MLR, I0 I .3, 2006 877 of this series of essays, about myth and counter-myth, projections of identity and un dermining strategies, clashes of culture and collaborations between artists. Without doubt this collection would make an excellent addition to any university library. The essays on canonical texts may very well prove invaluable to undergraduate students while those on lesser-known writers, artists, and cinematographers will surely fulfil the same function for postgraduates and the academic community in general. UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM JEAN ANDREWS A New History of German Literature. Ed. by DAVID E. WELLBERY, JUDITHRYAN, HANS ULRICH GUMBRECHT,ANTON KAES, JOSEPHLEO KOERNER, and DOROTHEA E. VONMUYCKE.Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press. 2004. XXV+ 1004 pp. ?29.95. ISBN o-674-oI503-7. This is most certainly a 'new' history of German literature. Forget Gervinus or Robertson or De Boor/Newald, or any of the standard surveys of German 'poetical' or 'national' literature. The editors' introduction speaks instead of a 'forceful critique of traditional literary history'. It strikes at the heart of the notion of the continuumof so called 'literature', with its teleologies, its ideologies, its reductionisms. It concentrates instead on momentary interruptions in that flow of time, Walter Benjamin's 'leaps', encounters noted for their singularity; indeed one might speak of 'epiphanies'. The aim of this approach is therefore not summaries and catalogues, but the exploration of the discontinuous in search of 'sudden illumination'. How does this look in practice? Itmeans taking 'German' in itswidest sense, the language as it evolves from the ninth century to the twenty-first, concretely, from the Merseburg Charms to the death of W. G. Sebald. It involves the language in transition, as well as non-standard forms of the language such as Yiddish (but not, it should be noted, regional dialects), and also the language of so much expression before I700, Latin. It takes cognizance of Germany's central part in theHoly Roman Empire and shows an openness to its cultural and regional differences. It accepts that the notion of literature must be encompassing and commodious enough to embrace theology, philosophy, music, travel, autobiography, cultural events, and public debates, 'happenings', and encounters. It reflects 'alterations', not the permanence that weighs down traditional accounts, the awareness that cultural artefacts are the expression of their age. Citing Herder's Shakespeare essay (1773) and August Wilhelm Schlegel's lectures, it stresses the sense of awork's own times and conditions, its relations with other cultures, and its place in a never-ceasing process. Who isgoing to read ahistory of literature made up of 'illuminations'? The Zielpub likum is an enquiring reader who may access one literary event as he or she chooses, who can also combine, read on, refer back and forwards at will. With the volume's wide terms of reference, the reader may move between cultures, periods, and disci plines, following strands in philosophy, music, or poetry. A knowledge of German is not essential, indeed few articles even presuppose it. But, inevitably, itwill also be read by students and scholars. I suspect, indeed I predict, that some articles will be the staple of countless future student essays, and why not? There ismuch here that lies beyond the scope of normal German studies courses in the English-speaking world. But it isheartening to see the editors going for a different kind of 'continuum' by not dismissing whole periods of German culture as 'irrelevant', as so many university curricula now do. They believe that one has everything to gain by referring, say, Brecht to Grimmelshausen, Hofmannsthal to Mozart, Grillparzer to the Baroque, to cite just a few examples. It is impressive to see the range of scholars, mainly from the USA, assembled for this task, many of them 878 Reviews established, some not. It bodes well for the future of our subject, at least on those shores. Each contributor has been given his or her head towrite on a chosen subject as best seems fit. That is,within the scope of five pages with a short bibliography. (These bibliographies are especially useful in presenting an account of German literature in English translation.) Most of the articles are crisp, summary, and readable accounts that take...