The Structural Function of the "Kunstgespräch" in Büchner's "Lenz"

Author(s): Peter K. Jansen

Source: Monatshefte , Summer, 1975, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Summer, 1975), pp. 145-156
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30154919

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THE STRUCTURAL FUNCTION OF
THE KUNSTGESPRACH IN BUCHNER'S LENZ

PETER K. JANSEN

The University of Chicago

"O! what a noble mind is here o'erthrown."

-Shakespeare, Hamlet, III. i.

With rare exceptions, critics discussing Georg Biichner's only narrative,

Lenz, have considered one significant passage of the work not as an integral part
of its structure, but almost solely in terms of its content.' That passage, of
course, is the so-called Kunstgesprdch, Lenz's pronouncements on art and
literature in his conversation with Kaufmann which occurs just before the
middle of the story and comprises approximately one tenth of its total volume.
Most notable among the various reasons for this phenomenon are the program-
matic nature of Lenz's pronouncements and their connection with the aesthetics
of Biichner as well as with those of the historical Lenz. But while the emphasis
on those aspects may explain the generally one-sided treatment of the Kunstge-
sprach, it cannot justify the neglect which the structural function of the passage
has suffered. Tacitly or indeed overtly such an approach to a pivotal part of the
work presupposes a serious compositional flaw in Biichner's narrative, since it
either ignores or denies the author's concern with structural congruity and his
success in achieving it.
A few studies have challenged that supposition. One of the first critics to
examine the passage in its narrative context was Albrecht Schone, who saw in it
not the bewildering exception from Lenz's madness, but its ultimate manifesta-
tion. Schone construes a connection between Lenz's mental state and his
aesthetic creed in the thesis that a seismographic sensitivity, itself a psychopa
trait, enables the artist to capture the essence of reality. That is the commo
denominator which unites the Kunstgesprdch and the "eigentliche Seelenhan
lung."2 But Schine's argument completely overlooks the stylistic contr
between Lenz's linguistic facility in the Kunstgesprdch and his inarticulatenes
those parts of the narrative which show him in the clutches of madne
Furthermore, the mad Lenz is devoid of artistic ambition; in Biichner's acco
the evidence of the protagonist's creative bent is inversely proportionate to t
imminence of his intellectual and spiritual collapse. The work as a whole, wi
the exception of the Kunstgesprdch, shows Lenz irretrievably past his creat
period.

Monatshefte, Vol. 67, No. 2, 1975

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 146 Jansen

Benno von
Kunstgespri
passage the
the par two
balance of n
destroys ev
Kunstgespr
abgelisten M
den Prozeil
behind Sch
character Le
content of t
structural f
different st
themselves."
Herbert Fellmann openly denies Biichner's success in fusing the Kunstge-
sprach with the narrative. He postulates a distinction between those pronounce-
ments in the passage which he regards as "programmatisch objektive Aussagen
[Biichners]" and those which in his opinion are "subjektiver Ausdruck Lenzens
in der Selbsttiuschung."7 Thus, like Sch6ne, Fellmann interprets the Kunstge-
sprich at least in part as a further manifestation of Lenz's insanity, implying,
however, a negative value judgment in that assessment. But the distinction on
which Fellmann's thesis rests begs the question, relegating, as it does, to the
realm of unintentional-and therefore structurally disruptive-authorial intrusion
everything which contradicts it by testifying to Lenz's intellectual superiority.
Peter Hasubek, agreeing with Fellmann "daB das Kunstgesprich komposi-
torisch und stilistisch nicht vollstindig in den Erzihlablauf integriert ist," views
the passage as "Gipfel einer Entwicklung..., die sich besonders in dem...
ersten Teile der Erziihlung vollzieht: Lenzens Versuch, seinen beginnenden
Wahnsinn durch eine neue Umgebung zu heilen."8 But the Kunstgesprich, as
will be shown, stands in sharp contrast to the entire remainder of the work; the
recognition of that contrast is a prerequisite to an accurate assessment of its
function.

Erna Kritsch Neuse rejects von Wiese's contention that the Kunstgesprich
marks the middle of the work, pointing out correctly that it is Oberlin's
departure for Switzerland which occupies that position. She sees the stages of
the plot arranged around that central event in a pattern of repetition and
variation, each major episode in the second part corresponding to another in the
first. Standing alone, the Kunstgesprich does not fit into that pattern and is
accordingly omitted from Neuse's schematic outline of the plot. Conceding the
importance of the passage as a "Hdhepunkt..., insofern es Lenz auf der Hohe
seiner geistigen und physischen Existenz zeigt,"9 Neuse nevertheless denies it
structural significance. The Kunstgesprich thus becomes rather an embarrass-

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 Biichner's Lenz 147

ment to the critic. In

Neuse contradicts her
not essential to an un
prets the discussion v
Biichner's own, and f
is singularly ill-suite
Oberlin and shows eit
of his absence. Oberli
Kaufmann's much res
temporarily restores
tenz" in the Kunstges
The most recent con
sprdch "in der Anti
elaborate on that stat
Clearly, then, the p
narrative qua narrativ
that light.
Only in the Kunstgesprdch does Biichner's Lenz speak as an artist. I submit,
therefore, that the significance of the passage for Lenz's existential situation and
thus for the work in its entirety can be adequately understood only in terms of
its connection with Lenz's social and literary past and of the impact on him of
Kaufmann's arrival at Waldbach, the arrival of a friend and kindred spirit out of
that past.
Like the description of Lenz's unaccompanied hike through the mountains
with which the narrative begins, and like the account of his visit to the retreat of
the religious fanatics later in the story, the Kunstgesprach is without a model in
Biichner's source.14 The impression that it was therefore entirely Biichner's own
invention, and the contrast between the Lenz of the Kunstgesprdch and the Lenz
of the rest of the narrative may also account for the opinion among many critics
that in the discussion on art and literature Btichner deviated from historical
events in order to use Lenz as a mouthpiece for his own creed. So widespread is
this view that it has been generally overlooked how carefully Biichner prepares
for the insertion of the Kunstgesprdch, taking great pains to relate it to the
protagonist's experience and thus to imbed it firmly in the narrative context.
Indeed, some of the changes from the source in other parts of the work seem to
serve no other purpose.
According to Oberlin, Lenz's visit had been announced to him well in
advance by Kaufmann, who had originally intended to come to the Steintal with
Lenz.'s Kaufmann must have been detained, but he arrived at Waldbach shortly
after Lenz and was present at the sermon Lenz delivered to Oberlin's congrega-
tion. In striking contrast, the relationship between Lenz and Kaufmann in the
narrative at first remains obscure; Lenz arrives at Waldbach a homeless wanderer,
seeking aid and shelter at the parsonage and using Kaufmann's name merely as a

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 148 Jansen

reference to that end. Thus in the narrative Lenz's initial isolation is far more
starkly emphasized than it is in Oberlin's account. Furthermore, the period from
Lenz's appearance at the parsonage to Kaufmann's arrival takes up considerably
more space in the narrative than it does in the source, causing the reader to
perceive Lenz as a person who as much as possible has cut himself off from his
past and is haunted only sometimes by disjointed, subjective memories of it.
All the more powerful is the effect upon him of Kaufmann's apparently
unexpected arrival. In the source, first mention is made of Kaufmann's presence,
and that of his fiancee, in the account of Lenz's sermon; their arrival itself is
never reported, but since the reader knows them to have been expected, their
appearance causes no surprise. In the narrative, on the other hand, Kaufmann is
introduced long after Lenz's sermon. But when that introduction does come, its
occurrence at the beginning of a paragraph signals its prominence,16 and Lenz's
reaction is described in detail. The contrast between the incidental character of
the event in the source and its importance in the narrative is obvious. In the
story, there is no hint that Lenz has expected Kaufmann. Rather, the latter's
arrival is at first an unpleasant surprise to Lenz, who suddenly finds himself
confronted, much against his will, with his own past in the person of the
newcomer. Kaufmann clearly represents a world Lenz fondly thought, until
now, he had at last succeeded in escaping: "Lenzen war Anfangs das Zusammen-
treffen unangenehm, er hatte sich so ein Plitzchen zurechtgemacht, das bischen
Ruhe war ihm so kostbar und jetzt kam ihm Jemand entgegen, der ihn an so
vieles erinnerte, mit dem er sprechen, reden muifte, der seine Verhailtnisse
kannte" (1,86).
After the initial shock, however, an astonishing transformation takes place.
Lenz rises to the occasion. The forced confrontation sufficiently rouses his
intellectual faculties to make him feel, once again, "auf seinem Gebiete" (1,86)
in a discussion of literature and art and to give ample, if desultory evidence of
his creative potential. As a result, the ensuing conversation becomes an island of
sanity in a sea of madness, providing, thematically, the measure of the mind
whose disintegration throughout the rest of the work would otherwise remain
incommensurable, and structurally, that "Ruhepunkt"'7 which determines the
relative weight of everything that precedes and follows it. In a sense, Lenz might
thus be called an inversion of the genre. If the typical Novelle describes the
eruption of chaos in a previously ordered cosmos, then the Kunstgesprach in
Biichner's narrative constitutes the reverse: the intrusion of purpose and meaning
into an otherwise chaotic world.
As a testimony to Lenz's creative intellect, the Kunstgespraich occupies a
unique position in the work. Its content, however, is nevertheless closely
interwoven with the rest of the narrative. Lenz's aesthetic pronouncements draw
upon concrete examples for illustration, and those examples are all connected in
one way or another with Lenz's present situation and experience. Three sketches
in particular are presented to illuminate Lenz's view of the relationship between

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 Biichner's Lenz 149

life and art: the first

himself, the other tw
three reflect Lenz's p
The two girls in the
jung, und die schwar
Lenz says he observ
Midchen in ihrer ern
among the rocks, on
position in front of t
That occurred a sho
connection is undersc
black dress, evidently
rearrange her hair lik
Lenz is relating in th
the narrative from t
course, had merely r
recalling the experien
new meaning as a dem
beauty reveals itself
experience of indeter
where Lenz's creati
argument.
The sentence with which Lenz relates the example to the substance of the
discussion casts the scene in the form of a tableau, indicating that nature and the
pictorial representation of nature are equally suited to foster the argument:18
"Die schonsten, innigsten Bilder der altdeutschen Schule geben kaum eine
Ahnung davon" (1,87). This impression is confirmed by Lenz's subsequent
recourse to paintings of the Dutch school. The two works he describes treat
religious themes. Their affinity to Lenz's experience is less obvious and immedi-
ate than that of the mountain scene, yet real enough. The first painting shows
Christ and the disciples at Emmaus. The dominant element in Lenz's interpreta-
tion of the picture is a sense of being touched by a supernatural force: "Es tritt
sie etwas Unbegreifliches an, aber es ist kein gespenstisches Grauen; es ist wie
wenn einem ein geliebter Todter in der alten Art entgegentrite" (1,88). The
encounter relates to mystical revelations repeatedly experienced in the narrative
not only by Lenz himself, both before and after the Kunstgesprdch, but also by
persons of his acquaintance.9 We are reminded of Lenz's reaction to the artless
piety of the villagers: "Wie den Leuten die Natur so nah trat, alles in himmli-
schen Mysterien; aber nicht gewaltsam majestitisch, sondern noch vertraut"
(1,83). The absence of violence in both references ("kein gespenstisches
Grauen," "nicht gewaltsam majestatisch") stresses the relationship. The phrase
"wie wenn einem ein geliebter Todter... entgegentrite," on the other hand, is
reminiscent of Lenz's remark to Oberlin, one morning, that the night before his

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 150 Jansen

mother had
mother's dea
another enco
miisse hinter
Alles besche
Regenbogen
beriihrt, das
of the painti
the sermon
Whether Biichner has Lenz describe authentic Dutch canvases or fictitious
ones,20 we need only consider the almost unlimited number of alternatives in
selecting typical examples of Dutch painting to appreciate Biichner's sense of
aptitude and artistic economy in choosing this particular one.
The same is true of the second description. The painting shows a woman
who has to say her prayers at home because she has been prevented from joining
the congregation for the service. Oddly enough, Lenz's discussion interprets the
work more in acoustic than in pictorial terms, emphasizing the (imagined)
sounds which mystically unite the lonely worshipper with her fellow congre-
gants. And the sounds which are evoked by the contemplation of the woman's
attitude once again recall the situation before Lenz's sermon. Standing in front
of the church, Lenz had heard the tolling of the bells which called the congrega-
tion to the service (cf. 1,84). The woman in the painting seems to be listening to
the "Glockentone" wafting "zu dem Fenster... von dem Dorfe herein" (1,88).
A mood of expectant tranquillity is conveyed by the sound of the bells in both
scenes. The singing of the congregation which is then conjured up likewise
echoes Lenz's own experience, the memory of the hymns which framed his
sermon and the last of which precipitated his encounter with the "anderes
Seyn."
It is significant that without exception these correspondences between the
Kunstgespriich and other parts of the work occur in passages which are not based
on the source. In view of such evidence, it remains a mystery how untold critics
could interpret the Kunstgesprich as a wilful disruption of the narrative proper.
Like Kafka's Die Verwandlung, Biichner's story opens with a jolt to the
reader. In shockingly casual terms, a monstrous fact is stated at, or very near, the
beginning of the narrative: "Miidigkeit spuirte er keine, nur war es ihm manchmal
unangenehm, dait er nicht auf dem Kopf gehn konnte" (1,79). In Lenz, as in Die
Verwandlung, the "sich ereignete unerh6rte Begebenheit" which, according to
Goethe, constitutes the essence of the Novelle21 precedes the opening of the
narrative; its bald, irrevocable reality is presented at the outset, and what follows
is merely the inexorable unfolding of its consequences.22 It is this shared feature
which causes Hellmuth Himmel to count both works among the subgenre of
Halbnovellen. But while the comparison is valid, I should agree with Neuse in
contesting Himmel's thesis that an appreciation of Biichner's work, even as a

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Biichner's Lenz 151

Halbnovelle, presupp
Lenz."2 The term H
Verwandlung, points
cause it suggests an i
extrinsic information
needed to designate
"eccyclic novella," to
in them falls outside
imply incompletene
Kafka and Biichner is
biographical particu
preceded the respecti
standard: Die Verwan
and the thwarted ex
sprich, which resurre
us with the measure of
In the characteriza
indeed, as the undis
structure and texture
poet resurrected in th
time to contrast with
the rectory, Oberlin,
author of several pla
question, seemed emb
literary past: "Ja, ab
Now, in the Kunstge
known plays as appr
gleichen versucht im
folksong, only Shake
besides his own attem
realizations of his lit
earlier renounced all c
The portrayal of L
likewise recalls the co
he had appeared at
Locken hingen ihm u
den Mund, seine Klei
dramatic transformat
serenity: "Er war rot
schiittelte er die bl
interrelation of the
t
The sentence follow
change the Kunstgesp

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152 Jansen

(1,88). That
context, esp
beyond dou
concerns is,
expression si
his death, h
ging's: neue
da ich an All
sich nicht m
the painful
creative sta
Leonce und
Chamisso qu
encounter, c

Wie ist mir

Im tiefsten
Und hat mit
All mein E

What has ha
Danton's spe
Not only do
stature othe
drama), but
that has pre
of the card-
the estrange
Lenz's bewi
signaling at
and Danton's
texts, a temp
crucialdiffe
involuntary
imagery and
speech becom
pierre-, may
lapse "von de
erreicht hat"
Kunstgespra
inclination
discussion, m
strikingly un
difference, a

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Biichner's Lenz 153

are comparable; in e
peculiar to the prota
that alienation itself
Elsewhere I hope to
views expressed in th
Biichner's own. It wil
Lenzian creed is not
for his own aesthetic
historical Lenz's writi
critics have been will
narrative seems in fa
about a half-forgotten
creative impetus.3a
deavor, and the mann
the historical figure's
process of compositio
artistic rather than h
tation of a gradual sp
of a critical phase in
new era of German
commensurate with t
The Kunstgesprach b
sharing its twofold-in
of the biographical ba
merit of the work, t
the more obvious. As
thus without struct
improve the artistic
impair, even destroy
and ultimate collapse
process leading to th
upon the haunted wa
cannot be measured b
Lenz of the ending. T
former Lenz, the p
spiritual equilibrium
the fall itself. In terr

1 Virtually every study

by Lenz in Biichner's st
own views or as a recapi
instance, in the histori
sometimes take contrad
spiritual heir, who legit

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 154 Jansen

beliefs;in 195
by Lenz in the
suhrkamp tas
2Albrecht Sc
der deutschen
3Benno von
vols. (Diisseldo
4 Ibid., p. 109.
5Ibid., p. 107.
6 According to von Wiese, the Kunstgesprdch concerns "eine in sich heile Welt und ihre
migliche Darstellung durch die Kunst" (p. 107). But Lenz's mention of his own works as
examples of literature shows that the Kunstgesprich does not postulate a "heile Welt." Der
Hofmeister and Die Soldaten can hardly be said to reflect an ordered cosmos. The nature of
the discussion is not nature as such, but the relationship of art to nature and the ability of
the artist to emulate the creative power of nature. The affirmative character of the
Kunstgespriich consists not in the assumption of an inherently sound reality, but in the
affirmation of creativity per se.
7Herbert Fellmann, "Georg Biichners 'Lenz'," Jahrbuch der Wittheit zu Bremen, 7
(1963), 86. That there is indeed a striking discrepancy between Lenz's advocacy of artistic
realism and his existential experience of reality is a point convincingly made by H.P. Piutz,
"Biichners 'Lenz' und seine Quelle: Bericht und Erzihlung," Zeitschrift fur deutsche
Philologie, 84 (1965), Sonderheft: Moderne deutsche Dichtung, pp. 15f. But it does not
follow that Lenz's pronouncements in the Kunstgesprich lack sincerity, as Fellmann
suggests. Rather, the discrepancy underscores the exceptional character of the discussion in
the narrative as a whole, establishing an unmistakeable correspondence between creative
vision and a "sane," i.e. "realistic" attitude towards reality.
gPeter Hasubek, "'Ruhe' und 'Bewegung': Versuch einer Stilanalyse von Georg Biich-
ners 'Lenz'," Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, N.S. 19 (1969), 48.
'Erna Kritsch Neuse, "Biichners Lenz: Zur Struktur der Novelle," The German
Quarterly, 43 (1970), 202.
1oCf. ibid., p. 207f.
11Piitz correctly observes: "Wie fern Oberlin dem Kiinstlertum Lenzens steht, verdeut-
licht der Erzihler dadurch, dait er ihn vom Kunstgesprich vllig ausschlieilt" (p. 15).
'2Neuse, p. 201.
'3Heinz Fischer, Georg Biichner: Untersuchungen und Marginalien (Bonn: Bouvier
Verlag, 1972), p. 20. References to the Kunstgespriich in other chapters of Fischer's book
(cf. pp. 65, 71f., 98) show that he views the passage basically as a vehicle for Biichner's own
aesthetics.
14Oberlin's account does, however, contain a summary reference to periods of sanity
during Lenz's sojourn at Waldbach: "Er zeigte immer grofien Verstand und ein ausnehmend
theilnehmendes Herz; wenn die Anfille der Schwermuth voriiber waren, schien alles so
sicher und er selbst war so liebenswiirdig, daiJ man sich fast ein Gewissen daraus machte, ihn
zu argwohnen oder zu geniren" (Georg Biichner, Simtliche Werke und Briefe, ed. by Werner
R. Lehmann [Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag, 1967-], I, 478f.; subsequent references to
this edition will be given parenthetically in the text). This remark, occurring relatively late
in the source, left no direct trace in the narrative, but it may have served Biichner as a
justification for the insertion of the Kunstgesprich.
15"Herr K... hatte mir sagen lassen: er wiirde, seiner Braut das Steinthal zu zeigen, zu
uns kommen und einen Theologen mitbringen, der gerne hier predigen m6chte" (I, 444).
The theologian thus announced turned out to be Lenz.
'6 Cf. Werner R. Lehmann, Textkritische Noten: Prolegomena zur Hamburger Biichner-
Ausgabe (Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag, 1967), pp. 24f., concerning the length of
paragraphs and the relative infrequency of paragraph changes in Lenz, a feature which lends
uncommon weight to the beginning of new paragraphs where caesurae do occur.
'7That is what von Wiese calls the Kunstgesprich (p. 107), without, however, relating
it to the story of the character Lenz, as I have mentioned above.

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 Biichner's Lenz 155

'8Fellmann (p. 98) ob

mountains as "ein mo
unfolding action. That
argument that there a
(Biichner), the other
levels or at least minimizes the differences between them.
19E.g. Oberlin: cf. I, 85; the visionary in the mountains: cf. I, 90. That a motif central
to the experience of the protagonist recurs in connection with other characters is a
technique common in Biichner's works. It is conspicuous especially in Woyzeck, as Franz H.
Mautner has shown (cf. "Wortgewebe, Sinngefiige und 'Idee' in Biichners 'Woyzeck',"
Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 35 [1961], p.
528).
20 At least the identity of the Emmaus painting now seems to have been positively
determined. It is a work by Carel de Savoy. Cf. Fischer, p. 39.
21 To Eckermann, January 25, 1827.
22Curiously, there is another parallel between the two works in the sudden shift of
narrative perspective just before the ending, a shift necessitated, of course, in Die Verwand-
lung by Gregor's physical demise, in Lenz by the protagonist's spiritual extinction.
23Cf. Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Berne & Miinchen: Francke Verlag, 1963), pp.
152, 425f.
24Cf. Neuse, pp. 199, 207f. Himmel's thesis cannot in any event, of course, extend to
the wholly fictitious story of Gregor Samsa; thus it seems oddly inconsistent that he should
apply the same term to both works.
2s It ought to be clear that this question relates only indirectly, if at all, to the problem
whether or not the work as a whole must be considered a fragment. That problem concerns
chiefly the ending of the narrative, not its antecedents. In that regard, I agree with von
Wiese who calls Lenz a "notwendiges Fragment" (p. 106).
26Piitz (p. 14f.), comparing this passage with its counterpart in the source, points out
Biichner's success in relating the disarray of Lenz's hair (in the source relegated to a
participial modifier) to the protagonist's inner state by conveying the fact in a finite verb
and adding a reference to Lenz's pallor.
27This parallel is overlooked by Fellmann who interprets Lenz's Sich- Vergessen as a
symptom of his alleged escapism and then uses the passage in question to postulate a
difference between the character Lenz and the author Biichner: "Biichner gibt uns keine
Belege, dais fiir ihn Dichtung eine blolle Illusion sei oder ein Mittel, um sich selbst zeitweise
vergessen zu kinnen" (p. 96). The positive nature of the experience is as unmistakeable in
the narrative as it is in the letter.
28Robert Musil, Prosa, Dramen, Spite Briefe, ed. by Adolf Fris6 (Hamburg: Rowohlt
Verlag, 1957), p. 604.
29Hasubek (p. 53) points out the stylistic differences between parts of the Kunstge-
sprich and Lenz's other utterances. In the Kunstgesprich, according to Hasubek, Lenz
speaks "im Stile gutkonstruierter und wohldurchdachter Satzperioden."
30Biichner's correspondence reflects initial uncertainty about the nature of the work.
In a letter to his family he refers to it as an essay ("Aufsatz," II, 448). All of Biichner's
letters to Gutzkow pertaining to Lenz have been lost, but Gutzkow's letters to Biichner
about the subject are informative. Gutzkow variously refers to the narrative as a "Novelle"
(II, 479f. and 487), "Lenziana" (II, 481), and "Erinnerungen an Lenz" based on "That-
sachen" (II, 481). Gutzkow's prefatory note to the first appearance of the work, in his
Telegraph fur Deutschland, justifies the publication of the unfinished text on the grounds
that it contains information hitherto unknown about Lenz, and in a letter to Minna Jaegle
he emphasizes the importance of the work in terms of literary history: "Lenz ist ein
auserordentlich wichtiger Beitrag der Literaturgeschichte, den ich vollstaindig abdrucken
lasse; denn von dieser Beriihrung mit Oberlin hat man bisher nichts gewulmt" (Lehmann,
Textkritische Noten, p. 24).
3 Hasubek (p. 42) believes that in Lenz Biichner consciously endeavored to emulate
the style of Sturm und Drang prose. If this is true, it might well be assumed that the

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 156 Jansen

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as a means of orientation.

GDR NEWSLETTER
Members of the GDR Seminar of the 1974 MLA Convention decided to establish
an informal newsletter for teachers and scholars of GDR literature. The news-
letter will carry brief reports on the content and structure of GDR courses being
taught or planned, discussions of pedagogical problems, bibliographies, resource
information (collections, useful addresses, etc.), announcements of symposia and
conferences dealing with the GDR, news of visiting scholars and writers, job
vacancies for GDR specialists, and news about bookstores, here and abroad,
which carry GDR publications. It solicits reports of research-in-progress (includ-
ing dissertations), suggestions for work which yet needs to be done (topics for
dissertations, bibliographies, etc.), as well as brief reviews (one page or less) of
recent publications. Persons wishing to receive the newsletter or contribute
information should write to Professor Patricia Herminghouse, Department of
Germanic Languages and Literature, Box 1104, Washington University, St.
Louis, MO. 63130. (Ed)

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