MLR,96.3,200I 899 John White onBurzdans Esel;NigelHarris ondeBruyn's re-telling ofthemedieval Tristan legend; York-Gothart Mixon FreiAeitsberaubung andMarkische Forschungen; Andy Hollis onFrezheitsberaubung; Detlef Gwosc onAeue Herrlichkeit; LutzKubeonde Bruyn's construction and cultivation in hisessaysofa regional Brandenburg identity; J.H. Reidonparallels between thework ofde Bruyn andBoll;Renate Rechtien's comparative study ofde Bruyn's Zwzschenbilanz and Christa Wolf's Kindheitsmuster, OwenEvans' evaluation ofVierzig jrahre; andKarin Hirdina's analysis oftherelationship ofdeBruyn's autobiographical writings tohisfiction. According totheeditor itwasthevery mixed critical reception ofTAierzig Jahre (I996), the second volume ofdeBruyn's autobiography, which provided theimpetus, the'new perspective', for this collection ofessays. Inthese circumstances itisperhaps rather strange that only twooftheessays, those byEvansandHirdina, dealspecifically andatlength with Vierzig Xahre, while only a further two, those byKaneandReid, draw onVierzig jrahre toanysignificant extent. In terms ofcurrent teaching andresearch interests relating toGDR andpostWende studies there aretwo groups ofessays which areofparticular value. Thoseby Mix,Hollis, andGwosc concentrate onthe role oftheStasi inthe publishing history ofFreiAeitsberaubung, Markische Forschungen, andJ\/eue Herrlichkeit, casting newlight, often on thebasisoffresh archival material, on thedifficulties and pressures encountered notonly byde Bruyn inparticular, butbyGDR writers ingeneral. Rechtien, Evans,andHirdina chooseto focus on de Bruyn's autobiographical writings, examining them inthe context ofthecurrent discussions ofthe theory and practice ofautobiography, andespecially literary autobiography. Ofthese three, those byRechtien andHirdina arethemost stimulating andthought-provoking. Having compared thepositive critical welcome accorded todeBruyn's Zwischenbilanz (I992) with thenegative response toWolf'sWasbleibt? (I990) inpost-Wende Germany, Rechtien seeks a reason for this inthediXerent perceptions ofdeBruyn andWolfoftheir responsibilities as autobiographers and chroniclers. Rechtien chooses todemonstrate her casebycomparing deBruyn's Zwischenbilanz with Wolf's Kindheitsmuster (I976) becausethey bothdealwiththesameperiodofGerman history. Where EvansoXers a positive andsympathetic reading of Vierzig iahre, recommending itasa generally reliable chronicle ofthe life ofa writer intheGDR, Hirdina takes a much more critical line. LikeRechtien sheusesa comparative study asthestarting point for heressay, inthis casecomparing deBruyn's Zwischenbilanz with Gunter Kunert's autobiographical Erwachsenenspiele (I997), before proceeding to a closereading of Vierzig Xahre. In thisautobiography sheclaims to identify significant gapsinde Bruyn's account ofhislifeandexperiences intheGDR, although shecarefully refrains from imputing anydeliberate distortion tohim. Havingcompared de Bruyn's fiction withthematerial in hisautobiography, Hirdina then comes totheprovocative conclusion: 'Furde Bruyn zumindest gilt: DieFiktion istauthentischer alsdieAutobiografie' (p.204). Inconclusion, this volume cancertainly berecommended toallinterested inthe work ofGunter de Bruyn andparticularly thosecurrently concerned withthe nature andfunction of literary autobiography inthe GDRandpostWende Germany. UNIVERSITY OFGLASGOW RODERICK H.WATT 7hePost-War JWovella inGerman-Language Literature. ByBRUCE PLOUFFE. NewYork: AMSPress.I998. XVii + 280 pp. Unfortunately, itisdifficult tofind very much positive tosayaboutBruce PlouXe's study ofthepost-war novella. The author setsouttorewrite thehistory ofthe Reviews 9oo post-war German-language novella, drawing onLacan,Barthes, Culler, deMan, Ricur, andothers, inorder, inhiswords, todemonstrate hisintroductory premise that 'the accentuation ofthe metaphoric potential ofnovellas and/or short stories is concomitant with, andmaybeengendered bythegreater succinctness andlimited scopeoftheshorter text's metonymic foundation'. Basically, then, novellas 'work' because they areshort andsuggestive. Yetherein liesthemajor flaw ofthepresent study: the volume isitself neither concise northought-provoking. Itstretches to280 pages ofdense, theory-laden prose which alltoooften verges orl incomprehensibility. Twotheoretical chapters introduce Hochhuth's Atlantik-J\/¢ovelle andDieBerliner Antigone, Durrenmatt's Der Auftrag andDerSturz, andWalser's Ein fiehendes Pferd and ffenseits der Liebe. The first chapter, on 'contemporary poetics', is cryptic in its presentation ofmodern critical theory and fallsintothetrapofimitating the turgidity ofsome ofthe authors itreviews. Thesecond chapter, which deals with the 'theory ofthenovella', isanimprovement. Yetitisheavily reliant onother people's work, overburdened with quotation, andlacking in direction. A debateon the American short story, furthermore, appears outofplace.Certainly Plouffie seems unable tomake the connection backtohisGerman theme. Thesections dealing with the novellas byHochhuth, Durrenmatt andWalser are sometimes impressive fortheir scattered insights. As elsewhere in thisvolume, however, style iseverything: the bookistoohard toread.Long, complex sentences, abstruse vocabulary and syntax, alongwitha lackofdirection, meanthatthe author's occasional originality isswamped. Atendency towards over-interpretation (for Plouffie, a 'zerfetzter Hut'suggests a 'zerfetzter Hoch'huth' irritated bythe truncation of TheDeputy foritsBroadway premiere) and an inclination to see intertextuality lurking in every corner ofa textare equallyobscuring. These reservations apply toeachofthe sections dealing with individual authors andtexts. In summary, Plouffie's volume fails to impress. Thisis unfortunate given the obvious energy, investment andcommitment ofitsauthor. Themajor problems are style, lackofclarity, anda proclivity for over-interpretation. Irritating factual errors donot help: Martin Swales, for example...