598 Reviews emancipation. In Weser-Bisse's analysis, thehero of Ludwig's Zwischen Himmel und Erde achieves a degree of individuality and self-introspection through his engage ment with work, something which isdenied Anton Wohlfart in Soil undHaben. The significance ofwork as a means of personal-psychological development is, according toWeser-Bisse, even more evident in the fiction of Keller, where the motivations of the protagonists towork (or not) take precedence over any need to be economically productive for the greater good of society. Rather than uncondi tionally accepting their fate as cogs in a greater economic system (as in Freytag), Kellers figures actively rebel against such hierarchical structures. Finally, Storm's Der Schimmelreiter is read as a fable about the impact of individual work on wider society. Hauke Heien's work on the dyke is read both as a socially useful exercise and as an individualistic, private project?a tension that isnever fully resolved and culminates in the disastrous flood at the end of the tale. A problematic aspect ofWeser-Bisse's study is her uncritical reliance on the terms programmatic realism' and poetic realism'?groupings and distinctions that, at least for this reviewer, should be treated with a level of caution. Curi ously,Weser-Bisse never defines her understanding of these terms?yet they are not clear-cut, as Sabine Becker, among others, has recently demonstrated. How ever, itgradually becomes clear that Weser-Bisse views programmatic realism' as a literarymode which blindly upholds dominant social discourses, and poetic realism' as a more critical form ofwriting, socially and psychologically deeper in its approach. This is a potentially significant distinction, and one which deserves a tighter terminological approach than is provided. At times, too, one misses wider literary connections: theworks ofWilhelm Raabe would undoubtedly have added to the scope of this study, and itwould have been interesting not only to focus on business and (occasionally) manual labour as aspects ofwork, but also to look at the impact of industrialization on the understanding ofwork, self, and society in late nineteenth-century Germany. Nevertheless, this remains an intriguing study, impressive in itsdetail and con vincing in its advocacy of work as a significant concept with which to read the fiction of Freytag, Ludwig, Keller, and Storm. It compellingly demonstrates that while both 'programmatic' and poetic' realists viewed work as a central theme of theirwritings, for the poetic realists' this involved balancing individual and social identities, often leading to conflict?a conflict that the 'programmatic realists' were keen to deny in their quest to preserve social harmony. King's College London Benedict Schofield GottfriedKeller und Theodor Fontane: Vom Realismus zurModerne. Ed. byUrsula Amrein and Regina Dieterle. (Schriften der Theodor Fontane Gesellschaft, 6) Berlin and New York: de Gruyter. 2008. 248 pp. 98. ISBN 978-3-11 019647-4. This volume presents the papers delivered at a symposium organized jointly by the Keller and Fontane Societies inZurich in 2006. Each side was clearly fielding MLR, 105.2, 2010 599 itsA-team: in addition to the editors, the contributors include Peter von Matt, Hugo Aust, Michael Andermatt, Rolf Zuberbuhler, Margret Walter-Schneider, Karl Pestalozzi, Roland Berbig, Peter Utz, Walter Morgenthaler, and Gabriele Radecke. In a clear introductory overview of their parallel lives, the two exactly contem porary writers are presented as central exponents of realism, whose literary careers overlap with early modernism, here understood as the breakthrough of literary naturalism. Dieterle's essay on Otto Brahm documents both their position as the two writers of the older generation most respected by the naturalists, and their interaction with the leading critic of the younger generation. The collection isdivided into four sections, each containing three essays. Under theuninviting heading 'Materialitat' are three fascinating contributions. In an essay comparing French translations of both authors, Utz reveals a certain instability in the superficially realist texts, opening theway to that sometimes risky search for 'Finessen' which, in itsbest examples, has benefited recent work on Fontane. The section is completed by comments on recent editorial work. Morgenthaler's account of difficulties faced by the editors of the recently completed edition ofDer griine Heinrich provides interesting insights, but is a shade disappointing, given thewriters previous robust contributions to the debate about the...