Die deutsche Literature vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Barock: Zweiter Teil. Das Zeitalter derReformation 1520-1570 by Hans RupprichReview by: Jeffrey AshcroftThe Modern Language Review, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Oct., 1977), pp. 993-995Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3724761 .

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Reviews 993

Hermann von Sachsenheim, Die Mirin. Nach der Wiener Handschrift ONB 2946 heraus- gegeben und kommentiert. By HORST DIETER SCHLOSSER. (Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters, N.F. 3) Wiesbaden: Brockhaus. I974. 264 pp. DM 20.

It is very much to be welcomed that this useful series, for too long quiescent after the appearance of Krogmann's edition of Der Ackerman in I954 and Neumann's of Gregorius in 1958, should have come to life again, this time with a late medieval text. Since the war there has been a renewed interest in late medieval literature, part of which has been focused on the very appealing figure of Hermann von Sachsenheim (Huschenbrett, Blank, and Glier, to name only these, have all reminded us of his literary importance). For these reasons it is good that one of this poet's more attractive works should be made readily available, the more so since the 1878 edition by Martin is now unobtainable. Dr Schlosser has avoided the easy solution of a simple reprint because he was rightly dissatisfied with Martin's failure to give explanations for his textual emendations, quite apart from the odd carelessness or downright contradiction which mars the earlier edition.

The present edition is based on the five MSS and five printed versions of Die Mirin available at the time (one further MS came to light subsequently and could only be taken into account in an appendix). Dr Schlosser shares the present widespread scepticism about the possibility of reconstructing the original text and argues convincingly that not merely the printed versions of the sixteenth century, but also the MSS which preceded them, testify to the reception of this work, rather than its production in the poet's workshop. If the hunt for an original is therefore abandoned, and if the size of editions in this series made it impossible to present all the material and variants available, then Schlosser had no choice but to base his edition on one MS alone, on MS 'A'. This decision is fortunately less open to criticism than such choices often are. The editor was rightly concerned to establish a version closest to the audience originally addressed by the poet, and this is persuasively suggested for this particular MS by the presence in it, used as a slip fold, of a document fragment from the chancery of Duke Albrecht VI of Austria, the husband of Mechthild von der Pfalz, to whom Hermann dedicated Die Mirin and of whom Piiterich records in 1462 that she possessed a copy of this work. The editor therefore comes as close as can be expected to his proclaimed intention of providing a text such as was available to the earliest audience. He has wisely remained content with the minimum of critical corrections, indicating them by italic print and explaining them in footnotes (although page 34 of the Introduction should be consulted for minor changes which are not so indicated). The footnotes also provide something of a literary commentary of restricted scope. The editor is concerned here not so much with a hunt for literary parallels as with providing information about the literary, social, and political context necessary to an under- standing of the allusions in what is commonly accepted as a 'Schliisselerzahlung'. A glossary of unusual words and of names is also included. D. H. GREEN

D. H. GREEN TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Die deutsche Literatur vom spaten Mittelalter bis zum Barock: Zweiter Teil. Das Zeitalter der Reformation 1520-1570. By HANS RUPPRICH. (Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart. By HELMUT DE BOOR and RICHARD NEWALD. Vol. IV, 2) Miinchen: Beck. 1973. xii + 554 pp. DM 34.

This second part of Rupprich's contribution to the De Boor/Newald literary history, published since his death in 1972, will stand as a monument to his scholarship. It is an encyclopedic conspectus of sixteenth-century writers and works. It is not an attempt to construct an overall interpretation of the period, and its value lies in the

Reviews 993

Hermann von Sachsenheim, Die Mirin. Nach der Wiener Handschrift ONB 2946 heraus- gegeben und kommentiert. By HORST DIETER SCHLOSSER. (Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters, N.F. 3) Wiesbaden: Brockhaus. I974. 264 pp. DM 20.

It is very much to be welcomed that this useful series, for too long quiescent after the appearance of Krogmann's edition of Der Ackerman in I954 and Neumann's of Gregorius in 1958, should have come to life again, this time with a late medieval text. Since the war there has been a renewed interest in late medieval literature, part of which has been focused on the very appealing figure of Hermann von Sachsenheim (Huschenbrett, Blank, and Glier, to name only these, have all reminded us of his literary importance). For these reasons it is good that one of this poet's more attractive works should be made readily available, the more so since the 1878 edition by Martin is now unobtainable. Dr Schlosser has avoided the easy solution of a simple reprint because he was rightly dissatisfied with Martin's failure to give explanations for his textual emendations, quite apart from the odd carelessness or downright contradiction which mars the earlier edition.

The present edition is based on the five MSS and five printed versions of Die Mirin available at the time (one further MS came to light subsequently and could only be taken into account in an appendix). Dr Schlosser shares the present widespread scepticism about the possibility of reconstructing the original text and argues convincingly that not merely the printed versions of the sixteenth century, but also the MSS which preceded them, testify to the reception of this work, rather than its production in the poet's workshop. If the hunt for an original is therefore abandoned, and if the size of editions in this series made it impossible to present all the material and variants available, then Schlosser had no choice but to base his edition on one MS alone, on MS 'A'. This decision is fortunately less open to criticism than such choices often are. The editor was rightly concerned to establish a version closest to the audience originally addressed by the poet, and this is persuasively suggested for this particular MS by the presence in it, used as a slip fold, of a document fragment from the chancery of Duke Albrecht VI of Austria, the husband of Mechthild von der Pfalz, to whom Hermann dedicated Die Mirin and of whom Piiterich records in 1462 that she possessed a copy of this work. The editor therefore comes as close as can be expected to his proclaimed intention of providing a text such as was available to the earliest audience. He has wisely remained content with the minimum of critical corrections, indicating them by italic print and explaining them in footnotes (although page 34 of the Introduction should be consulted for minor changes which are not so indicated). The footnotes also provide something of a literary commentary of restricted scope. The editor is concerned here not so much with a hunt for literary parallels as with providing information about the literary, social, and political context necessary to an under- standing of the allusions in what is commonly accepted as a 'Schliisselerzahlung'. A glossary of unusual words and of names is also included. D. H. GREEN

D. H. GREEN TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Die deutsche Literatur vom spaten Mittelalter bis zum Barock: Zweiter Teil. Das Zeitalter der Reformation 1520-1570. By HANS RUPPRICH. (Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart. By HELMUT DE BOOR and RICHARD NEWALD. Vol. IV, 2) Miinchen: Beck. 1973. xii + 554 pp. DM 34.

This second part of Rupprich's contribution to the De Boor/Newald literary history, published since his death in 1972, will stand as a monument to his scholarship. It is an encyclopedic conspectus of sixteenth-century writers and works. It is not an attempt to construct an overall interpretation of the period, and its value lies in the

63 63

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mass of information and the authority with which Rupprich marshals this. As a reference work which eschews synthesis it contrasts with the original aims of the series which, according to the preface of De Boor's first volume, set out in the early post-war years to promote not just 'Wissen' but 'geistige Verantwortung', a sense of cultural heritage and identity. Rupprich's volume in a certain sense registers how the status and pretension of Germanistik have changed over the decades; making no sustained attempt at orientation or evaluation, as detached from the old Geistes- geschichte as from newer radical orthodoxies, it takes its stand on a positivistic conception of literary history as a compendium of facts.

Retaining the rational typography and layout of other volumes in the series, the book follows a coherent scheme. After chapters on the issues and personalities of the Reformation, and on the writings of the Reformers and their opponents, come chapters treating German and neo-Latin literature by genre - narrative, lyric, drama, didactic and learned writing. The inclusion of neo-Latin writers and of such fields as emblem books and the technical literature of humanist education and science, offers the student a valuable if summary introduction to aspects of the period less familiar to most. There is a copious bibliography, chronological tables, which serve both part-volumes, and an index of well over 2,000 entries, which regrettably does not cover the first part.

It has to be said that Rupprich's work is impressive as much for the number of writers and works discussed as for the value of his comments on individual authors or texts. Indeed, the treatment of major figures is decidedly uneven in length and quality. Thus the student will derive little sense from Chapter 3 of Wickram's social- historical interest or of Fischart's originality and appeal. A disproportionate space is allotted in the same chapter to minor collections of Schwdnke. Rupprich's discussion of literary texts is most confident and expansive where a work can and has to be situated in a context of demonstrable historical evidence, like the Historia von D. Johann Fausten, though a three-page exposition of the genesis of the material peters out in an excessively long synopsis of the Historia and a brief discussion of it which is not averse to begging questions ('der Roman is wohliiberlegt komponiert', or 'Ganz im Sinne Luthers triumphiert der Glaube uber das Wissen', p. I96). In the chapter on the drama, where individual achievements are less important than the overall patterns of development, Rupprich's approach can be more positively valuable, for its lucidity and completeness. The desire to be factually comprehensive makes some parts of the book, like the sections on the neo-Latin lyric or historio- graphical and topographical writing, little more than a catalogue raisonnee.

More detrimental to the book as a literary history is the effect of splitting the two- part volume at 1520. On the one hand, certainly, it allows the Reformation to emerge as a major influence and interference factor in literary developments. Yet, while Chapter i contains a helpful account of the issues and events of the Reformation, Rupprich cannot be said to have built consistently on this in the rest of the volume, so as to bring out either the particular contribution of the Reformation to literature or that of vernacular writers to the Reformation. Thus the discussion of Hans Sachs actually says little about works - Die Wittenbergisch Nachtigall and the Disputation, to name two which undergraduates might seek information about - which made Sachs, in Lessing's words, 'ein ganz sonderbares Moment in der Reformationsgeschichte'. Similarly, consideration of Luther as a writer of German and Bible translator is relatively cursory. Moreover, the chronological split of the two part-volumes proves inflexible. Brant and Murner are treated almost entirely in the earlier part, so that the reader cannot readily assess the extent to which the causes of the Reformation may be reflected in their work before 1520. Likewise, Hutten's Inspicientes is discussed in Part i as an aspect of his renewal of Lucian, but only mentioned again in passing for its contribution

Reviews 994

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Reviews Reviews 995 995 to Reformation satire. When in Chapter 3 the genre scheme is resumed, the split at 1520 impairs the depiction of literary developments, the coherence of which is not radically disturbed by the Reformation. So the reader does not find it easy to grasp the relationship of Eulenspiegel or Fortunatus (itself inadequately treated in the first part-volume) with prose fiction after 1520.

These criticisms must in fairness be set against Rupprich's solid scholarship. Nor can the inherent problems of defining and evaluating the literature of this period be denied. The defects of the book are inextricable from its merits as an immensely informed and instructive compendium. But it does flatten out the contours, reducing the uneven landscape of sixteenth-century literature to plan form, infinitely detailed but devoid of relief.

JEFFREY ASHCROFT UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS

Anton Ulrich, Duc de Braunschweig- Wolfenbuettel (1633-1714): Un prince romancier au XVIIeme siecle. By ETIENNE MAZINGUE. (These presentee devant l'universite de Paris IV - le I6 Mars 1974) Lille: Service de Reproduction des Theses, Universite de Lille III. I974. 2 vols. 897 pp.

Mazingue's formidable dissertation on Anton Ulrich of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel is an ambitious undertaking. He sets himself the difficult task of seeing Anton Ulrich's novels not only as typical products of the German Baroque, but also as works which reflect the author's personal, political, and literary aspirations. The study is divided into two parts, the first of which is principally biographical, but which also describes the prince's literary career and the genesis of his novels. The second part deals more closely with the novels themselves, concentrating on three main aspects: the author's 'personal' involvement in his own work and his inclusion in the narrative, in disguised form, of contemporary events; the element of 'Kulturpatriotismus' and the attempt to establish a specifically German form of heroic novel by means of a new emphasis on Christian values and themes; and the historical novel and its relationship to the political realities of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Mazingue's groundwork is impressive. He makes extensive use of the available manuscripts, and his documentation is full and precise. The appendices (more than

50 pages) are full of valuable information. They cover Anton Ulrich's correspond- ence, the relevant correspondence of other members of his family and of his literary acquaintances, documents of biographical importance, and also manuscripts and published works relating to his poetry and theatrical writings. There are also extensive appendices dealing with Aramena and Octavia which list the available manuscripts, analyse plot structure and chronology, and provide plot summaries, genealogical tables, etc. There is also a good bibliography and three useful indexes.

The principal weakness of the study is its bulk. Much of this is due to the use of extensive quotation in French translation in the text, with the original German given in the rather unwieldy footnotes. The sheer weight of the apparatus does not make for easy reading. In the sections on Aramena Mazingue sometimes repeats at some length the findings of previous scholars, and at times his acknow- ledgement of his debt to Spahr's important work Anton Ulrich and Aramena is less than generous. Another weakness is that Mazingue's concern for detail occasionally leads him to treat all evidence as having the same value. At times this produces some fairly dubious arguments; the evidence for his assertion that Anton Ulrich effectively took over the government in I667 (p. Io6), for instance, or for attributing the dedicatory sonnets in Aramena to Anton Ulrich rather than to Birken (p. 303), is really very insubstantial.

to Reformation satire. When in Chapter 3 the genre scheme is resumed, the split at 1520 impairs the depiction of literary developments, the coherence of which is not radically disturbed by the Reformation. So the reader does not find it easy to grasp the relationship of Eulenspiegel or Fortunatus (itself inadequately treated in the first part-volume) with prose fiction after 1520.

These criticisms must in fairness be set against Rupprich's solid scholarship. Nor can the inherent problems of defining and evaluating the literature of this period be denied. The defects of the book are inextricable from its merits as an immensely informed and instructive compendium. But it does flatten out the contours, reducing the uneven landscape of sixteenth-century literature to plan form, infinitely detailed but devoid of relief.

JEFFREY ASHCROFT UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS

Anton Ulrich, Duc de Braunschweig- Wolfenbuettel (1633-1714): Un prince romancier au XVIIeme siecle. By ETIENNE MAZINGUE. (These presentee devant l'universite de Paris IV - le I6 Mars 1974) Lille: Service de Reproduction des Theses, Universite de Lille III. I974. 2 vols. 897 pp.

Mazingue's formidable dissertation on Anton Ulrich of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel is an ambitious undertaking. He sets himself the difficult task of seeing Anton Ulrich's novels not only as typical products of the German Baroque, but also as works which reflect the author's personal, political, and literary aspirations. The study is divided into two parts, the first of which is principally biographical, but which also describes the prince's literary career and the genesis of his novels. The second part deals more closely with the novels themselves, concentrating on three main aspects: the author's 'personal' involvement in his own work and his inclusion in the narrative, in disguised form, of contemporary events; the element of 'Kulturpatriotismus' and the attempt to establish a specifically German form of heroic novel by means of a new emphasis on Christian values and themes; and the historical novel and its relationship to the political realities of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Mazingue's groundwork is impressive. He makes extensive use of the available manuscripts, and his documentation is full and precise. The appendices (more than

50 pages) are full of valuable information. They cover Anton Ulrich's correspond- ence, the relevant correspondence of other members of his family and of his literary acquaintances, documents of biographical importance, and also manuscripts and published works relating to his poetry and theatrical writings. There are also extensive appendices dealing with Aramena and Octavia which list the available manuscripts, analyse plot structure and chronology, and provide plot summaries, genealogical tables, etc. There is also a good bibliography and three useful indexes.

The principal weakness of the study is its bulk. Much of this is due to the use of extensive quotation in French translation in the text, with the original German given in the rather unwieldy footnotes. The sheer weight of the apparatus does not make for easy reading. In the sections on Aramena Mazingue sometimes repeats at some length the findings of previous scholars, and at times his acknow- ledgement of his debt to Spahr's important work Anton Ulrich and Aramena is less than generous. Another weakness is that Mazingue's concern for detail occasionally leads him to treat all evidence as having the same value. At times this produces some fairly dubious arguments; the evidence for his assertion that Anton Ulrich effectively took over the government in I667 (p. Io6), for instance, or for attributing the dedicatory sonnets in Aramena to Anton Ulrich rather than to Birken (p. 303), is really very insubstantial.

This content downloaded from 62.109.6.2 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:10 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions