416 Besprechungen / Reviews The approach he has in mind entails reflection on what it is specifically about the individual text that poses challenges for interpretation: What is it that Kafka is trying to confront us with? He notes that Kafka has become somewhat of a guinea pig of literary theory and interpretation, an author with whom every interpretational theory has to prove itself. This means, in turn, that the problems of literary and interpretational theories, approaches and methods in Kafka studies are also germane to the whole of literary studies itself. In the second part of the book, he turns to the texts, though his starting-point is the process of writing and publishing (there is a great deal of information on the complicated issues of publication). For Jahraus, an ideal example of Kafka’s writing process is the all-nighter that resulted in Das Urteil. True, for Kafka this writing experience was more the exception than the rule, but Jahraus sees here the exemplary writing situation for Kafka, even though the constraints of familial and professional obligations prevented him from duplicating it. This is his approach. He explores the author and his work via his literary strategy, through examining the writing and publishing situations that brought the work into existence. So important is the process itself to the work that Jahraus even argues that Kafka wrote to write, and not for the written product. In a chapter on In der Strafkolonie, Jahraus argues that this story models the difficulties and reservations that Kafka had in publishing his own texts. According to Jahraus, what Kafka feared most was that his writings might be manipulated through interpretation, and Strafkolonie’s execution apparatus solves the problem that Kafka could not. While it is the task of the condemned person to decode the verdict as it is inscribed into his flesh, the meaning of the verdict is confirmed in the result of the execution process: the absolute transference of meaning. Jahraus also argues that there are striking similarities between the Offizier and the author himself, reducing the narration to the simple formula: punishment for writing - writing as punishment. While Jahraus does not deal with every important Kafka text - Beim Bau der chinesichen Mauer, or Der Bau, for example - his book could still be read as an introduction to the author. He does deal extensively with biography, the process of writing, and most of the important texts. One will also find extensive information about the myriad editions of Kafka’s works. Weaving primary texts, excerpts from journal entries, letters, interpretations and approaches from secondary literature and biographies together with his own interpretations, Jahraus’s book is a valuable work that provides readers with a great deal of information on Kafka and many of his key works. Purdue University Jason Baumer B RIAN M URDOCH : The Novels of Erich Maria Remarque: Sparks of Life. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2006. 264 pp. $ 75. In this monograph, Brian Murdoch rejects a view, held until relatively recently, that Erich Maria Remarque was a writer of Trivialliteratur. He argues convincingly that, even if Remarque’s novels do not reflect the high tone expected of great literature, the Besprechungen / Reviews 417 themes contained in his eleven or so novels have universal significance and locate him firmly in a Germany of the last century. Despite the fact that Remarque spent most of his time as a writer in exile, the subject matter he examined in his writing constitutes a significant part of the story of Germany and Germans of his time, and for this reason, says Murdoch, Remarque’s writing should be the subject of scholarly study; for this reason, he continues to be published and read. Clearly, there are inherent conflicts in a debate about popularity versus high art, and this issue, although not overstated, is discussed with insight. Murdoch’s own statement, made in reference to Im Westen nichts Neues (1929), that «there is no critical law defining a great work as one that can be read or understood only by an intellectual elite» (31), is apposite. Although views on Remarque’s literary value continue to be divided, literary critical approaches to Remarque’s writing have been revised, and he is now regarded as a writer entirely fit for scholarly study. In the period after 1998, the centenary of Remarque’s birth, Kiepenheuer and Witsch republished (or in a small number of cases published for the first time) a significant body of the writer’s work. As Murdoch acknowledges, there continue to be doubts about the literary merits of some of the earlier material (Remarque himself described it as «colorless,» although he does not examine the reasons that the publisher made this work available.) The fame achieved by Remarque’s portrayal of the soldier’s experience during the First World War in Im Westen nichts Neues contributed to his dismissal as a «onenovel writer,» and Murdoch demonstrates that there is far more to recommend Remarque than this one canonical work, a novel that became the benchmark for war writing. Reflecting the «chronicler» role, Murdoch arranges the novels more or less in order of the historical period in which they are set, moving from the period before World War I with the earliest novels, Die Traumbude and Gam, through World War I, the Weimar years and exile existence during the Hitler period, to the later part of World War II. The origins of the works are provided, as is their publication history, some of which is controversial. In addition, information about the cinematic versions of the works is given. Murdoch traces Remarque’s development as a writer as well as the thematic and chronological connections between the novels: the stubborn human instinct to cling to life against the odds (the spark of life in the title of this book runs like a «red thread» through the works); fate; love; illness; comradeship and its fragility; revenge; responsibility. His analysis also shows that a number of the novels are not simply representations of the historical period in which they are set, but provide comments on the time in which they appear. The subject of Der Weg zurück (1931), for example, is ostensibly World War I and the effects of that conflict on the soldiers who survived, but it also addresses the possibility of a war still to come. Remarque was famously associated with a number of Hollywood actresses, including Marlene Dietrich and, indeed, was married to Paulette Godard. Biographical detail is provided where it makes a meaningful contribution to the analysis, but Murdoch avoids the so-called biographical fallacy. One of the impressive aspects of this monograph is the depth of knowledge that underpins the analysis. Murdoch locates the novels in a significant body of primary and secondary literature and frequently provides illuminating notes on the conclu- 418 Besprechungen / Reviews sions that have been drawn by various literary critics on Remarque’s work. Interesting parallels are often drawn with classical genres, providing new insights into Remarque’s work. Some scholars have been critical of Remarque for his allegedly apolitical position. But Murdoch argues that the novels themselves are political because of the time in which they are set. The characters’ reflections on topics such as war, pacifism, personal and collective responsibility, and the definition of murder, create a political dimension, and Remarque’s reluctance to take an unambiguous position on the left or right creates dynamic space for the reader to make political judgments. That aside, the writing of Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben, a novel published in 1954 dealing specifically with the issue of personal and collective responsibility during the Nazi period, «was a bold act by any postwar German writer» (185). This monograph will be of interest not only to a growing body of Remarque scholars, but also to readers interested in the identity and representation of a Germany of the twentieth century. Heriot Watt University Maggie Sargeant E VA G EULEN : The End of Art: Readings in a Rumor after Hegel. Tr. James McFarland. Stanford UP, 2006. 216 pp. $ 50 (cloth); $ 19.95 (paper) Ever since Hegel, philosophers on both sides of the «analytic»/ «continental» divide have been heralding the end of art. Though this pronouncement has been articulated in a variety of ways, the basic idea is typically a variation on the following theme: in modernity art no longer has a home. The historical role, or project, of art has been fulfilled, or lost, or rendered impossible. No one denies that we have «artists» and «art» in the modern world. Rather, the picture we get from this tradition is that in the modern world the artist is like an oblivious worker who continues to show up for work even though his employment has been terminated and his factory shut down. Eva Geulen’s thesis is striking: rather than demonstrating the end of art, theorizing about the end of art has become a sustaining feature of modern art itself. Discourse about the end of art thus resuscitates art in the very act of declaring it dead; modern art thrives precisely because it is rumored to be dead. Her strategy in this book is one of offering, as Gilbert Ryle might put it, a survey of the «logical geography» of this discourse: exploring how various philosophers have propagated this founding myth of art’s death, and how they have, unawares or not, been complicit in the establishment of the very tradition - modern art - they seek to prove impossible. Geulen’s writing is equal parts fascinating and frustrating. Her thesis is important, perhaps even true. But however inspired, her defense of it is very unsatisfying. She develops her thesis through a reading of the major figures in this tradition: Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Benjamin, and Adorno (a discussion of Arthur Danto, whose work seems so well suited for her study, is sadly missing). She is dealing with philosophers, obviously, and the problem is that she has a tendency to ignore what