186 Besprechungen / Reviews According to Malte Herwig in «The ‹Magic Mountain Malady›; Der Zauberberg and the Medical Community 1924-2006,» Mann invited responses by the medical profession when delivering realistic descriptions of the disease as well as less than flattering depictions of the medical providers. According to initial reactions Mann was an unqualified amateur who ventured to criticize them and their patients. «Reading this book the layman will think that almost everybody suffering from tuberculosis of the lungs is bound to degenerate spiritually as well as morally» (250). Defending his novel as «genuinely medical» (ärztlich) (246), Mann emphasized the narrative’s «service to life, its commitment to health» (251). Eventually Mann became «idolized and instrumentalized» (258) by parts of the medical community. Mills College Elisabeth Bartsch Siekhaus M ONIKA C ZERNIN : «Jenes herrliche Gefühl der Freiheit». Frieda von Bülow und die Sehnsucht nach Afrika. Berlin: List Verlag, 2008. 383 pp. € 19,90. Monika Czernin, who has studied pedagogy, philosophy, and political science and now works as a journalist, documentary film maker, and independent author, details in the prologue how she first became acquainted with the original materials (consisting of loose leaf diary entries, letters, photos, and newspaper articles) which form the basis for her latest novel. A phone call from a distant cousin of Frieda von Bülow, Earl Friedrich von Hatzfeldt, awakens the interest of Czernin in the life of a writer who is nowadays viewed simultaneously as one of the most influential colonial feminists in Imperial Germany whilst also being deemed anti-Semitic and racist. Most likely, the latter labels have pushed Frieda von Bülow and her writings onto the periphery of serious study. The book is divided into six main chapters, each detailing a particular section of von Bülow’s life in a rather episodic manner. The initial prologue and a timeline of major events in von Bülow’s life, along with a short epilogue and acknowledgement of thanks by Czernin to all the people and experts who have helped her gather information for this book, support the biographical details with factual data. Frieda von Bülow (1857-1909) was born into old Prussian nobility, and her life was both framed and constricted by the hierarchical expectations of this social class. Czernin begins the biography of von Bülow, who was the oldest of five children, with the first chapter entitled «Kindheitsliebe,» but not with the birth of Frieda, as might be expected. Rather, she details receiving the materials of von Bülow’s life in the mail, looking at photographs and reading herself into the life of this woman. Czernin approaches the writing of her biographical novel by first conveying the key experience that she believes has coloured the rest of von Bülow’s life - the death of Frieda’s beloved youngest sister, Margarethe. Margarethe von Bülow, a respected writer in her own right, died of heart failure on January 2, 1884 in Berlin, trying to save a young boy who had fallen through the ice. Czernin does not give a sober, factual account of what happened, but assumes von Bülow’s personality as she imagines Frieda’s emotional turmoil in personally having to witness her sister’s death, even though Frieda was convalescing in Italy during this time. This event affects von Bülow deeply and Besprechungen / Reviews 187 stays with her throughout her life as the two sisters, separated by three years, were connected by an apparently uncommonly close bond (19). The theme of loss is pervasive in Czernin’s narrative as Frieda is survived ultimately only by her younger sister Sophie. Czernin glosses over the factual details of the family members’ passing, intent more on stirring the reader’s empathy for von Bülow as she describes Frieda’s thoughts and feelings. With her style of writing, Czernin is able to create a fascinating psychological portrait of von Bülow with such ease that the reader is caught up in the ensuing events and feels like a companion of von Bülow on the journey, instead of a distant and objectively-minded critic. Frieda von Bülow’s strong-willed, independent thinking, her love of adventure, and her incessant yearning for new experiences and the freedom to explore is what drives the narrative forward. Czernin details von Bülow’s travels to East Africa and her single-handed management of a farm there, her friendship with Lou Andreas- Salomé, her affair with Carl Peters, her writings (she published 25 books in total), her two returns to Germany, and her inevitable death from cancer in chronological order in the succeeding chapters of the novel. While every fact is carefully researched, as evidenced by the author’s interspersed travelogues of her journeys to Africa itself and various archives with the purpose of reconstructing the necessary political and social context, it is the intimate conversations between von Bülow and key characters, such as Carl Peters, which bring a human dimension to the facts of her life. These conversations are fictionalized, and motivations for various actions are hinted at, but never confirmed. Czernin is aware that von Bülow’s writings are not recognized favorably by researchers (361). However, by concentrating on the effect of von Bülow’s writing on the reader on an emotional level, Czernin illustrates their enduring value and thus validates their worth for serious study. Czernin does not remove herself from the story, but rather involves herself more and more with the story as she tells it. The reader becomes privy to the author’s various research trips, which are woven into the narrative of how von Bülow may have experienced and felt in certain places and situations. The interweaving of personal emotions and thoughts from the author and those created by the author for Frieda lessens the distance between the reader and von Bülow herself, as Czernin details von Bülow’s actions, thoughts, and emotions. Czernin does not pass jugdement on von Bülow, but rather presents Frieda as a complex and multi-dimensional human being. The source material is reproduced by Czernin in italics throughout the novel, which distinguishes it from the imagined conversations and descriptions created by Czernin. Since Czernin ably incorporates the source materials with her own questions and experiences and ties those in with imagined conversations and descriptions of the thoughts and emotions of the characters she is writing about, the narrative flows together seamlessly and moves forward with a well-formulated pace. Overall, the book gives a contradictory reading experience: While it presents a psychological and intensely intimate portrait of a woman whose actions and decisions are still being derided today, it is essentially a collection of fictionalized and somewhat romanticized accounts of various episodes in von Bülow’s personal life. What makes it a critically engaging and informative read is the fact that the narrative 188 Besprechungen / Reviews itself is constructed with such great care, and that it creates historically and politically accurate contexts which form a sound backdrop for the vibrant personality of von Bülow as created by Czernin. Laurentian University Bettina Brockerhoff-Macdonald T HOMAS A. K OVACH AND M ARTIN W ALSER : The Burden of the Past. Martin Walser on Modern German Identity: Texts, Contexts, Commentary. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2008. 141 pp. $ 29.95. This book is about Walser’s intellectual negotiations with the German past since the 1960s. Thomas Kovach has expertly translated six of Walser’s essays/ speeches dealing with the German past and its impact on contemporary German identity. These texts are presented chronologically, tracing Walser’s development from a decidedly leftist intellectual to a more conservative stance. By placing Walser’s texts in a larger historical and literary context it is the author’s hope to elucidate - especially to non-German readers - how not only Walser but German society at large deals with the conflicted sentiments regarding the country’s problematic past, in particular the issue of the Holocaust. Kovach approaches Walser’s essays as literary texts, paying close attention to their literary complexities and rhetorical strategies, and attempts to distinguish what may be considered a valid critique of Germany’s culture of remembrance from those aspects that may be seen as problematic. Naturally, Walser’s Friedenspreisrede of 1998 takes center stage here, although it is essential that the previous and subsequent texts embed this speech in a broader framework, which enables Kovach, through comparisons, analogies and cross-references, to extract and explain Walser’s reasoning in a much more differentiated and balanced way than otherwise possible. For each text Kovach provides introductory comments, detailing Walser’s personal circumstances and the historical-political conditions under which the texts originated. Following each piece, Kovach’s commentary progresses from a brief recap to close analysis of the text. Starting with the 1965 essay «Our Auschwitz,» it becomes clear that Walser was at the «forefront of public voices» (20) in dealing with this issue overtly and explicitly, offering a number of subtle psychological observations and insights into the role Auschwitz played in the German psyche, and insisting on collective responsibility and the necessity of reflection on the sheer incomprehensible and inexpressible reality that is Auschwitz. In his speech «No End to Auschwitz» (1979), Walser continues his forceful engagement with the past on a deeply personal level, identifying himself and all Germans with the perpetrators condemned to share the burden of collective guilt. While in these first two texts Walser’s voice is that of a public speaker, the tone changes from here on. In «Handshake with Ghosts» (1979), Walser laments the impossibility for Germans of being able to devote thought to the division of Germany, thus inhibiting a «reconstitution of a German national identity» (52). As Kovach points out, «guilt for the Holocaust is viewed as the problem preventing Germans from devoting themselves to national tasks, rather than as an essential fact each German must face and deal with» (52). In the 1988 speech «Speaking of Germany,» Walser again voices his unappeasable irritation about Germany’s divi-