438 Book Reviews such as Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen (Simon) and Hofmannsthal's libretto to Ariadne aufNaxos (Nolle), while the concise, well-selected bibliography of scholarship dealing with the dramas of German Romanticism (281 -87) will prove useful for the reader interested in doing further investigation into a field that clearly merits further study, but which already has benefited a great deal by this excellent collection of essays. University of Vermont Dennis F. Mahoney Martha B. Helfer, ed., Rereading Romanticism. Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik, vol. 47. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 2000. 406pp. This impressive volume will be of interest to anyone working in the field of Romanticism. Its main goal is to analyze "the structure of Romantic critical discourse, as well as its ties to twentieth-century discursive paradigms, in a series of case studies" (9). The sixteen "case studies" (which are arranged chronologically ) span the full time-line of German Romanticism and address various disciplines, including philosophy, literature, aesthetics, gender theory, science, and economic theory. The volume begins (Jane K. Brown) and ends Oürgen H. Petersen) with essays focusing upon Goethe, who, in many ways, serves to frame the Romantic era. Each of these essays, in turn, offers a completely different perspective on Goethe. Brown analyzes Goethe's earliest novel as a precursor to Romantic tales and argues that "the Romantic paradigm is already implicit in Werther, and that the Romantic tale is the true heir of Werther's plot and psychological insight" (12). Thus, whereas Werther is generally treated as the "climax of sensibility," Brown, by tracing Goethe's treatment of subjectivity and Werther's relationship to nature, argues that Werther is instead "the originary text of German Romanticism" (12). Petersen, in turn, closes the circle by examining the influence of Romantic works upon Goethe. He focuses upon Goethe's last novel, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre , and traces the influence of earlier Romantic works, especially those by Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, upon its nanative structure. He suggests that Friedrich Schlegel's famous discussion of "Universalpoesie," which emphasizes processes and continual change, is reflected (albeit unconsciously) in the style and form of Goethe's novel. A third essay on Die Wahlverwandtschaften rounds out the treatment of Goethe within this volume. This essay, by Helmut J. Schneider, examines the theme of landscape gardening from a social/cultural perspective and contends that the novel reflects Goethe's dramatic tum against English-style, sentimental landscaping . Goethe's rejection of such landscaping, Schneider argues, reflects Goethe's political views—especially regarding modern questions of mobility. (Tt is here interesting to note that Werner Schlick's book on Die Wahlverwandtschaften— also published in 2000—similarly probes the political aspects of Goethe's rejection of English-style gardening.) As many have done before, Schneider links the theme of marriage and its historical state of transition with the landscape projects: "Den Wahlverwandtschaften entsprechen die Wahllandschaften" (287). In his discussion, however, he especially focuses upon the themes of change and motion: Thus, for example, the opening up of the old walled gardens represents Goethe Yearbook 439 for example, the opening up of the old walled gardens represents the new social and political mobility of the modern age. The central focus of the volume, however, is on philosophy. While the majority of the essays reflect the monumental influence of Kant upon the Romantic era, several essays directly examine Kant's influence in various fields, including geography (Helmut Müller-Sievers), political philosophy (Jonathan Hess), and literary nanative (Winfried Menninghaus). Claudia Brodsky Lacour's essay is especially notable for its sophisticated discussion of the interplay between Hegelian and Kantian aesthetics. In this essay, she unpacks Hegel's rather cryptic claim to have built his aesthetics upon the "foundation" of Kant's philosophy. A leitmotiv throughout many of the more philosophical essays is the Romantic sense of movement, change, and process. Michel Chaouli's excellent and wellwritten essay examines the Romantic fragment within the framework of natural philosophy. He focuses especially upon the fragments as part of an inorganic (rather than organic) system that is characterized by oscillation, processes without teleological progression, and becoming rather than being. Two essays within this volume analyze the...