German Expressionist Prose: Theory and Practice by Augustinus P. Dierick (review)

92Rocky Mountain Review The only area in which I have some reservations is in Diaz-Jimeno's reference to "plagio" in stating that Taisnier and Pompilius Azalus "plagian a autores medievales de los siglos ??? y XTV" (44), while in other references ofborrowings the expression used is "marcadas coincidencias" (95). The concept ofplagiarism as we so well know is one difficult to evaluate given the norms of the period with regard to imitatio. Typographical errors which escaped the printer make the reading of several passages difficult (14, 15, 25, 48, 88, 138). Especially bothersome is the repetition of several lines of text on pages 120 and 121. Undoubtedly, Hado y fortuna en la España del siglo XVI represents an outstanding contribution to the study of the evolution of Spanish thought. And in light ofthe present research (Domínguez Ortiz, Kamen, López Pinero) being undertaken for the re-evaluation of the second half of the seventeenth century (1680-1699), mistakenly referred to as the "decadent period," DiazJimeno 's study will certainly provide much needed background information. The sound, penetrating, and analytical treatment of the subject matter is equally strengthened by a most lucid prose style. VICTOR ARIZPE Tecas A & M University AUGUSTINUS P. DIERICK. German Expressionist Prose: Theory and Practice Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987. 328 p. J. he outcry of German Expressionists, summoning to new shores, signals and characterizes the beginning ofmodern German Literature Besides Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Die Menschheitsdämmerung (ed. Kurt Pinthus, 1919) is the most renowned anthology of German verse, the term implying the double meaning of twilight and dawn, the end of the old world and the beginning of the new, or as Rolf Michaelis sums up: "Trotz aus Trauer" (defiance out of sadness) (Die Zeit, 27 May 1988: 16). The fate ofthe young "Himmelsstürmer" is varied: some are forgotten such as Kurt Heynicke, or disappeared in oblivion, or ended up in insane asylums and later became victims of Nazi persecution such as Van Hoddis, or were killed in the trenches ofWWI, such as Stadler and Stramm, or committed suicide like Trakl, when he was confronted as a paramedic with the mortally wounded. They described the atrocities of modern warfare for the first time in German literature, no longer glorifying the Vaterland customary from Hölderlin to Arndt. Becher, pacifist and Marxist, became the first cultural secretary of the GDR and created the noncommittal national anthem of this "part country." Werfel, on the other hand, the "world friend," later outgrew Expressionism in works like The Song of Bernadette or plays such as Me and the Cofonel (which was made into a film with Danny Kaye). Some died even before the war, like Heym, drowning while ice skating at the age of twenty-two in 1912 and who exceeded in his visions the horrors not only of WWI but evoked images of WWII, particularly of the annihilation of Book Reviews93 Dresden, where over 100,000 people turned to ash. Some survived both wars, such as Benn, who even sympathized with the Nazis until denounced by them and sent into "inner exile" as a military doctor, but still viewing the world from his professional perspective, dermatology and venereal disease, as seen in his Morgue. But Expressionist prose? One hesitates. Names like Wedekind and Jahnn come to mind, but they are playwrights. Story tellers? One has to think, oh yes, there are Edschmid, Weiß, Heinrich Mann, but who else? Expressionist prose is hardly known in Germany and elsewhere not at all. It is highly commendable that Augustinus Dierick brings these writers into focus; since Soergel's studies on Expressionism in general (1926), there have been few devoted to Expressionist prose, particularly Wilhelm Krull's Forschungsbericht (1984). Dierick, writing in English, is too modest, apologizing for "unscholarly" lengthy quotation of texts not readily available in order to prove that Expressionistic prose writers were important contributors to German literature. Adhering to the subtitle, the work is divided into two parts, theory, pivoting around "Aims and Methods," "From Crisis to Expression," "Expressionism and the Modern World," concluding with "Art and Society," and then proceeding to a thematic treatment of Expressionist prose: "Ecce Homo," "Problems of Integration," "Problems ofAutonomy," "Autistic Worlds...