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Preface Volume 12 of the Goethe Yearbook is dedicated to its founding editor, Thomas P. Saine. Volume 1 was published in 1982 and expressed the hope that the Goethe Yearbook "would come to be viewed as a natural home for Goethe and Goethe Period studies written in English. . . ." That it has. Through the ten volumes he edited with a combination of openmindedness and editorial rigor, Tom enriched the world of Goethe studies with over 120 contributions with a distinctively North American flavor. If David Wellbery's opening essay on "The Specular Moment" and Hans RudolfVaget 's "Der Schreibakt und der Liebesakt," both in volume 1, set the standard for innovative, risk-taking scholarship, subsequent volumes did not disappoint. To name a few highlights: Géza von Molnár's study of "Goethes Studium der Kritik der Urteilskraft" in volume 2, Suzanne Zantop 's essay on the "Bekenntnisse einer schönen Seele" and Jocelyne Kolb's "Presenting the Unpresentable: Goethe's Translation of Le Neveu de Rameau" both in volume 3, W. Daniel Wilson's "Weimar Politics in the Age of the French Revolution" on Goethe and the Uluminati (vol. 5), J. Hillis Miller's Wahlverwandschafien essay (vol. 6), and Jane Brown's "The Queen of the Night and the Crisis of Allegory in The Magic Flute" (vol. 8). These are just a few examples of the pathbreaking scholarship Tom published, regardless of the authors' theoretical inclinations. Of course, Tom may be prouder of other risks that he took, such as publishing the first essays of young authors and advanced graduate students whose articles improved thanks to his assistance and advice. Through his editorial leadership, the Goethe Yearbook won recognition in North America, Germany, the UK and elsewhere. It has become a standard for Goethe scholarship and has certainly more than met the hopes Tom and the founding members of the Goethe Society of North American cherished for it in the early 1980s. In the preface to volume 1, Tom expressed his thanks to "the founding mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles, especially Ehrhard Bahr, Victor Lange, Meredith Lee, Christoph Schweitzer, and Hans R. Vaget." I trust Tom will be pleased that these (to the extent possible ) and many more are among the contributors to volume 12. If we have difficulty imagining a world without the Goethe Yearbook, it is because of Tom. And that in itself is a monument to his editorship. This volume is a token of our thanks. Simon Richter ...

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