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REVIEWS people, boost civilian morale, titillate soldiers, divert Germans abroad, and amaze the world with a dazzling shop window of Aryan culture. HELKA MAKINEN, S.E. WILMER, and W.B. WORTHEN, eds. Theatre, History and National/dentities. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 2 001. Pp. 331, illustrated . Reviewed by Leigh Clemons, Louisiana State University What is a nation? Although the concept itself may seem ancient, the formulation of analytical strategies that focus on exactly what constitutes a "nation" and how it maintains itself through political, linguistic, or geographic manoeuvrings represents a major shift in modern theatre historiography, as scholars examine the ways in which such entities create and maintain individual notions of national identity through various types of performances, including canonization, the establishment of "national theatres," and performances which critique previously written histories and represent traditions omitted from the "official" " historical narrative. Theatre, History, and National/dentities is the first anthology focused on the relationship of various concepts of national identity formation to theatre, examining, as stated in the introduction, "the role of theatre in promoting a sense of national character" (I I ). The book itself is divided into three sections. The first is devoted to an explanation of ways in which theatre has shaped discourses of national identity in various times and places, the second raises questions pertaining to the impact of national ideologies on theatrical practice, and the third presents examples of how theatre can both critique traditional concepts of nationhood and serve as a means for constructing alternative national identities. The volume is afestschrift in honour of Finnish theatre historian and University of Helsinki professor Pirkko Koski and is a testament to her work as a scholar and educator in the area of national theatre historiography. The book's foreword provides much-needed context for its structure and contents, as it is tlie outcome of a summer research program Koski started in 1995 to introduce her Finnish theatre students to the work of international theatre scholars. Over the past six years, the program has grown into the [nternational Centre for Advanced Theatre Studies, attracting students and professors from throughout Europe and the world to come together to study, discuss, and formulate new ideas. Such contextual information is important because six of the volume's eleven essays are from former students of the summer school - five Finnish and one American - while the remaining contributions are from established scholars who were associated with the summer institute. Four of these articles - by Bruce McConachie, Freddie Rokem, W.B. Worthen, and Janelle Reviews Reinelt - are reprints from other sources, included to give an idea of how discussions at the summer school were contextualized. The remaining contributions are primarily centred on Finnish theatrical history and practice because Koski's students and others involved with the Institute focused their research in that area. These articles address the multiplicity of ways in which theatre history and national identities can intersect, including issues of language, cultural aesthetics, and representations of the "other" and the "self' in performance. Co-editor S.E. Wilmer's article, which opens the anthology, relates German romanticism to the theatrical practices of nineteenth -century Ireland and Finland, "peripheral countries in Europe with small populations and not very much political clout" (17). In addition to demonstrating the impact of national consciousness on theatre traditions, the essay shows that theatre served as an agent for forwarding national identity for both good and ill throughout Europe, not just in colonial powers or large nation-states. In fact, Finland's unique history positions it as a microcosm for many of the issues that characterize the writing of national theatre histories (not surprising, since Koski is one of the pioneers in this area). Under the rule first of Sweden and then Russia, Finland achieved independence in the Russian Revolution, was highly, if not forcibly, courted during the years prior to World War II by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and even today includes a Finnishspeaking majoriIy population and a Swedish-speaking minority one. All of these national, political, and cultural Iensions are demonstrated in the book's remaining essays by former students of the Institute. For example, Kaarina Kytiimaa's discussion of the "collaboration" between...

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