Focus Spring 1994.tif o c U S 011 I Sample COpy / Ansichtsexemplar I I I i ~ I ITERATUR Edited by H erman J. De Vries, J r. J. Gregory Redding David N. Coury Published by the German Graduate Student Association of the University of Cincinnati Foclls on Litmllllr is publi~hed semiannually (Spring &. Fall) by the German Graduate Student Association or the University of Cincinnati. Editor I lerman J. De Vries, J r. AssiSl2nt Editor Dnld N. Coury Book Re\'iew Editor J. Gregory Redding COPl Ed itors Sriua Kallin Hans-Peter Schulz. JefCrey Todd SUBMISSIONS Fo~t/S on Literatllr welcomes article submissions from 10-20 pages on topi~ related 10 German literary SLUdil"S. Submissions are :accepted continuousl}', but contribul.ors must be studems at the time of submission. ManuKripu mu~t be suhmiued in triplicate to the editor and should be prepared accord· ing to the guidelines of the latest M.LA Ilandbook. A self·addre~sed postcard should accompany the manuscript for acknoll.·ledgment of itS receipt Con­ tributors whose submissions are 2ccepted for publication will need to sub· mil a tin21 version on computer diskette. BOOK REVIEWS Unsolicited book reviews or 2·; pages will be considered for publication, yet Foclls on Liltmlllr prefers to work with an established pool of revie"'·ers. Interested pel"!'ons 2re encournged to inform the Book Review Editorof their areas of elCpen ise and interest. SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscriptions are $15.00 for indn'iduals and S22.00 ror institutions; individuals and institutions overseas add S5.00 for additional pom.g('. ~nd subSCription rees and 211 other correspondence to Focus on Litt!ratllr, Depart· ment ofGerm:mic L2ngu2ges and Literatures, Universit}' of Cincinnati, Cin cinnati OH 4522 1-0372. CONT ACT AODRESS Focus 011 Litem/llr, l'epanment or Germanic Languages and Literatures, Un iversity of Cincinnati, Cincinn2ti, Ohio 45221-0372. Tel: (513) 55&-1755 p"" (513) 556-1991 (:OVER: ~r B,icMmarT from Sebastian Brant's Sh,p 0/ FooJeJ, London, 1570, counes)' of the ArchiVes 2nd Rare Books Depanment, University of Cincinnati Libraries. Cover design by Giana Morrell. ISSN 1076-5697 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As we have discovered over the past year, foundi~g a jour~al and publishing its first issue is a task which relies on the aid a~d assistance f " eli "d -, A numL-r of persoJt5 deserve special acknowl-a many m VI u;us. oc:. . edglllent and thanks: For their £immcl":U support, Dea~ J~dlth Trent, the University of Cincinn:ati Graduate Student AssOCiatiOn, and our Department Head, Suzanne Toltver; Richard Schade, who serves as our faculty advisor, and lh~ entire fac~lty of the German Departme[l~ who have given their adVIce, expen lse and ge~leral mo.ral suppo~, Dean Peg Allensworth and Giana ~Iorrell for asslqance With t~e.co'~r desigw Dane Heuchcmer, Richard Bowen, Mya Poe, and Paincia HIJ\ also g~\'e of their lime and skills; Irene Compton, Roben Conar~, Sara Friedrichsmeyer. Alan Galt, Michael Geisler, ~dward Harm, Richard Schade, James \':an der Laan, and l-.lan£red Zllnme.rm~n re­ viewed articles. Finally, lhanks to all member,; of the UIll"e~SIty of Cincinnali German Graduale Student A~sociatio~, ~nd especially ~o Dagmar Schulz.. who initiated th.e concept of thiS lou~a1_ and v. as instrumental in mm-jng Foau on L,teralllr from Idea to reaht,. preface articles Focus on Literatur Volume 1, Number 1 Spring 1994 Contents !<-UNSTSPIEL: Art istic Paradigms at Play In Botho StrauB's De)' Park J ENIFER S. CUSH}.IAN Zur Essayistik \'on Friedrich Nietzsche und Robert Musil CAR.Y H ENDERSON Die Kompositi on cler Kisch-Reportage in Paradies A merika ANA DJvKIc-COCKS A Jakobsonian Reading of the Epistolary St rategies of Communication in Fontane's Effi Sriest M ARlA L OSADA review essay H ochkomische Hochstleistungen: Neue Prosa­ Sammlungen von Eckhard Henscheid und Max Goldt TIIOMAS RlNGMAYR v, 9 23 36 44 book reviews Roben Schneider, DIeck H .C. Anmann, Der ze)'brochene Krug Irene Dische. Em fremde5 Gefii"1 Helga Konigsdorf, Glelch neben Afrika Bernd Schroeder, Verstmkenes Land Bernd Wagner, Die IVlti 1m Koffer Natascha Wodin, £,findtmg emer LIebe H ans Eichhorn, Das Zimmer als voller Balleh Michael Kruger, Himmeifarb Monika Maron, Naeh MaJSgabe memer Begreijimgskrafi Gerh:trd Kopf, Papas KojJer Urs \X' idmcr, Liebesbnef fiir MaJ)' Ruth Kli.iger, 'U'f'llcr Leben. Eine jllge/1d Hans Christoph Bueh. Rede des tolen Kolumblt$ am Tag des jllngsten GericJm in terviews "Da~ Lch eine Sprache gefunden habe. daB ieh mich nichl meh r herumqualen mu~ .. INTERVIEW MIT R UTH KLUGER Das Fremde und das Ve n raute INTERVIEW MIT H ANS CHRISTOPH BUCII contributors announcements 52 54 57 60 62 65 67 70 71 7) 76 78 82 84 88 92 106 108 From the Ed itor . ~arly .,in 1993, the graduate students o f the Un iversit y of CIIICII~natl S German Departmem convened to begin the process of foundmg a gradUate'5ludelll journal. Now, a little over a rear later, we are pleastd aJld excited to introduce Focus on Liltra/llr: a JOllrnal !orCmnan-language IzteratuYe. Since [his is our premiere issue, it ~eems appropriate to begin this preface with an explanation of our editorial policy. This scholarly journal i~ unique in that it is run, edited, and pubhshed excluSively by graduate sLUdems. It also publishes exc!u­ ~ive l y student writing-there are less than a handful of such journals in lhe field of German Studies in the United States. As .. uch, we look forward to the anerniol] and pmicipation of fellow sLUdenlS of Ger­ man both in our COUlltry and abroad. , \VIe fed the appeOlrotnce of FOOl$ on Lileratltr is most lImely. There IS now an unprecedented urgency for graduate ~tudent'S to establish publ,shi.ng recordt; before 'ieeking post-degree employment. The joh market 111 foreign languages has grown increasingly tight o\'f'r the last several years, and according La the predictions of the ~lodern Lan­ guage Association, 1994 Wi ll show a further drop in number of ad,-er­ tised positions.' Anyone who is on this job motrket knows the plight of lhe ABO or recent PhD with a smaJl or with no publishing record. The days are gone when one obtained a poSItion with only a PhD degrer and received teourt' y,rith a half-dozen article publications. In some C2ses, ),esterday'c; publication expectations of a tenure·track fac­ ulty member are loday's expectations of the PhD graduate. FoCtls on Ulemtur ser.·es to meet Ihi~ cri ti cal need of sludellls by providing another avenue for lhelllLO publish in scholarly journals. An essemial part of our "mission," as it were, is to involve <; lu dems in the procm of puhlishing. Wle mean this m a vcry practical SOil of way_ Wlhile a student't; course work, reading, and writing pre­ pares hun or her for the post-degrce responsibilities, when it comes to getting publi~hed, each studen t is really on her or his Own. The bet;L way to start publishing is to "iust do it"-to quote a popular ad\'ertic; ing. slogan. \~re at Focus on Literalltrare committed lo the value of all \'11 phases of this process for the student subnuuingwnting. We believe that the experience for:l student whose subl11lssion IS not accepted is equallY:ls v:lluable:as the student's whose work is accepted-perh:lps e"en more so. We also emphasize the nature of Focus on LiteralUr:lS a Student publication to our article referees. In most cases they respond with evaluaLions that are comtruCllvely criLic:lI, even If the submission is not at a sufficient level for publication. As our title indicates, this is a bllmgual journal dealing with liter· ary topics within Germ:ln Studies. Ilowever, we understand "litera­ ture" in a bro:ld sense-as this premiere issue well demonstrates. In addition to Sludies on :l wide range of literary genres, we look to im'olve various approaches to the concept of "text" in our literary discussions. For example, we see film as fair game for "textual" and litera r)' inquiry. Focl/S on Literatur is intended to be a journal with a wide format. We consider book re"ie~'~ an impon.lIlt component of each issue. Unltke most joumaJs In German Studies, we re"iew no secondary literature. The purpose of our book reviews IS to Introduce current literature (published within the laSt three years), tncludlllg no\'els, essays, poetry, dramas. nal1t-garde works, etc. For those o~ts.ide Eu rope interested ill German-language literature, It IS often d~fflc~h to keep up 011 latest releases. foCtls 0'1 Lileralllr alllls to prOVide Intro­ ductOry and informalive renews of man)' of these works. ~s p~n of this process, we hope to IIwoh-e lOallY of our fellow studenlS 10 North America and around the world as hook renewers. Our list of renew­ ers both home and abroad is growing and we welcome anyone mter­ ested to cOntact us and inquire about being added to the list. Inter­ views with authors will aho he a regu lar feature of this Journal. Par­ ticularly for the PhD ~tudems who inter.'iew during .lhe ~ r research, FoCl/s Oil Literatur provides an excellent forum for pubhcauon of these dialogues. In lhe coming is~ues, wt' :t l ~o look to introduce a new sec­ lion to our journal dedicated to d'~ClIs~lon of issues concermng (gradu­ ate) students and German Studies. Se~ Call for Essays on page 109 for more details. Nowa few words about tI\I ~, our prenllere i ~5ue. The literature discussed throughout tillS i~sue is generically dl\'er<;e. Jelllfer Cushman, in her article on Botho StrallB'~ Der Park discust;es how the play works to reveal failed paradigms in the anistic conSlructs o f European thought. Car~' I lendersoll deals with the essay a~ a geme, specifically examimng ho~ .. Nietzsche, working with deductive thought processes, found in the eli:say an appropriate writing environment; for Raben f!. lusil, however, who proceeded II1ductively, the essay proved to be a less fruitful genre. Ana Djukic·Cocks illuminates the literary strate­ gies of EgC'n Erwin Kisch and how he lIses them 111 Paradles Amertka to destroy Illusions of the" America image" in Germany. ~larj'a Lm:ada examUleslhe mOlif of letter exchange in Fontane's Effi B,·i~l through the lens of Jakobsonian-literary theory and demonstrateli: its relation ~hip to the hreakdcHvn of communication in the novel. Thomas Ringm,l)"t>r IIltroduces books by Max Goldt :and Eckhard I lenscheid ('on the cutt ing edge of German cabaret humor and ~all re. Finally, Barbara Mennel intcr.·iews RUlh Kluger on her much di .. cu~~ed hook, 'U'elter le{.en. and Kau .. halya Krili:hnamoonhy Intcrv lcw" Ila llS Chri .. toph Buch on the iale<;L in hi~ .. enes of "f-i :uli no,"els," As demonstr.ned b)' this premiere issue-in fact by the very pres. ence of thi .. new journal-studcl1ls in the field of Gmnmmtlk are ae· tl'·~ III ~choiarship beyolld their course and degree reqUIrements. Tim publicallon will hopefully mcrease awareness of thi .. re.llil~' al1long~t <;tudents and profes .. ors alike. \'Ce look forward to the reactiOn<; and oplOions of you, the read~r, La this journal and its coments. We espe· cially hope that you, the student , will get involved WIth this Journal In one or .. everal of the avenues available for participation. I Jerman J. De Vries, Jr. March 1994 Note • " LateHjoh /lI/omJaflOn L,st Figures Available," MLA Neu'sleuer 26.1 (1994), I.