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HUMANITIES 241 The whole central question of a gradually emerging German >public= in the eighteenth century is an interesting one, however, and Redekop handles the apparatus of scholarship quite skilfully, incorporating a considerable amount of fairly complex material into his study. Dealing sequentially with the work of G.E. Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and J.G. Herder, he first seeks to demonstrate the difficulties facing these public-spirited writers in finding or establishing an appropriate German readership, given the disunity and diversity of the as yet non-existent German nation in the eighteenth century. He then goes on to explore the contribution made by each writer in presenting expansive ideas whose aim was to create and foster that missing dedicated readership. What all three themselves had in common was a dedication to the notion of a like-minded community to be served by good writing that would elevate and enliven its members= participation in the life of the whole context in which they were placed. Unfortunately the structure of the study seems to me to make a difficult subject rather more difficult, resulting not only in much repetition throughout, but also in recurring explorations of prior influence in each of the three major sections. This is a problem that one often finds in any treatment of the work of various authors from one particular perspective, however, and as such it is a problem with which one must surely tend to sympathize. Where I found myself to be rather less sympathetic was with those parts of the book which strayed at quite some length from the central question of the growth or creation of a reading and thinking German public within a collection of political entities both united and at the same time divided by the German language. A tighter and more rigorous structuring and execution would undoubtedly have helped to bring the whole question into better focus, even though it would have meant forgoing quite a lot of interesting, well-documented detail. On the whole it seems to me that the central problem identified by the author concerning what made up an identifiably German >public= in the given period is a problem that he himself has not quite managed to come to grips with. As a result, there is a sense of vacillation between focus and diffuseness in his approach that too often does not succeed in sustaining a sense of true forward progression, which is a pity. Regrettably, the book seems to promise more insight that it actually delivers in the end, despite all evident earnestness of intent and and meticulous handling of scholarly sources. (DEIRDRE VINCENT) Paola Mayer. Jena Romanticism and Its Appropriation of Jacob Böhme: Theosophy, Hagiography, Literature McGill-Queen=s University Press 1999. x, 242. $65.00 This excellent, refreshingly clear-minded study of the great mystic=s role in the formation of Romantic idealism is based on a Princeton dissertation, 242 LETTERS IN CANADA 2000 supervised by Theodore Ziolkowski. The author convincingly goes behind the myth of the sacred prophet of Romanticism set up by the Jena circle, which has fooled the critical tradition to this day. She does this by strictly avoiding conventional interpretive pitfalls, such as imaginative constructions of >influences,= lists of parallels, or taking claims by Romantic authors at face value. What remains is a rigorous examination of virtually all explicit references, in the works of Tieck, Novalis, Ritter, Schlegel, and Schelling, to Jakob Böhme B and such examination includes a systematic analysis of the strategies behind the making, and ultimately unmaking, of a Romantic saint. The hermeneutic key concept of passive >influence= is therefore pointedly replaced by that of purposive >appropriation= and >hagiography.= It means that such reception no longer refers to a learning process but to acts of exploitation and even predation, for the sake of militant selfaffirmation . Not surprisingly, therefore, Paola Mayer devotes most of her Forschungsbericht to the refutation of seemingly interminable claims of Böhme=s >influence,= mostly in previous doctoral dissertations. It sets up the tone and aggressive stance of the whole study. An informative chapter on Böhme=s reception before the Romantic >discovery= reveals the pivotal role of the radical Pietists (especially von...

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