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Midwest Modern Language Association Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America by David Benseler; Craig W. Nickisch; Cora Lee Nollendorfs Review by: Rachel Ritterbusch The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Vol. 37, No. 1, The University (Spring, 2004), pp. 129-132 Published by: Midwest Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1315389 . Accessed: 28/06/2014 12:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Midwest Modern Language Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 92.63.102.147 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:54:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America

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Midwest Modern Language Association

Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America by David Benseler; Craig W. Nickisch; CoraLee NollendorfsReview by: Rachel RitterbuschThe Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Vol. 37, No. 1, The University(Spring, 2004), pp. 129-132Published by: Midwest Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1315389 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 12:54

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Midwest Modern Language Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toThe Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.63.102.147 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:54:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

tive. His goal in this chapter is twofold: to show that both linguists and

literary scholars share a common interest in the use of ordinary language to make art, and to establish that Narrating Knowledge is but one possible direction those interested in the stylistic study of O'Connor's fiction can take. He reviews Bloomfield's early work in the field and points out that

Jakobson's call to embrace structuralism while studying grammar has been largely resisted by the American literary community which histori-

cally views linguistic scientism with skepticism. He relies on Gerald Prince's three-part distinction in negative narrative events-the nonnar- ratable, the nonnarrated, and the disnarrated-to demonstrate that while there is much more to O'Connor's style than the features of negation and vision, those features in themselves offer rich possibilities for further

study. Blending his skill at historical description with his knowledge of both corpus linguistics and narrative theory, Dr. Hardy admirably demon- strates that there is indeed room for scientific study of a corpus in the field of literary interpretation and theory.

Dr. Hardy's study foregrounds his linguistic approach, and many of his

chapters rely on parsing and charting, making it necessary for the literary critic to approach this book with a willingness to appreciate its understat- ed depth. His training in semiotics is consistently evident throughout the work, as is his knowledge of contemporary narrative theory. Dr. Hardy himself is willing to acknowledge that the depth of O'Connor's fiction cannot be ascertained by a single theory or literary practice. As the open- ing statement of his concluding paragraph reveals: "If there is any lesson to take away from any reading of O'Connor's fiction it is surely that we don't know quite as much as we might think we do." Perhaps. But all the evidence presented in Dr. Hardy's astute study of negation shows that we can't be, in O'Connor's own words, "no poorer than dead."

Susan Rochette-Crawley University of Northern Iowa

Teaching German in Twentieth-Century America. Edited by David Benseler, Craig W. Nickisch, and Cora Lee Nollendorfs. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2001. xi + 291 pp.

This collection of eighteen essays reflects the recent interest in discipli- nary histories within American Germanics and continues the line of inquiry initiated in Teaching German in America: Prolegomena to a History (U of Wisconsin P, 1988). The current volume, which focuses on the cul- tural and political forces that shaped Germanics in twentieth-century

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America, will primarily interest those who teach German at the college or university level. The message of the volume is aimed at them: in a time when the future of the discipline no longer seems secure, when enrollments are falling and German departments have been targeted for downsizing or even elimination, Germanists should examine the past and learn from it. However, the fact that the essays are in English (rather than in German) reflects the editors' desire to reduce the "invisibility" of Ger- man studies and reach a broader audience. And indeed, thanks to the wide range of topics covered here-German-American politics, women's fight for professional equality, the electronic reproduction of knowledge, etc.-this collection will no doubt interest historians, feminists, and those involved in electronic publishing as well as Germanists.

Peter Uwe Hohendahl's essay "How to Read Our Professional Past: A Modest Proposal" was well chosen to open the volume, for it not only gives an overview of the history of German studies in America, but also assesses the scholarship done until now. Hohendahl observes that schol- ars have, for the most part, dealt with the history of the discipline at the macro-level, examining its evolution in the context of American political and cultural history or in the context of literary criticism in general. What is needed now, he maintains, is an examination of the discipline at the micro-level, a kind of day-to-day narrative (Alltagsgeschichte) that will flesh out the history of American Germanics and thus provide a more solid basis for making decisions about the future (6). In particular, he

encourages scholars to focus on heretofore neglected areas, such as the

organizational and institutional structures of individual German depart- ments and the history of major professional organizations.

While most of the articles in the volume focus on history at the macro- level, several contributors share Hohendahl's concern for micro-level research. For instance, both John A. McCarthy and Helmut Ziefle chronicle the history of Germanics at specific institutions of higher education. In his "'An Indigenous and Not an Exotic Plant': Toward a History of Germanics at Penn," McCarthy focuses on the early phase of Germanics (1882-1916) at the University of Pennsylvania, where German was offered as early as 1754. He uses data from this period to deconstruct the widely held belief that "Germanics in America was an essentially uncritical recipient of the German model of the profession well into the second half of the twentieth

century" (146). He shows that the University of Pennsylvania was able to develop its own unique brand of Germanics that emphasized topics such as the reception of German literature in America, thereby answering the call for a critical discipline not slavishly beholden to the German model.

Ziefle's article "Historical Forces, German Departments, and the Cur- riculum in Small Liberal Arts Colleges in the Midwest" maintains a focus on specific institutions, but shifts from the past to the present. Based on

130 Book Reviews

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the results of a questionnaire sent to such small Midwestern liberal arts

colleges as Beloit, Carleton, Elmhurst, and Calvin, Ziefle traces the trends in German programs from 1970 to the present. In general, he notes a

rapid decline in staffing after language requirements were dropped in the

early 1970s. Nevertheless, small departments are managing to survive by fine-tuning their curriculum to appeal to today's undergraduate American students. Most notably, there has been a move away from the traditional curriculum (literary masterpieces, century by century) toward seminar- format courses in such fields as women's literature and popular culture. Other language experiences, including German Club and study abroad, have also proved crucial in maintaining stable enrollments.

In addition to these "snapshots" of specific institutions, readers will find a series of articles exploring the history of the key professional organizations of American Germanics. These articles are unique in their focus, since they are written by female scholars who emphasize the con- tinued marginality of women in academe in general and Germanics in

particular. For instance, in her "Representations of Women in the AATG, 1926-1950," Ellen Manning Nagy notes that, from its founding in 1926 until 1950, the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) showed a distinct lack of recognition for women's professional abilities and contributions. She bases this conclusion on the fact that although women were adequately represented in the AATG during the early years (40% of the nominating committee, 33% of the ballot), no woman was elected to a senior officer post at the national level until 1949. In addi- tion, Nagy contends that the AATG effectively silenced women scholars, having them act as hostesses at annual meetings, where they tended to lead symposia or discussions rather than present papers.

Although Emma Birkmaier was elected secretary of the AATG in 1949, the situation of women within the profession did not noticeably improve. It is therefore not surprising that female scholars eventually founded a professional organization of their own-Women in German (WiG)-which could address such issues as the near absence of women in tenure-track jobs, higher administration, and offices of professional organizations, as well as the androcentric biases affecting the literature being researched and taught by American Germanists. The history of WiG is the subject of two essays in the current volume, one by Margaretmary Daley and the other by Sara Friedrichsmeyer and Patricia Herminghouse. Both essays emphasize how the growing influence of women scholars has helped to produce a distinctly American form of Germanics that considers not only general questions of gender construction but also attempts to encompass the complexities of contemporary German culture, including groups for- merly marginalized by scholars, such as asylum seekers, homosexuals, and Gypsies.

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While most of these essays concentrate on the past of American Ger- manics, a few deal with the future of the discipline. For example, both Mark W. Rectanus and Jeannine Blackwell raise the question of how Ger- manics will respond to the challenges of the Internet age. In her "Control- Alt-Delete: Reshaping Germanics Publication in the Age of Electronic Reproduction," Blackwell argues that, should Germanists "choose to maintain the traditional tasks of the ivory tower academic, serv[ing] the print needs of a small coterie of similarly educated scholars and

teach[ing] small groups of white Americans in late puberty" (194), it will mean the death of any influence they could have on public policy and mainstream education in America. However, if they can find a way to make the paradigm shift from elitist print culture to democratized elec- tronic culture, Germanists will be able to open the field to wider audi- ences. To achieve this goal, Blackwell suggests that Germanists make themselves available to the public through on-line discussion groups and the presentation of critically evaluated electronic materials (both primary and secondary) on the Internet. In "Publishing in Germanics: Dissemina- tion, Legitimation, and Validation of Scholarly Communication," Rectanus comes to a similar, if less idealistic, conclusion. He reminds us that

"[e]lectronic publishing will only be embraced fully by humanists if insti- tutional and professional forms of validation and prestige equivalent to those enjoyed by the book are established" (225).

Limitations of space do not allow me to do full justice to this volume of essays, which should be required reading for both current Germanists and those considering a career in the discipline. The breadth and quality of the contributions are exceptional, as is the detailed bibliography of pri- mary and secondary material that will allow readers to continue explor- ing the history of Germanics in twentieth-century America.

Rachel Ritterbusch Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Literature and Music. Edited by Michael J. Meyer. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002. 238 pp.

Many scholars speak movingly about the significance of interdiscipli- nary literary study. To its great credit, Literature and Music more than talks the talk-it walks the proverbial walk.

Edited by Michael J. Meyer, Literature and Music offers an intriguing collection of essays that addresses the interconnections between textual study and a variety of musical genres ranging from jazz and classical

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