Die Zweite Stimme. Vortragskunst von Goethe bis Kafka (review)

The title of Lothar Müller's cultural history of literary recitation in the German-speaking context is somewhat misleading: its beginning and end, as well as most of what comes in between, is actually about Kafka and his milieu. Müller paints a portrait of "Vortragskunst" in early twentieth-century Prague, Vienna, and Berlin, and situates Kafka within this scene. Müller, who teaches Kulturwissenschaften at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin and is a literary editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, presents a captivating narrative in an elegant and lucid prose style. It avoids the trappings of "academic" writing, but goes well beyond the merely impressionistic, arguing persuasively for the significant role of "die zweite Stimme," the voice that reads and recites literature, in Kafka's world.

After some introductory remarks designed to legitimate a study of public reading and recitation in the context of Kafka's life and oeuvre, the first chapter of Müller's book recounts a brief history of oral literary practices from the Goethezeit to Kafka's time, with specific emphasis on Goethe, Klopstock, Tieck, and the nineteenth-century schools of oratory technique and style, whose positions are exemplified by Ernst von Possart and Josef Kainz. What follows is without question the heart of Müller's book: two chapters that chronicle Kafka's interest and involvement in these practices. Chapter three focuses on Kafka as listener and chapter four emphasizes his role as performer; both are highly attentive to historical context and biographical detail.

The set-up of Die zweite Stimme should interest anyone concerned with recent trends in Kafka scholarship or German studies in general, for Müller seeks to offer an alternative to new media readings of modernist literature. He is clearly irritated at the image of "technologized" Kafka that has emerged in recent years in works that examine the impact of such machines and gadgets as the typewriter, parlophone, and gramophone. The focus on technical devices that record and communicate sound has obscured a technique for vocal transmission that is arguably more central to Kafka's work—the literary representation of voices. Writing, Müller reminds us, is also a medium that can convey information about speech and sound.

Chapter one, with its historical review of public reading and recitation, is informative and useful, even if it is not based on original research (Müller does not present it as such). In particular, one idea developed here plays an important role throughout: the distinction between "Vorlesen," "Rezitieren," "Deklamation," and "Schauspielerei."

These practices, at least in theory, represent a spectrum of vocal performance that moves from text-bound and straightforward reading to increasingly interpretive and dramatic performance. In the chapters that treat Kafka's reactions to contemporary recitation and his attitudes toward the presentation of his work before an audience, this scale serves as a descriptive tool that allows Müller to contextualize and compare various presentational styles. These categories also provide a helpful guide when listening to the book's accompanying CD, which includes performances by some of the figures that Müller discusses and Kafka encountered.

The only significant shortcoming of Müller's study is his almost complete neglect of Kafka's literary work. He cites nearly every reference to recitation in Kafka's letters and diaries, even if it comprises a fraction of a sentence. Indeed, he often produces a complex and detailed background story, just to situate a fleeting private remark. For example, we read a six-page description of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's poetry reading on the Sophieninsel in Prague in the winter of 1912—complete with details about which texts he presented, the dance performance and lecture that accompanied his reading, and references to other eye-and earwitness reports of the event—only to discover that Kafka recorded one brief, negative remark about the evening in his diary. While such accounts are fascinating to a scholar eager to fill in the holes of Kafka's biography...