she investigates certain literary constellations and correspondences in the prose writings mentioned. For instance, her analysis of the narrator's artful game with names in Bachmann's Molina shows that names in litera? ture can simultaneously highlight the constructed quality of identity through and in language as well as tap into the belief that words have a magically mimetic power beyond the text. This constant overlapping of documentary and fictional modes of writing also characterizes Bichsel's narrative universe, in which the autopoeticity of names acts as a catalyst for poetic production. Frisch's Stiller, however, explores the connection between naming, role-play, and the inauthenticity of all experience. Although Stiller's stories expose the constructed and fictional nature of identity by regurgitating various plot and genre conventions, he simultaneously believes in some form of authenticity. Denneler then analyses the problematic of naming in Keller's novella 'Der Landvogt von Greifensee' and in Kleist's dramatic works. She rightly observes that although Kleist's complex play with chains of names de-essentializes their interpretation, he does not give up their identificatory function. 'Das Utopische ihres Erkennens', writes Denneler, 'liegt jedoch darin, daB es jenseits der Sprache geschieht' (p. 83). There follows a rather schematic exploration ofthe cross-stitching of naming and gender in Schnitzler and Wedekind, which largely bypasses the pub? lished research in this area. The book concludes with a chapter on names in Nabokov and the construction of memory in Sebald's Die Ausgewanderten. Generally, Denneler's literary examples are well chosen and her readings are quite subtle, highlighting both correspondences and contrasting constellations in the writ? ings mentioned. While this approach yields interesting and often imaginative results, the book ultimately runs into the danger offlatteningthe topic into an undifferentiated ahistorical plane. A more historical line of enquiry might have given greater depth and clarity to the study. Furthermore, the introduction to the problematic of naming in philosophical debates comes across as a little too rushed; for instance, one might have expected at least a summary discussion of the ongoing debate on naming and witnessing as evidenced in the writings of Emmanuel Levinas and others. Neverthe? less, the book approaches a stimulating topic through a series of engaging readings. University College Dublin Anne Fuchs ...