Description: From the earliest magical charms and mythical sagas to the brilliance and desolation of 20th-century fiction, poetry, and film, this illuminating reference book invites readers to experience the full range of German literary culture and to investigate for themselves its disparate and unifying themes.
Brief description: David E. Wellbery is LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor, University of Chicago.
Review Quotes: What is truly extraordinary about this collection of 200 essays is that it succeeds masterfully in distilling the essence of the German literary and intellectual legacy, spanning well over 800 years. Each only several pages long, the essays limn not just the great names, such as Hegel, Kant, Goethe, Beethoven, Freud, and many more but also literary works, themes, historical moments, pieces of music, etc. Leading specialists, scholars, and critics offer a wide variety of contributions covering, from the 13th century onward, such varied topics as early German sagas, Nazi cinema, theatrical premiers, and the Yiddish Renaissance. The coverage actually stretches all the way to the 21st century with a single piece, an essay about W. G. Sebald, who died in 2001.--Ali Houissa "Library Journal" (3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM)