Besprechungen / Reviews 201 regard to their theories of literary realism. Both saw literature as an active, inquiring force that could lay bare connections and show how the world worked and how it might be improved, but while Lukács thought that the nineteenth-century novels he loved could offer a grand, objective look at an entire culture, Lenz’s aims are less ambitious and, arguably, more «concrete»: he merely asks writers to choose a particular standpoint and look deeply into what is observable from that one place. In providing their translation and commentary, Diffey and Schwarz give Lenz his due in several areas, including literary expressionism, genre theory, and broader questions of aesthetics (Patrizia C. McBride, for instance, has argued that in Lenz’s self-interrupting, self-undermining style there is an early acknowledgement of the futility of all rational discourse about art). Finally, since key texts by Lenz, Klinger, and Wagner (naturally also Goethe and Schiller) are already translated into English, the appearance of this edition means that nothing stands in the way of offering an English-language course on the Sturm und Drang. I am optimistic enough to believe that there are universities where that course would make. I do have one suggestion for future runs of this book (and other volumes planned for the series): they should be published with a longer list of recommended secondary literature, and should include not just more English language criticism, but also some of the best German-language material, since many potential users of an edition like this will likely know at least some German. University of Louisville Alan Leidner Volker Neuhaus: Günter Grass: Schriftsteller - Künstler - Zeitgenosse. Eine Biographie. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. 460 pp. € 19,80. There can be no doubt that biographer Volker Neuhaus, prominent Grass scholar and editor of the writer’s collected, annotated works, greatly esteems the Nobel laureate’s literary accomplishments as well as his endeavors in other fields when he explicitly - and not without justification - compares Grass to two eminent predecessors in the realm of German letters: «Seine frühen Erfolge und seine lange Lebensdauer lassen Grass jetzt die Jubiläen seiner frühen Welterfolge miterleben, wie einst Goethe 1825 fünfzig Jahre Werther und Thomas Mann 1951 im Exil fünfzig Jahre Buddenbrooks gefeiert haben» (446). Indeed, Die Blechtrommel (1959), the first - and presumably the most famous as well as notorious - of these «Welterfolge» has withstood the test of time and has become an almost canonical work. But, as the title of the biography indicates, Neuhaus does not only analyze Grass’s literary work; in particular, he delves into the various phases of Grass’s private life, from his youth in Danzig to his current abode in the vicinity of Lübeck via Düsseldorf, (West) Berlin, Paris, and again (West) Berlin, to mention only some of the important venues of his activities. Neuhaus also devotes considerable attention to Grass the artist and to Grass the politically engaged «Zeitgenosse» who labored predominantly in support of Willy Brandt and the SPD. (The voluminous correspondence between Grass and Brandt was published in May 2013: Willy Brandt und CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 201 14.07.15 20: 41 202 Besprechungen / Reviews Günter Grass - Der Briefwechsel. Ed. Martin Kölbel. Göttingen: Steidl.) In view of Grass’s manifold activities and endeavors, curiously among them a very brief moment of happiness when Grass played with Louis Armstrong in a quartet during the latter’s brief stay in Düsseldorf in 1959, Neuhaus declares Grass to be not only a «Zeitzeuge» but also the «Repräsentant eines Jahrhunderts» (12) whose narratives in Mein Jahrhundert (1999) he considers a «facettenreiche[ ] autobiographische Quelle» (376). After an introduction of moderate length, Neuhaus proceeds chronologically with the possible exception of an «Exkurs» devoted to Grass, the graphic artist. Unsurprisingly, the reader familiar with Grass’s work and activities will not encounter startlingly new revelations; rather, the strength of the biography rests on a fairly detailed account of Grass’s life from his childhood in Danzig to his present status as the grand old - albeit still controversial - man of letters who, apart from his literary pursuits, engages in a wide range of activities. Yet justifiably, Neuhaus’s major attention is devoted to mostly succinct but informative analyses of Grass’s literary works, which have achieved international acclaim among readers as well as among Grass’s colleagues such as John Irving and Salman Rushdie, and their reception. Unsurprisingly, Neuhaus tends to take a dim view of critics who indulge in censuring, attacking, or denigrating Grass. However, he does not shy away from occasionally faulting Grass when, for example, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan the writer adopted a stance that amounted to anti-Americanism. But apart from the initial uproar about Grass’s first novel Die Blechtrommel, which was characterized by Hans Magnus Enzensberger as provoking «Schreie der Freude und der Empörung» (168), it is particularly critics’ reaction to the post-unification novel Ein weites Feld (1995) that arouses Neuhaus’s indignation. He does not mince words when he refers to the treatment of the novel on the part of critics as a procedure more akin to «Zerreißen» rather than «Besprechen» and terms the entire reception process, perhaps not without resorting to hyperbole, «eine Skandalgeschichte ohne ihresgleichen in der Literaturgeschichte» (357). Notably star critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki played a significant role in disparaging the novel and its author when he was shown on the cover of Der Spiegel (21 August 1995) tearing apart a copy of Grass’s novel and condescendingly addressing the author in an open letter as «Mein lieber Günter Grass, […].» As is well known, the controversies involving Grass and his literary activities did not cease after the fierce debate about Ein weites Feld had subsided. Especially when the writer, prior to the publication of his autobiographical narrative Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (2006), publicly admitted for the first time that as a youth he had been a member of the feared Waffen-SS, an «unvorstellbare[r] Sturm der Entrüstung» (430) followed that aimed at nothing less than to muzzle Grass: «[er sollte] mundtot gemacht werden» (431), Neuhaus claims. Yet in one of the rare instances of a modicum of disapproval Neuhaus, in citing Manfred Durzak, expresses his wishful thinking regarding the lack of a brief explanation on Grass’s part as to what precisely had constituted the «Verführungskraft» (429) of Nazi ideology for the future writer who, to judge by his physical appearance, by no means would have qualified as a «Mustergermane» (428). CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 202 14.07.15 20: 41 Besprechungen / Reviews 203 To be sure, the reception of the two subsequent autobiographical texts of «Trilogie der Erinnerung» (424-44), consisting of Die Box. Dunkelkammergeschichten (2008), an imagined «Selbstporträt» from the perspective of Grass’s numerous children, and Grimms Wörter. Eine Liebeserklärung (2010), presumably the writer’s last prose work, was far less controversial. As the title of the latter text suggests, it is a narrative about the gargantuan task Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm engaged in when they began compiling and editing the Deutsches Wörterbuch once they had lost their professorial positions at the University of Göttingen owing to their «Verfassungspatriotismus» (442). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Grimms Wörter also includes a pronounced autobiographical component that serves Grass to look back on his activities in the political realm. Yet there was no end of polemics. Grass’s poem «Was gesagt werden muß» (first published in SüddeutscheZeitung on 4 April 2012; then included in the collection Eintagsfliegen. Gelegentliche Gedichte, 2012) again resulted in a «Skandal sondergleichen» (450), which was fuelled, Neuhaus claims, by the «fanatischen Vernichtungswillen» (458) of the writer’s opponents, among them Durs Grünbaum. Indeed, the scandal - to which Neuhaus devotes approximately nine pages - assumed an international dimension in that the «Anti-Kriegsgedicht» (457) was perceived as a critique of Israel’s secretive atomic weapons program; the entire discussion resulted not only in the charge of Grass’s presumed anti-Semitism but also in his being officially barred from visiting Israel. Despite Neuhaus’s tendency to dismiss criticism of Grass as either excessive or caused by less than honorable motives, the biography is eminently readable and offers a wealth of pertinent information. In addition, the text is supplemented by several brief sections devoted to photos of Grass, his family, and his work. However, in view of the numerous (undocumented) quotations from Grass’s writings and those of his critics, it would have been desirable to facilitate readers’ access to the biographer’s sources by including an index of names and works cited as well as a bibliography and/ or annotations to facilitate readers’ orientation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Siegfried Mews David Scrase: Wilhelm Lehmann. Biographie. Übertragung aus d. Engl. v. M. Lehmann. Mainzer Reihe N. F. 10. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2011. 438 pp. € 34,00. Wohl als Resonanz auf die 1982 begonnene und 2009 abgeschlossene Werkausgabe des Lehmannschen Oeuvres hat sich in den letzten acht bis zehn Jahren eine wissenschaftliche Lehmann-Renaissance abgezeichnet, zu der die vorliegende Biographie entscheidend beiträgt. Rein äußerlich beruht der Band, von dem der erste Teil bereits 1984 in den USA erschienen ist, auf einer Übertragung aus dem Englischen, um in dieser Form bei einem größeren deutschen Leserkreis das Interesse an Lehmann zu wecken. Vom Aufbau her beruht die Darstellung auf zwölf Kapiteln, die jeweils drei Hauptaspekte behandeln: Die konkreten Fakten von Lehmanns Lebenslauf, seine Bezie- CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 203 14.07.15 20: 41