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Reviews 153 other. The work makes a genuine contribution to the history of learning and is highly recommended. Carol J. Williams Department of History Monash University Okken, Lambertus, Kommentar zur Artusepik Hartmanns von Aue (Im Anhang: Die Heilkunde und Der Ouroboros von Bernhard Dietrich Haage), Amsterdam and Atlanta, Rodopi, 1993; cloth; pp. 564; R.R.P. AUS$? This book grew out of Okken's translations of Erec, Iwein, and Hartmann's two legends (Lambertus Okken, Hartmann von Aue erzanlt. Erec/Iwein oder Der Ufwenritter/Gregorius oder Der gute Siinder/Der Arme Heinrich. Aus dem Mittelhochdeutschen von Lambertus Okken, 1992). Thus it is not surprising that the detailed line-by-line commentary includes many modern German renderings of potentially problematic lines. Alternative readings are also often suggested, although unfortunately usually without explanation. Nonetheless, the translations and proposed readings are generally sensible and straightforward. A little more problematic, however, is Okken's adherence to the view that we should see classical Roman literature as not only providing parallels to motifs and episodes found in Erec and Iwein but also as constituting sources for them. While the validity of this view has been shown by scholars such as Werner Fechter (Lateinische Dichtkunst und deutsches Mittelalter. Forschungen Uber Ausdrucksmittel, poetische Technik und Stil mittelhochdeutscher Dichtungen, 1964) and Fritz Peter Knapp ('Enites Totenklage und Selbstmordversuch in Hartmann's "Erec". Eine quellenkritische Analyse', Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, 55 [1976]), Okken is a littletooready to overstate the case. H e observes: 'dafi die in beiden Romanen erzdhlten Geschichten und ihre Elemente—Handlungsstrange, Motive, Figuren undReden —massenhaft Parallelen in der rOmischen Literatur haben und wohl gar durchweg der rOmischen Literatur entstammen konnten: Vor meinen Augen verwandelte die matiere de Bretagne sich zu einer wahren matiere de Rome' (p. 3). This bias is reflected in the fact that the bulk of the commentary consists of classical parallels, given in Latin and in translation. However, many 'parallels' are too general to convince one of the validity of Okken's 'matiere de Rome' thesis. The length and number of passages cited as 'parallels' also sometimes test the reader's patience. For instance, a comment on Erec 1. 7817, where Erec chooses the left-hand path at a fork in the way, continues for a hefty twenty pages of Latin parallels on choosing the 'right' way in life. Yet the point that, in Erec, it is for once the left-hand path rather than theright-handone that seems to be the right choice, earns only the briefest of mentions. 154 Reviews Okken's quite full discussions of the origins of some of the Arthurian material and the explanations of cultural details such as armour,ridingtechnique, or the meanings of gestures, are always clear and informative. Similarly informative are Haage's two short articles in the appendix, on medieval medicine and the 'Ouroboros' motif (a snake biting its own tail) as they occur in Hartmann's romances. Cross-references within and between the different sections of the book are useful. Okken has done well to draw together the insights of so many other scholars, readily accessible under the entry for the relevanttines.Yet a source of irritation is that citations of secondary literature are usually given without the writer's name, for which it is necessary to consult the relevant footnote at the back of the book. It would have been preferable to give the name of the writer and date of publication with the citation itself and to do away with most of the thousand-odd footnotes. An index to keywords such as armour, Avalon, or Famurgan would also have made Okken's discussion of such points more easily retrievable. Finally, it is disappointing that Okken pays only very scant attention to matters of literary interpretation. The result is that, despite its size, the commentary is, for many potential users, an incomplete one at best. Within the scope it sets itself, however, Okken's Kommentar zur Artusepik, though not without its flaws, is a solid work and will prove a useful source of background information for readers of Hartmann, scholars and students alike. Nicola McGregor Department of Germanic Studies University of Sydney Phillipson, Nicholas and Quentin Skinner, eds, Political discourse in early modern...

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