Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

This collection points to new directions in research on Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811). The 12 essays revisit historical and ideological contextual assumptions about Keist, revising assertions about many facets of the author's work. The book is divided into two sections of six essays, devoted respectively to literary and philosophical paradigms. Included is an interesting foreword by Paul Michael Lutzeler (entitled "Kleist in American Art, Film, and Literature"), an introduction, copious footnoting on each page, and a useful index. Among the comparative essays in the literary section are one by Gail Hart discussing Kleist and Kafka, and one by Steven Howe comparing Die Herrmannsschlacht to Henry V. And the offering by editors Jeffrey High and Elaine Chen breaks entirely new ground in comparing Schiller's Bohemian cup to the broken jug of Kleist's drama. Among the noteworthy philosophical essays are selections comparing Kleist to Fichte, Hegel, Adam Ferguson, and the less-known figure Joachim Spalding. Surprising, original, and eminently readable, this is an outstanding addition to serious scholarship about an author whose work is increasingly significant for contemporary readers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In this challenging book, Simons (Columbia Univ.) examines some of the most iconic works of German literature in an entirely new light. As he states, "The various meanings of 'the end' have been explored extensively ... but the interrelation between conclusions as acts of decision-making and textual endings has been neglected" (p. 3). Beginning with Gotthold Lessing's Emilia Galotti, Simons considers differences between reasoned endings for Lessing and the uncertainty reflected in the attenuated conclusion of Goethe's Werther. The author looks at several other writings by Goethe, including Iphigenia and Die Metamorphose der Pflanzen, and he asserts that Goethe's "poetics of metaphor and metonymy ... can be found in his literary [and also] scientific writing" (p. 83). As he considers endings in Heinrich von Kleist's prose and drama, Simons emphasizes that no chronological analysis is intended. On the contrary--for Simons, Kleist's "poetics of conclusion in and through literary genres marks the beginning of modernity" (p. 151). In the final chapter, "From Urteilskraft to Schlusskraft," the author discusses Holderlin, Hegel, and a passage by Kafka, thus inviting further consideration of his findings. Complete with footnotes, this book offers new departures for sophisticated scholars.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate stuents, researchers, faculty.