Focus Spring 1996.tif S on Sample COpy / Ansichtsexemplar I lo c u s on LITERATUR Edited by Jeffrey Dean Todd Tanya Hampton Published by the German Graduate Student Association of the University of Cincinnati Focus on Lilerallfris publish~d semiannually (Spring &. Fall) by the German Gradu:ll~ Student Govern3nc~ Association of the Univ~rsity of Cincinnati. Ed itor Jeffrey Dean Todd Book R~vicw Editor Tanya Hampton T~chn ica l Assistant Michael Shaughnessy Copy Editors Christina Bonner Britta Kallin SUBMISS IONS Focus on Lireracllr welcomes article submissions from 10-25 pages on topics related to German literary studies. Submissions ar~ accepted continuously, but contributors must b~ students at th~ time of submission. Manuscripts mUSt be submitl ~d in triplicate to the editor and should be prepared accord. ing to the guidelines of the latest MLA Handbook. A self~addressed post­ card should accompa ny [he manuscript for acknowledgmem of its receipt. BOOK REVIEWS Unsolicit~d book r~views of 2·5 pages will be considered for publication, y~t Focm on Lieeratur prefers to work with an estolblished pool of r~view­ ers. Int~rested persons are encouraged to inform the Book Review Editor. SUBSCRlPTIONS Annull subscriptions are $ 12.00 for individuals and $22.00 for institut ions; individuals and institutions ov~rseas add 5S.00 for additional postage. CONTACT ADDRESS Send subscription fe~s and 0111 ot h~r correspond~nc~ to Focus on LiCtralllr, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Cincin· nati, Cincinnati, O hio 45221 -0372. Tel : (513) 556-2755 Fax: (S 13) 5S6~1991. COVER: MThe Book Fool" from Sebastian Brant's Sh,p o/Fooles, London, 1570, courtesy of the Archives and Rare Books Department, University o f Cincinnati Libraries. Cover design by Giana Morrell. Memb~r § Council of EdilOfS of Learned Journals ISSN 1076-5697 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This first installment in the third volume of FoClts on Lite:atur was possible only with the continuous commitment o f Dr. JU?llh Trent, Associate Vice President for Research and Advanced Studies, and the officers of the University of Cincinnati Graduate Stude~t Gove~nance Association: Lori Sohns (presidenr), Mike Hughes (V I~e Prest~ent), and Brent Van Zwaluwenberg (Treasurer). We app reciate their en+ thusiastic sup port. . Department Head Sara Fri edrichsmeyer and [he entire facul.ty of Germanic Languages and Literatures deserve o.ur deepest groutude for helping out in so many ways. We owe speclallha~ks [Q the fol­ lowing people: to the Faculty Advisor to Focu~ , Pr.oL RIchard Schade, fo r his advice and suppo rt , which help us mallltalll a nec~ssary.sense of continuity; [Q Prof. Manfred Zimmermal~n, who provtded timely advice in editorial questions; to Greg Redding, one of the found~rs and a fo rmer editor of Focus, who was extremely eager.[O pr~v, de coun sel on issue layout. Thanks also lO Jeff Hull for read , ~g art ,~l es. Special thanks also to the following people .for evaluating articles for this issue o f FoCl/s: Roswitha Burwick (Scnpps College), .Erh~rd Friedrichsmeyer (U ni versity o r C incinnali), Jerry Glen n 0-'OIverslty of C incinnati), Clayton Koelb (University o f North Carolina , Chapel Hill) . from the edi tor art icles Focus on Literatur Volume 3, N umber 1 Spring 1996 Contents Bekenmnis zum Einzelgangertum: H ans Sahls Exilroman Di~ Wenigen Imd die Vielen NICOLE ZOUNER G reed and Economic Self-Interest in Kleist' s "Verlobung in St. Do mingo" JOHN S. ANGERMEIER y < 2 1 Franz Kafkas Der Proze!: 3 I Die Problematik des Schrifts lellerseins als sozialer Kon£l ikL C HRIS P RANG book reviews Gumer Kunert. Baum • Stein . Belon 47 Schaue» entzi/Jern 49 Zsuzsanna Gahse. Obersetzt: Eine Entzweiung 51 Erica Fischer. Aimee Imd Jaguar. Ejne Ljebesgesehjehte 53 Jeannene Lander. Oberbleibsel. Eine kleine Erotik deT Kuche 56 T homas Kling. naehl. siehl. gertit 61 Reinhard Jirg!. Abscbied von den Femden Hans Magnus Enzensberger. DiderolS SchlllCen Josef H aslinger. OpemhaJJ. Michael Kleeberg. Barfiifi interview "Creating the Statue out of the Mass of Clay" AN JNTERVrEW WITH U RSULA HEGI contributors announcements 63 67 70 72 75 85 87 VI F ROM T HE EDITOR This year has seen a good deal o f scholarly acti vity among the grad u­ ate student ranks, and FoCl/s on Literalltr has done its best to be in the thick of it. We have made contact with graduate student conferences ;It the uni versi ti es o f Pennsylva nia and North C arolina , C hapel Hill th ro ugh our contaCt persons Norman Roessler and C hr is Pran g, and our Book Review Editor T a nya Hampton allended th e Ya le Gradu­ ate Student Conference, whi ch took place on March 29-3 1, 1996. T onya acq uai nted the audience with FOCi/5 and info rmed the m o f Our own upcoming Focus con fe rence. Since then. a num ber o f our col­ leagues have notified us and expressed their intent ions to participate i ~ FocltS in some way, whether by submin ing; essays and book re­ views for publication, o r by submilt.ing abstracts fo r th e Foclls co n­ ference. By the way, Tanya was very impressed with the Ya le confer­ ~nce: nOt merel y by its interesting topics, but by how well·o rganized It was, and how smoothly it came off. \VIe owe a spec ial thanks to Yale's Mary Ballard Paddock fo r gi ving T onya th e program SpOt in which to int roduce Fonts. W e hope t hat our ow n co nference comes o ff as smoot hl y. Th is confe rence, co-sponsored by Focus and the Uni versity o f C incinnati's German Department, will be devoted to 20th century German , Aus­ trian, and Swiss Literature, and will take place on October 11-12, 1996. It is Our fi rst annual confe rence. We have received a good re­ sponse , will have a fuJi menu for those in altendance , and hope to see you there . . . I recommend the web surfers among you take the opportun ity lO V ISit o ur Web si te at th e fo llowing inte rn et add ress: (http :// www.uc.edu/ -fourmaglfocus.htm). Our Technical Assistant and all­ rOllnd computer guy, Mike Shaughnessy, has put together a very nice and useful Web site full of links to o ther German Studi es sites. And now to th e co ntents o f the present issue. As in previous issues of Foem, you'll see that we cont inue lO affirm our committmem to inqui ry into the German-American literary relationship , La presem origin al scholarship on classic German authors, and to offer reviews of well-known and less well-known contemporary German-language VII autho rs. But for all this continuity . we have a num be r o f new thin gs on our slate this issue. N icole Z oell ner's articl e recommends to us a novel by Hans Sahl , Ole Wen igen Itnd die Vieletl , which a number of respected literary authoriti es have praised as the quintessential e,x ile novel, but to which the goddess of literary fo rtune has no t bee n kmd. Steve Angermeier argues for an economic readi ng of Kleist 's "Verlobung in Sl. Domingo," suggesting economic sel f-i nterest is lh,e principal facto r mot ivating character action in t he nove~la . C h,n s Prang's Kafka essay is indicati ve of a new turn in Kafka studIes, whI ch ex plo res the social dimensio n of a suffering traditi onally interpreted as individual and ex istential. Finally, Laura Jackson intervi ews t he Ge rman-American autho ress U rsula H egi about h er latest book pro ject. a collection of interviews with o ther peo ple in her positi on, people born in Germany but now living in the United States. The boo k review section brings you we11-esu blished amhors, such as Kunert and Enzensberger, as well as imeresting lesser-k nown writ­ ers: a nice mix o f t he familiar and the less familia r. H ere's a sampling of some of the themes: te rro rism in Vienna (Haslinger); th e attrac­ ti on o f life in the margins of society fo r people who have li ved in the ce nter of the page fo r most of their lives (Fischer, Kleeberg); linguis­ t ic experimentat ion Uirgl, Kli ng); East-West German retat ions Uirgl); food, its se miotics and social sign ifi can ce (Lander); and finally, t ran s­ lation (Gahse). Did you know that the eighteenth-ce lllu ry French Encyclopedist Denis Didero l was a Horspiel autho r? Read Norman Roessler's review of En zensberger to find out why. Jeffrey Dean T odd