260 Reviews man with wide-ranging interestswho was also a proponent both of free trade and of political freedom. Elise has attracted awider interestover the lastdecade only because of growing interest in letter-writing as a genre; she has, however, rarely been given credit forher pedagogical writings or forher political interests. Spalding's detailed reconstruction of Elise's lifeand writings sets out to 'reclaim' the lifeof thewoman who was once described as the 'muse ofHamburg's intellectual lifeat the end of the eighteenth century'. Elise enjoyed a privileged education and moved easily in thecharmed circles of the Hamburg Enlightenment. She honed her writing skills in a steady correspondence with her brother as he studied and travelled, aswell as inpoetic experiments and other literaryendeavours. Derogatory references byHamann, who admittedly never actu allymet her, to 'dieMannin' and the 'Delilah on theElbe River' seem to confirm her active role in the local literaryand intellectual salons. She never came near to marrying either of theonly twomen that she had loved:August Gottfried Schwalb and Lessing (indeed, Lessing had become secretly engaged toEva Konig shortlybefore Elise even met him). However, the arrival of JohannHeinrich Campe inHamburg in 1777 pro vided theopportunity to realize a growing ambition to see her own work published. She contributed dialogues tohis Pddagogische Unterhandlungen and then over thirty pieces to his extraordinarily successful Kleine Kinderbibliothek, though Elise's au thorshipwas soon forgottenas Campe paid scant tribute tohis contributor and it was then long assumed thathe himself had written everything.Her name was not attached to thepolitical writings of the I790S forother reasons. Despite the liberal atmosphere thatprevailed inHamburg and thepositive response of theHamburg intellectual elite to the events of I789, the authorities became edgy after a local uprising inAugust I79 1.The anonymous pamphlet Freiheit, which appeared soon afterwards, sought to convert thehotheads to themoderate liberal course: a dialogue between two cousins, one recently returned fromAmerica, concludes with a definition of freedom and true citizenship forthebenefit of politically untrained (i.e. rebellious) individuals.While it isoften attributed toJohannAlbert Heinrich Reimarus, Spalding argues persuasively that thepamphlet was based on Elise's shortmanuscript treatise on natural civil law. This combined the teachings of Hobbes and Locke in defining the preconditions of Enlightenment: civil libertyguaranteed by the state and moral inner freedom, in which independent thinkers,educators, andwriters would educate the citizenry.This essay remained unpublished, though itseems tohave been circulated among a limited circle. Both works were remarkable, particularly as thework of a woman; however, neither thepamphlet nor the essay had much impact in themaelstrom of the 1790s. Spalding makes some big claims forher subject.Was she really the 'most significant female leader of theGerman Enlightenment', the first German exponent ofHobbes and Locke? Spalding's account suggests thatElise Reimarus was a trulyexceptional woman who played a significant role in the enlightened elite of a truly exceptional city.The writings that are appended to the text reveal her as a talented and versatile writer with wide-ranging interests.Spalding's minutely detailed biography does in deed 'reclaim' the 'Muse ofHamburg', though italso underlines the exceptionality, and provinciality, ofHamburg. GONVILLE ANDCAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE JOACHIM WHALEY Unlesbarkeit: Melancholie und Schrift bei Goethe. By JORGLOFFLER. (Philologische Studien und Quellen, I93) Berlin: Schmidt. 2005. I77 pp. E29.80. ISBN 978 3-503-07943-8. This book has an important aim: to describe the formal literary characteristics of melancholy inGoethe's writing, as opposed to those elements that derive from the MLR, I02.1, 2007 26i intellectual tradition. Werther, Tasso, and 'Trilogie der Leidenschaft' serve as ex amples, their melancholy being assimilated to a post-structuralist theoryof literature. That is to say, themelancholy character of theworks is interpreted as ameta-literary meditation on the aporias of literary semiosis itself.The theoretical framework is provided byDerrida and deMan, with occasional reference to Walter Benjamin and Niklas Luhmann. While Benjamin's work-in particular his Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels naturally suggests itself in this context, it isworth noting that there is nothing in JorgLoffler's account ofDerrida and de Man that addresses melancholy explicitly or directly. It is deMan who looms largest. Literature sometimes makes visible the inevitable non-convergence of itsmeaning and the vehicles of thatmeaning. One response to thismight...