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Book Reviews77 content toward one of "modes of enunciation and transmission" (61). The subsequent contribution by Victor Lange on "Goethe's Theory of Literature," clearly one of the more important papers in this collection, characterizes Goethe's place in the school of eighteenth-century aesthetic theory and defines "the character of Goethe's notions of literaryjudgment" (79). The fifth lecture by Meredith Lee on "Goethe, Klopstock and the Problem of Literary Influence: A Reading of the Darmstadt Poems" uses three early Goethe poems to show that despite his recognized "original genius" Goethe was under the influence of his literary predecessors, specifically Klopstock. The next essay by John Neubauer, "Absolute and Affective Music: Rameau, Diderot, and Goethe," one of two papers dealing with music, examines Goethe's theory of music and finds his ideas similar to those of Rousseau and the encyclopedists who "preferred melody and voice to instrumental music" (115) yet shows that he also was interested in constructing harmonic principles for music. Henry H.H. Remak's lecture on "Goethe and the Novella" examines the author's novellesque work to reach an incisive "historical and critical assessment of Goethe's role in the evolution of the novella" (133). The eighth essay of the lecture series, by the German scholar Hans-Jürgen Schings on "Symbolic des Glücks. Zu Wilhelm Meisters Bildergeschichte," represents a challenging and innovative interpretation of the novel, suggesting that the Lehrjahre can be seen as "Anti-Werther und symbolischen (nicht psychologischen) Roman des Glücks" (157). The last of the lectures by Wolodymyr T. ZyIa assesses "Ivan Franko: Goethe's Translator and Interpreter" and concludes "that Franko drew from his understanding of Goethe, underlining at the same time his own native genius" (179). The book ends with the luncheon address by Meredith McClain on "Goethe and Music: 'Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt'" which "focuses on the inspiration which radiated from Goethe to some of the greatest musicians of his day" (201). An appendix of musical settings for the poem referred to in the title follows. While no startlingly new insights were produced at the symposium, it can be said in conclusion that the papers suggest novel points of departure for investigation. Beyond that the essays prove that Goethe scholarship in America is alive and well. Were it not for the substantial price of fifty dollars, this book would surely receive broad favorable recognition. WOLFF A. VON SCHMIDT University of Utah HAZEL HOLT and HILARY PYM, eds. A Very Private Eye: The Diaries, Letters and Notebooks of Barbara Pym. London: Macmillan, 1984. 358 p. For those of us in the Pym Club, those readers who read and reread the ten novels of Barbara Pym, the news that 1984 was to offer more genuine Pym seemed an unexpected gift. However, as with too many gifts, substance within the wrapping of A Very Private Eye: The Diaries, Letters and Notebooks of Barbara Pym proves a bit of a disappointment. The problem in the work may be in the concept itself — it probably would have been far better to merely have selections from the diaries, letters, and notebooks (or the entire works themselves) rather than attempt to put the pieces together as an auto- 78Rocky Mountain Review biography. The problem with Barbara Pym's life as the subject for a biography of any type is that her life was not crowded with events. Although some readers may be surprised and curious about the love affairs, otherwise there is no news here. Pym lived exactly the same life centered around Oxford and editing an anthropological journal that we always thought she did. The ironic judgment is what we want explored, not the color of her undergraduate underwear. Part of the problem may be that the editors of these various sources (Pym died in 1980) are Pym's sister and her very good friend, Hilary Pym and Hazel Holt. One suspects that the editors had a firm view of the Barbara Pym they wanted to share with the world: she is sensible, cheery with a tendency to giggle at important moments. Thus we spend too much time on undergraduate capers and early adulthood — those years that often are filled with more...

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