Mythologische Subtexte in Theodor Fontanes ‘Effi Briest’ by Holger Ehrhardt
2010; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 105; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2010.0238
ISSN2222-4319
Autores ResumoMLR, 105.1, 2010 277 than analysis and criticism, as well as some tension between those who claimed him for Jewishness or Zionism and those who associated him with theMarxist cause. Steinecke exposes some long-lived canards as unfounded in evidence, such as that the Loreley poem appeared inNazi songbooks as author unknown' or that his works were included in the book-burnings. Steinecke then reviews theweak status and sometimes stillhostile views ofHeine in both theAdenauer restoration and among Swiss critics, as well as the vigorous instrumentalization of him in the Soviet Zone and the German Democratic Re public. This, too, was not without its farcical moments, such as the decision not to publish the papers of the elaborately prepared anniversary conference of 1956 because the organizer, Wolfgang Harich, had been arrested forhis stance towards the suppression of theHungarian uprising. There ismuch of potential interest in this precise and informative study;we may expect this to continue to be the case in the third volume now in preparation, which will bring the story close to our own time. Yale University Jeffrey L. Sammons Mythologische Subtexte in Theodor Fontanes 'Effi Briesf. By Holger Ehrhardt. (Medien ? Literaturen ? Sprachen inAnglistik/Amerikanistik, Germanistik und Romanistik, 6) Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang. 2008. 305 pp. 48.10; ?31.30. ISBN 978-3-631-56612-1. The titleof thismonograph, based on a University ofKassel dissertation, does not do justice to itsbreadth of reference. The section devoted to Fontane's best-known novel, which iswidely studied as a set text inGerman schools, begins only on page 137. This painstakingly researched study focuses on Fontane's long-recognized techniques of concealment and refined symbolism in his Realist narratives. It breaks new ground both by developing the notion of the 'Versteckspiel' as a poeto logical principle more fully,and?more significantly?by identifying and analysing hitherto unrecognized subtextual layers ofmeaning in references towhat Erhardt categorizes as Christian, Nordic, and Slav (Wendish) mythology. He builds pri marily on earlier criticism by Peter-Klaus Schuster, Renate Boschenstein, Paul I. Anderson, and Michael Masenetz. On the basis of carefully assembled evidence from Fontane's literary and non-fictional writing, including the letters,Ehrhardt argues that the novelist works with a range of consciously deployed, fixed, private symbols. Chapter 2 comprises a lengthy disquisition on subtext theory and its history followed by an original and illuminating sample case study of Fontane's use of colour symbolism, which persuasively argues the link between the combination red-yellow and death. This figures frequently in plant references, and Ehrhardt's readings of the subtextual function of allusions to 'Ranunkeln und rotes Ampfer' and to broom with heather generally convince, although the combination 'Raps und Riibsen' (p. 100) is not a case in point: 'Riibsen' is not 'roteRuben' (carrots), 278 Reviews but brassica rapa, which has yellow flowers. The heart of the title discussion, in Chapter 3, offers rich interpretative insights, although the author does not always avoid the acknowledged hazard of over-interpretation. The discussion, centred on EffiBriest, includes appropriate consideration of parallel cases in other narratives. In linewith Fontane's literarypractice, Ehrhardt does not draw a firmline between mythology, history, legend, and religious iconography. He productively explores Fontane's surprisingly consistent onomastic practices, highlighting the numerous explicit reflections on names, and showing transpositions by orthographic substi tution from place names to personal ones. He mines the revised manuscript for evidence, while the detailed exposition of Nordic (especially Danish) legendary and historical material and Wendish religious and geographical background is comprehensively presented in relation to the subtexts. He also traces individual motifs, such as illegitimacy, and typological parallels, demonstrating, too, how Fontane steers the reader. What finally comes out of the detailed investigation is the proposition that Fontane's 'mythological' subtexts are linked to narratives of the brutal Christianization of indigenous inhabitants and that these feed into themore obvious social criticism conveyed in a novel whose protagonist is de stroyed by a set of Christian-based values which, seen in historical perspective, are exposed as provisional and devoid of legitimacy. The critical reader may well be inclined to take issue with particular assertions, for example the claim in the doubtful Leviathan section (pp. 180-83) that...
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