Focus Fall 1998.tif VOl 'i No.1 hll l~NB o c U S on / 10 C U S on L ITERATUR Editors Barbel Such Timothy Straubel Technical Manager Michael Shaughnessy Published by the German Graduate Student Governance Association of the University of Cincinnati Focus on Lilerafllr is published semiannually (Spring & Fall) by the German Graduate St'Udem Governance Association of the University of Cincinnati. Editor Barbel Such Book Review Editor Timothy Straubel Technical Manager Michael Shaughnessy Copy Edito rs Jennifer Creech Tonya Hampton Michael Rice Britta Kallin Subscriptions and Mailings Barbel Such SUBMISSIONS Focus on Literalltr welcomes article submissions from 10-25 pages on top ics related to German literary studies. Submissions are accepted continuously, but contributors must be students at the time of submission. Manuscripts must be submitted in t riplicate to the editor and should be prepared accord­ ing to the guidelines of the latest MLA Handbook. A self-addressed postcard should accompany the manuscript for acknowledgment of its receipt. BOOK REVIEWS Unsolicited book revie-ws of2-5 pages wjil be considered for publication, yet Focus on Literatur prefers to work with an established pool of reviewers. Interested persons are encouraged to inform the Book Review Editor. SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscriptions are SI5.00 for individuals and $22.00 fo r insliuu ions; individuals and institutions overseas add $5.00 for additional postage. CONTACT ADDRESS Send subscription fees and co rrespondence to Focus on LiUTfllllr, PO Box 2 10372, University of Cincinnati, C incinnat i, Ohio 4522 1·0372. Tel: (513) 556-2755 Fax: (513) 556-1991 Email : focusonlit@hotmail.com. COVER: ~The Book Fool- from Sebastjan Brant's Ship of Foo/es, London, 1570, counesy of rhe Archives and Rare Books Depanmem, University of Cincinnati Libraries. Cover design by Giana Morrell. We reserve the right to make any necessary editing changes without the express written consent of the authors. Member S Council of Editors of Learned Journals ISSN 1076-5697 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The second installment of the fifth volume of FoeM on Literalltr was made possible o nly with the continued commitment o f Dr. Judith Trent, Associate V ice President [or Research and Advanced Studies, and the officers of the University o f Cinci nnat i G raduate Student Governa nce Association. \Y/e are deeply indebted to them for their support. Our sincere thanks go to Oepartment Head P rofessor Sara Friedrichsmeyer, ou r Faculty Advisor Professor Richard Schade, and other faculty members o f the D epartment o f Germanic Languages and Literatures who have been very supportive of this publication. We are also grateful for the voluntary work o ffered by the graduate stude nts of t he German department. Special thanks to all members of o ur board of reviewers and advisors. Articles forthis issue were refereed by Professor Jerry Glenn (U of C incinnati) and Pro fessor Richard Schade (U o f C incinoati) . from tbe editor articles Focus on Literatur Volume 5, Number 2 Fall 1998 Contents Chrutianopolis: A Woman's Dystopia? JENNlFER L. CREECH Christian Weise's Masaniello: ReWriting the Peace of Westphalia EVELYN PREUSS Zwei unbekannte Gedichtwidmungen von Ricarda Huch. Vorstellung, Untersuchung und Deutung irn zeitgeschichdichen Kantext RALF ERlK WERNER book reviews Volker Braun. Die vier Werkzeugmacher T ankred Dorst. Harrys Kap! Simon Jakob Kreutner. Die Ehrlichs. Die Geschichte einer judischen Familie Ana Lang. Rauhnacht Ingrid Noll. Kalt ist der Abendhauch v, 73 85 107 115 117 119 122 124 Ilma Rakusa. Ein Strich durch aLles. Neunzig Neltnzeiler Wolfgang Wenger. Die Geschichte des Augenblicks i.nterviews Grundsatzlich hiuft alles, was mit Grass zu tun hat, tiber meinen Schreibtisch INTERVIEW MIT DANIELA H ERMES contributors announcements 126 130 135 147 148 vi From the Editor As Focus on Literatur completes its fifth volume, we are delighted to say Lhar with every issue the journal has succeeded in accomplishing itS originaJ goal, namely to provide a forum for graduate scudentS in German literaq studies to share their scholarly eHom beyond their local institutions. In addition, we are pleased that our readership continues to grow, both within and outside the U.S. Our Third Annual Graduate Student Conference Focus on Literatur, held October 9-10, 1998, was a great success. We are very happy that we have been able to create an annual event that supports our endeavor to in iti ate dialogue among graduate students in German. We anribure the large response to our call for papers and the outstanding success of the conference to the growi ng reputation of Focus as a scholarly journal of high quali ty. At th is year's conference, Dr. WoUWucherpfenrug from the University of Roskilde, Denmark, gave the keynote talk entitled, "Das lch und das All und das Weibliche: GroBenphantasien in der naturalistischen Subku ltur." His lecture was fo llowed by ten papers delivered by graduate stu.dentS from around the country. Their papers dealt w ith a wide variety of topics ranging from literature of the Early Modern period to literature from the 1990$. All papers demonstrated interesting and innovative scholarship and will be considered for publication in Focus in the spring 1999 issue. This issue opens with an article that was presented at this year's conference. It is not published as a proceedings paper but was refereed by our discernin g panel of reviewers as is standard procedure for all th e submissions we receive. In this article, Jen n ifer Creech analyzes the social position of women in Johann Valentin Andreae's Chrisrianopoiis in comparison to the early modern fema le. Creech contends that the Chriscianopolitan society proves to be dystopian for women. In the second article, Evelyn Preuss discusses Christian Weise's school drama Masaniello in relation to the author's political ethics and theories. Preuss shows that the play represents Weise's criticism or the political Structure of his time. VII In the t hird article, Ralf Werner examines twO previously undi scovered dedicat ion poems written by Ricarda Huch in 1941. Werner demonstrates that the dedications imply the author's com­ mentary on the situation of intellectuals in the Third Reich. In OUf book review section, we are pleased to introduce German-language books published between 1996 and 1998. We present novels by Volker Braun, Ana Lang. Ingrid Noll. Simon Jakob Kreutner, and \Xfolfgang Wenger. Furthermore, we introduce a collection of poems by lima Rakusa. A rev iew of :a new play by Tankred Dorst is also included. The final sect ion of this issue includes an interview with Dan iela H ermes, who is chief editor o f Gun ter G rass's works for Steidl-Verlag in Gottingen. H ermes talks about creation, publication, and reception of Grass's Ein weites Fe/d and the author's future projects. The interview was conducted in October 1997 in Koln by Herbert Moiler from Pen nsylvania State University. On a fi nal note, we would li ke to encourage graduate studentS in German to submit their papers for publicati on in FoClls on Lilerallir. We would also like to remind you th at we are currently so lic iting abstracts for our F o urth Annua l Graduate Student Conference to be held October 15-16, 1999. For further in formation, please refer to the advertisement in the Announcement section at the back of the journal. Birbel Such