MLR, I03.1, 2008 26I Estridenciae ironia isan effortto map Latin American avant-garde art, toplace it in a sociological, ideological, and aesthetic context, and to illuminate those aspects that still distinguish new from old, revolutionary from traditional. Called to filla void, Brioso's researchmakes available amovement not widely known, and itoffersan aid to those interested in the cultural strategies thathave contributed to the shaping of modern Latin American art and literature. DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY BRUCE SWANSEY Wollt ihrden totalenKrieg? Eine semiotischeund linguistische Gesamtanalyse der Rede Goebbels' im Berliner Sportpalast am i8. Februar I943. By JENSKEGEL. (Reihe Germanistische Linguistik, 270) Tiubingen: Niemeyer. 2006. x+ 555 pp. ? 138. ISBN 978-3-484-31270-8. TheLanguageofViolence: AdolfHitler's 'Mein Kampf'. By FELICITY RASH.New York: Peter Lang. 2006. xiv+263 pp. ?19.20. ISBN 978-o-8204-8i87-6. 'Nationalsozialismus und kein Ende', Jens Kegel begins his preface. So it seems, though it is doubtless purely fortuitous that these two books appeared virtually si multaneously in theautumn of 2006. At firstone may wonder how anyone can write 555 pages on JosephGoebbels's famous totalwar speech of i8 February I943 (doubt less even Goebbels himself would scarcely have approved, given how critical he was of people who sat around forweeks deliberating on whether Akkumulator might be rendered inGerman by Sammler), yet Kegel's book is a remarkable study.His aim is to challenge the common view that the speech demonstrates how Goebbels was the supreme demagogue who excelled atmanipulating his audience. To believe that, Kegel argues, is to take the Sportpalast speech out of context; it must be interpreted against the background of the precise circumstances inwhich itwas delivered and examined from the point of view of the participants at the rally,not from that of latergenerations. As Chapter 4 explains, it was unnecessary forGoebbels tomanipu lateor persuade his audience: following the disaster of Stalingrad his Nazi audience was already convinced that only total war could ensure victory and save Europe from Bolshevism. Even before Goebbels opened his mouth a banner proclaimed: 'Totaler Krieg kiirzester Krieg'. Chapter 5, a discussion of the semiotic function of the Sportpalast as a venue for the rally, is fascinating in itself,but the realmeat of Kegel's study lies inhis exhaustive analysis of linguistic and rhetorical features of the speech (pp. 175-482). This is followed by excellent discussions of prosodic features ofGoebbels's delivery (stress patterns, pitch, pauses, tempo, volume, etc.) and hand movements (based on study of surviving newsreels), and of theaudience's behaviour: the speech, which lasted II 3minutes, occasioned 348 interruptions,whether verbal (shouts of 'Heil', 'Pfui', etc.) or non-verbal (I 29 bursts of applause and 3 I of laugh ter).All told, by bringing many disciplines (sociology, psychology, political science, linguistics) to bear, Kegel presents a really impressive interpretation of the speech; indeed, one cannot conceive of amore thoroughgoing analysis than this ('Das Totalste istgerade totalgenug', asGoebbels might have put it), though it would have assisted readerswithout immediate access toGoebbels's collected speeches tohave reproduced the complete text of the speech-i I,OOOwords would have added only twenty-five pages towhat is in any case amassive book; a CD with extracts from sound and film recordingswould have been illuminating, too.An indexwould have been appreciated. Felicity Rash's The Language of Violence presents itself as the firststudy to deal specificallywith the language ofHitler's Mein Kampf , which he had originally wanted to publish under the even less catchy titleViereinhalb Jahre gegen Luigen,Dummheit und Feigheit. Unlike Kegel's book, her studywill be accessible to those interested in 262 Reviews the subject butwithout much German because every quotation fromHitler's original text (in the I Ithedition of I942) isaccompanied by itsEnglish equivalent fromRalph Manheim's translation of 1992. Rash's book, in fact,provides a valuable commentary on thequality ofManheim's version (see, for instance, her remarks on pp. 59, 72, 85, 100, I I3, I I8, I29, I4I, i66, i68, 172, 249). The firstof her threemain chapters sur veys political developments inGermany from I87I to 1930, outlines Hitler's career up to I933 and considers influences on him, and then gives an account of thewriting and publication ofMein Kampf . The...