MLR, 103.2, 2008 593 finde siecleEurope. Honold and inparticular Neumann emphasize theethnographer's gaze as the fundamental perspective ofKafka's work; whether this gaze is directed outwards at the exotic other or inwards at the identitycrisis of themodern European self, itwill always reveal the strangeness intrinsic to the self.Honold argues that this complex perspective anticipates the insights of self-aware postcolonial ethnographic reflection. Several essays also show how strangeness emerges from the familiar structures of the civilized world. Stanley Corngold andWagner agree that the strangeness of the everyday arises as a result of the collapse between the public and private spheres: bureaucracy, statistics, and the creation of themodern, quantifiable Durchschnitts mensch are thus sources of creative inspiration for the representation of uncanny, familiar strangeness inKafka's work. Rapidly developing media and communication technologies have the same effectof strangeness, asKittler's reading of human rela tionships inDas Schloss reveals. The volume is lively,varied, and highly readable. The editors deserve praise for the thematic cohesion of the collection and for theorganization of the essays.While one might question some of the claims made in the introduction (some contributors revert tobiographical methodology), it isheartening to see established Kafka scholars pointing out new directions in a congested field. UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH MARY COSGROVE A History ofAustrian Literature I9I8-2000. Ed. by KATRIN KOHL and RITCHIE ROBERTSON. (Studies inGerman Literature, Linguistics, and Culture) Roches ter,NY: Camden House. 2oo6. xii+336 pp. $90; ?50. ISBN 978-I-57I13 276-5. In their informative,well-organized, and well-edited volume, theOxford scholars Katrin Kohl and Ritchie Robertson present readers interested in theAustrian tradi tionsofGerman literaturewith a highly useful book complementing another Camden House publication, namely Ingo R. Stoehr's German Literature of theTwentieth Cen tury:From Aestheticism toPostmodernism (2001). Even though the editors stress the complex nexus between Austria's political history, the country's preoccupation with cultural identity construction, and its distinct literary development, they are quick to point out that their approach to the topic does not arise from any foundational thesis defining the 'nature' ofAustrian literature or any territorialnotion thatwould consider only literaturewritten inAustria. In fact, theirs is quite a wise, inductive approach, because from thematerial presented ineach of the twelve chapters, readers familiarwith only the contours of the literaryhistory of twentieth-centuryGermany can conclude on theirown inwhat ways Austrian literaturehas developed its specific themes, itsparticular traditions, itsdistinct language, and, of course, itsown aesthetic response tohistory and social reality. Edited volumes tend to sufferfrom the recurrentproblem ofunevenness in thequa lityof contributions, which may of course never be discerned by anyone other than reviewers because readers' interests are likely to focus on individual essays/chapters. This may also apply to those taking thisparticular book off the library shelf (its ex traordinarily high price is a serious obstacle to individual purchase) but no one who reallywants todelve into thehistory ofAustrian literaturebetween i9 I8 and 2000 will be disappointed by any of the essays. The international group of contributors offers immensely readable and instructive explorations of seven differenttopics that theedi torshave identified asmost useful inpresenting a broad and valid picture ofAustria's literarylandscape. Texts and contexts are organized in twomajor historical categories, 594 Reviews pre-i945 (First Republic, Ostmark) and post-I945 decades (Second Republic). This division results in two essays each for thegenre topics of prose and drama, thebroad (and multi-genre) category of popular culture, and the contextually oriented topics examining the significance of cultural institutions and the impact of political forces on literary production. The twentieth-century development ofAustrian poetry is presented inone essay, as are recent,multi-cultural trends and directions inAustrian literature (and film). The introduction to the volume provides readers with a survey ofAustria's poli tical history between I9I8 and 2000 and an interpretative summary of the chapters and their thematic interdependence. Each of the chapters is about thirtypages long and offers a balanced overview of the topic-relevant literary/cultural development, focusing on major aspects and dominant features.The presentations are descriptive and occasionally evaluative. Each chapter is independent, which means that contex tual information and references to significant events and public figures are provided repeatedly. This, however, isnot a disadvantage (and surely not an...