MLR, 98.2, 2003 511 literature featuring Jewish characters (Hauff's Jud Siifi, Gutzkow, Droste, Hebbel, Freytag, Raabe, Ebner-Eschenbach, Saar), and concluding with the Alsatian writers Erckmann-Chatrian, Massey traces such 'normal' portrayals of Jews and of genuine interest in them. Sacher-Masoch's knowledge of traditional Jewish life is well known, but Massey's reading of the story Pintschew und Mintschew (possibly the centrepiece of the book) truly breaks new ground in demonstrating how Sacher-Masoch respects the dignity and integrityof Jewish ways by refusing to privilege 'the subordination of Ashkenaz to Europe' (p. 55) that was so widespread in the dominant assimilationist discourse in German-speaking central Europe. To call such treatment 'philo-Semitic' does not mean ignoring hatred of Jews expressed in other works, often by the same authors, or anti-Semitic views aired in biographical sources (as the Fontane example illustrates), but the case of Fontane also confirms that extremes lived side by side, and that to ignore this,and thus to suppress philo-Semitic dimensions ofan author's work, would do an injustice to the texts themselves, and by extension mean falsifyinghistory. National University of Ireland, Maynooth Florian Krobb Regionalitdt und Zentrenbildung: Kulturgeographische Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur 1870-1 g45. By Klaus Hermsdorf. (Literatur?Sprache ? Region, 2) Frankfurt a.M., Berlin, and Bern: Lang. 1999. 418 pp. ?50.10. ISBN 3631 -32687-4 (pbk). This book represents a wider trend in current literarystudies which considers notions of space in its analysis of literature. Klaus Hermsdorf has two main aims. First, he wishes to establish a new paradigm based on the category of 'Raum' to complement the historiography of German literature, viewing literature as evolving not just in time but also in physical, social, and cultural space (pp. 11-17); secondly, he wants to encourage a 'regionalisierende Betrachtungsweise von Literatur uberhaupt' (p. 17). The book is essentially a series of short essays, which the author himself describes as 'experimental' (p. 17), arranged in nine main chapters. Hermsdorf began research on this book in the 1980s at the Humboldt University, Berlin (then East Germany), and one may speculate that his interest in the regional and spatial dimensions of German literature represents an attempt to break free from the somewhat confined space al? lowed by Marxist orthodoxy. The period indicated in the subtitle runs fromthe inception ofthe Second German Empire to the end of the Second World War. This is a highly complex period marked by political nationalism, social modernization, economic liberalization, and cultural commercialization. Much of the literature produced during this time is explicitly or implicitly concerned with these issues, but Hermsdorf is not concerned with the themes and forms of this literature. Instead, focusing in particular on the period around 1900 and the Weimar Republic, his book is about the linguistic, cultural, and literary spaces that continued to exist, or were created, within and beyond the territory defined as 'Germany'. As a result, the period 1870-1945, usually seen as one of unification and homogenization, comes across as infinitelymore diverse and devolved. According to Hermsdorf, a 'historische ZerreiBprobe' between centralizing and decentralizing forces led to an unprecedented 'Dynamisierung' of literary life (p. 17). The two central categories, 'Regionalitat' and 'Zentrenbildung', which allude to spatial transformations, seem particularly suited to capture this process while preserving its inherent dynamism. The firstfour chapters explore 'Kulturkreiseund translatorische Kommunikation', 'Sprachraum und Literaturgebiet', 'Staatsgebieteund Literaturen', and 'Literaturen im Ausland'. Issues dealt with include connections among 'German', European, and 512 Reviews world culture; the German linguistic community, which extended far beyond the borders of the German Empire, and the various linguistic policies aimed at defining this community; minority literatures written abroad; and the role played by literary institutions, such as the book trade, the theatre, academies, academic and popular literary historiography, in defining 'German' literature. Many of the issues Hermsdorf is examining here may be familiar, but what is new is the emphasis on spatial Ausdifferenzierung' within German literature. This is perhaps best exemplified by his sidelight on exile literature, where, according to Hermsdorf, the theme of 'Ortlosigkeit ' has helped to universalize modern German literature (pp. 127-30). The following three chapters, 'Lander und Landschaften', 'Regionale Voraussetzungen literarischer Kultur', and 'Regionalliteratur', take...