1996 Spring – New Publications of Note

WESS Newsletter

Vol. 19, No. 2 (Spring, 1996)

Column Editor: Leena Siegelbaum

Reviewers:
RdH = Richard D. Hacken (UPB)
GPH = Gail P. Hueting (IU)
JKL = Jeffry K Larson (CtY)
RS = Reinhart Sonnenburg (CU-S)

French

Boissier, Denis. Dictionnaire des anecdotes littéraires. Paris: Editions du Rocher, c1995. 1300 p.; 24 cm. ISBN 226802105X. 395 FF.

  • Why would Boileau abhor Mother Goose? What did Casanova do while watching the execution of Damiens from the window of a nearby townhouse? What did Rousseau think of small-breasted women? What did De Gaulle say to Malraux when they first met in 1944? The answers to none of the above questions are in this compilation of anecdotes about (mainly) French (mainly) men of (mainly) letters. References are rare for verification or elaboration. The index of names is useless, referring only to each author’s main entry, which is already in alphabetical order. JKL

Giraud, Yves, & Clin-Lalande, Anne-Marie. Nouvelle bibliographie du roman épistolaire en France: des origines à 1842. 2e éd. entièrement rév. et augm. Fribourg: Editions universitaires, c1995. xviii, 345 p.; 23 cm. (Seges; n.F., 14) ISBN 2827107139; LCCN: 95207507. $59.

  • A chronological catalog of French epistolary fiction to Balzac, preceded by a selective bibliography of studies and bibliographies. Locations are shown for early editions of the texts; includes an index of titles. Rev. ed. of: Bibliographie du roman épistolaire en France (1977, 137 p.). JKL

Labes, Bertrand. Guide Montblanc 1996 des Prix et concours littéraires. Paris: Cherche Midi, 1995. 409 p.; 23 cm. (Guides) ISBN 2862743887. 148FF.

  • An expanded update of Balay BE177, the 1992 edition reviewed here in our Spring 1993 issue. JKL

Latour, Geneviève. Théâtre, reflet de la IVe République: événements, politique, société, idées… head of cover: 1946-1958 sur les scènes parisiennes Paris: Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris: Association de la Régie théâtrale, 1995. 660 p.: ill.; 27 cm. (Accompanied by: Index onomastique. 23 p.; 27 cm.) ISBN 2906869678. 280 FF.

  • The presentation of 174 plays produced in Paris between the two De Gaulles, giving credits and excerpts from critical reception. Includes index of titles, chronologies, brief thematic index, as well as the separate index of names. JKL

Leleu-Rouvray, Geneviève. Le fil d’Ariane: Bibliothèques spécialisées de Paris et de la Région parisienne = Ariadne’s clew: Special librairies in Paris and greater Paris. “Nouveau tirage, en annexe, mise a jour au 1er janvier 1995.” Saint-Maur-des-Fossés: G. Leleu-Rouvray, 1995. 454 p.; 23 cm. ISBN 2950827519. 400 FF.

  • A classed bilingual French-English directory of 363 “carefully selected” special libraries in and near Paris. Appendices offer French-English and English-French glossaries of technical terms and subject headings, and indices of libraries and of subject headings. A 5-page annex updates the 1994 edition (LCCN: 95134938). JKL

Moureau, François, ed. Le XVIIIe siècle. New ed. Paris: Fayard, 1995. 1371 p.; 25 cm. (Dictionnaire des lettres françaises, ed. cardinal Georges Grente v. 4) ISBN 2213595437. 390 FF.

  • An updated edition of the 18th-century volume in Grente’s Dictionnaire des lettres françaises (Balay BE1153). Besides textual corrections, bibliographies have been updated to include “les meilleurs livres et articles depuis 1960.” Only a few of the articles have been rewritten or added. Apparently a Livre de poche edition is also to be published. The hard-cover and poche editions of the medieval volume were reviewed here in our Fall 1995 and Spring 1993 issues respectively. JKL

Schaffner, Alain. Albert Cohen. Roma: Memini, 1995. 93 p.; 24 cm, + 1 computer diskette. (Bibliographie des écrivains français; v. 1) ISBN 88-86609-01-9. 215 FF.

  • The first in a new numbered series, entirely in French, of classed, selective, selectively annotated bibliographical monographs to be devoted to authors, anonymous works, and topics. Primary material, including manuscripts and translations, secondary works, work in progress, and desiderata are covered, with a variety of indices. The bibliography in hand was accompanied by a Windows-formatted diskette with text in MS Word 6.0. A CD-ROM version of 12 titles will be offered for separate purchase, the first being available in 1997. JKL (For Jeffry Larson’s full review of this work, see Reference Review Europe/IFBA, 1995, no.4)

German

Ammon, Ulrich. Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: das Problem der nationalen Varietäten. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995. ISBN 311014753X.

  • Ammon, a productive sociolinguist, has long wanted to investigate the multiple national varieties of standard German, and this book is the result. After a theoretical section, there are sections on Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, and Germany. The linguistic variation between East and West Germany-now perhaps more historical than current-gets only a brief chapter. GPH

Barck, Simone, et al., hrsg. Lexikon sozialistischer Literatur. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994. 580p. ISBN 3476012379. DM 78.

  • The subtitle indicates that this lexicon limits itself to German socialist literature through 1945. In the keyword index (and consequently in the volume itself) are found entries of socialist clubs, societies, publishing houses, movie companies, periodicals and concepts as well as of authors. The individual entries have been assembled by a team of researchers, but an editorial hand has seen to a regularity of presentation. All entries have a short bibliography. RdH

Jäger, Andrea. Schriftsteller aus der DDR: Ausbürgerungen und Übersiedlungen von 1961 bis 1989: Autorenlexikon. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995. (Schriften zur Europa- und Deutschlandforschung, 1).

  • A bio-bibliographical dictionary covering 97 writers who left the former GDR between 1961 and 1989. For many authors, the bibliographical information seems to be more comprehensive and up-to-date than found in the Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur. RS

Lexikon der österreichischen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur und Leseforschung. Wien: Buchkultur, 1994. 2v. ISBN 3901052178.

  • This concise and attractive reference work lists living Austrian authors and translators (vol.1) and illustrators (vol.2) of books for children and young adults, plus a few who have died recently and became active after 1945. It includes portraits of authors and colored examples of the illustrators’ work. GPH

Pornschlegel, Clemens. Der literarische Souverän: Studien aus politischer Funktion der deutschen Dichtung bei Goethe, Heidegger, Kafka und im George-Kreis. Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach, 1994. (Rombach Wissenschaft. Reihe Litterae; Bd.24). ISBN 3793091031.

  • German literature has always had its visions of an “ideal” Germany, and authors both on the right and on the left have succumbed to the temptation to write about political ideals. In his critical study Pornschlegel analyses four authors and concludes that artistic sovereignty leads to bad politics. GPH

Raabe, Paul. Einführung in die Bücherkunde zur deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. 11th completely rev. ed. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994.

  • After ten years, a substantially revised and expanded edition of a standard introductory handbook for students of Germanistik. RS

Rupprecht. Der literarische Bürgerkrieg: zur Politik der Unpolitischen in Deutschland. Frankfurt am Main: Knecht, 1995. ISBN 3782007123.

  • Twentieth-century German literature is analyzed according to its political currents. Those authors who remained between ideologies are the special focus. GPH

Schumann, Andreas. Bibliographie zur deutschen Literaturgeschichtsschreibung 1827-1945. München: K.G. Saur, 1994. 278p. ISBN 3598112297. DM 198.

  • German literary historiography is perforce also a history of the changing German literary canon and of the formation (and deformation) of cultural traditions. This bibliography is an attempt to gather together, as comprehensively as possible, those German literary histories written between 1827 and 1945. In addition to a main section with entries by name of the literary historian, there are numerous indexes: by title, by place of publication, by publishing house, by year of first edition, by time periods covered, by target audience, by religious orientation, by ideological orientation, and by the inclusion of other cultural factors (art history, linguistic history, poetics, etc.) RdH

Wall, Renate. Lexikon deutschsprachiger Schriftstellerinnen im Exil, 1933-1945. Freiburg: Kore, c1995.

  • A bio-bibliographical dictionary covering some 180 women writers who were prohibited from publishing or went into exile during the Third Reich. RS

Italian

Catalogo dei premi letterari italiani. Milano: Bibliografica, 1995. 507 p.; 24 cm. ISBN 8870754332. L60000.

  • An alphabetical, then classed directory of Italian literary prizes; an expanded revision of the 1991 edition annotated here in Fall 1992. JKL

Devoto, Giacomo. Il dizionario della lingua italiana. Nuova ed. Firenze: Le Monnier, 1995. 2196 p.; 27 cm. ISBN 8800510833. L95,000.

  • New edition of Walford 6 3/#5761 (1990, 2164 p.). N. B. No longer illustrated. JKL

Dizionario Garzanti sinonimi e contrari; “Con generici, specifici, analoghi, inversi”-Cover. Ed. Pasquale Stoppelli. Milano: Garzanti, c1994. 979 p.; 20 cm. (Dizionari Garzanti) ISBN 8811102146. L48,000.

  • A downsized edition of the 1991 Dizionario Garzanti dei sinonimi e contrari (Balay AC541), which was reviewed here in our Spring 1992 issue, but with fewer synthetic tables, arranged at the end instead of in their place in the alphabetical sequence. JKL

Novelli, Silverio, & Urbani, Gabriella. Dizionario italiano: parole nuove della seconda e terza Repubblica. Roma: Datanews, 1995. 159 p.; 21 cm. ISBN 8879810561 : L20000.

  • A lexicon of over 1300 sociopolitical neologisms classed mostly by morphological element. The usages, culled from the media between February 1994 and February 1995, are illustrated in referenced quotations. Includes a one-page bibliography and an index of terms glossed. The authors are active in lexicography as well as journalism. JKL

Savoca, Giuseppe. Vocabolario della poesia italiana del Novecento: le concordanze delle poesie di Govoni, Corazzini, Gozzano, Moretti, Palazzeschi, Sbarbaro, Rebora, Ungaretti, Campana, Cardarelli, Saba, Montale, Pavese, Quasimodo, Pasolini, Turoldo. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1995. 1151 p.; 28 cm. ISBN 8808096467; LCCN: 95216285. L99,500.

  • An aggregate concordance of 73 selected works by the sixteen 20th-century Italian poets indicated in the title. Arranged by root, the entries in brief context show the absolute and relative frequency in the corpus and in each poet, as well as grammatical category of the form. No mention found of availability in digital form. JKL

Portuguese

Coelho, Jacinto do Prado. Dicionario de literatura: literatura portuguesa, literatura brasileira, literatura galega, estilística literária. Porto: Figueirinhas, 1994. 5 v. (1526 p.); 25 cm. ISBN 972661032X 19,000 esc.

  • A photo-reprint of the 1989 edition (Balay BE1364, Walford6 3/#8313). JKL

Scandinavian

Jochens, Jenny. Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1995. ISBN 0801431654.

  • While women’s own voices cannot be separated from the predominantly male chorus of the Norse sagas, the works offer multifaceted portraits of real and imagined women and their lives. Jochens draws on the sagas of the Icelanders, the contemporary sagas, and the law texts to define the tangible aspects of women’s existence in medieval Norway. GPH

Spanish and Catalan

Bibliografía de lingüística general y española, 1964-1990. Eds. Valerio Báez San José … et al.. de Henares: Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Alcalá, 1995-. 24 cm. ISBN 848138965X (set). 5565 ptas.

  • This, the first of an indeterminate number of volumes in an ambitious project to supplement Homero Seris’ inventory of the Spanish contribution to the discipline of linguistics (Balay BD169, Walford6 3/#5793), covers bibliographic sources, the historiography of linguistics, and theoretical and methodological concepts; other volumes will cover the field of linguistics in nine other chapters. Accompanied by: Tomo de índices y abbreviaturas, containing despite its title no real index of the main volume. JKL

Buitrago Jiménez, Alberto. Diccionario de dichos y frases hechas. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1995. 515 p.; 18 cm. ISBN 8423992276. 1350 ptas.

  • A popular dictionary of proverbs and catch phrases. No sources cited in the entries. Contains an index and a two-page bibliography. JKL

Diccionari de la llengua catalana. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Barcelona: Edicions 3i4: Edicions 62: Enciclopèdia Catalana: L’abadia de Montserrat, 1995. lvii, 1908 p.; 25 cm. ISBN 8441224773 (Enciclopèdia Catalana); ISBN 8429739815 (Edicions 62); LCCN: 96108457. 5600 ptas.

  • A new authoritative monolingual Catalan dictionary, with no illustrative quotations or bibliographical references. JKL

Diccionari manual de la llengua catalana. Ed. Jesús Giralt i Radigales. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1995. 1875 p.; 22 cm. (Diccionaris de l’enciclopèdia catalana) ISBN 8477399255. 4120 ptas.

  • A downsized version of the 3d edition (1993) of the Diccionari de la llengua catalana (Balay AC250 2d ed., 1983). JKL

Fernández, Jaime, S.J. Bibliografía del Quijote: por unidades narrativas y materiales de la novela. Alcalá de Henares: Centro de Estudios Cervantinos, 1995. 1343 p.; 26 cm. ISBN 8488333129. 17,500 ptas.

  • A major bibliography of secondary literature on Quixote, arranged by the work’s segments or episodes. In lieu of an index, the text is reprinted in alphabetic order by author. JKL

García Moreno, Melchor. Catálogo paremiológico. Madrid: Ollero y Ramos, 1995. 44, 248, 71 p.; 25 cm. (Biblioteca histórica del Ayuntamiento de Madrid) ISBN 8478950451. 5610 ptas.

  • A reprint of the 1918 edition of a standard bibliography of Spanish literature on proverbs (with one page of corrigenda) and of the author’s 1948 “Apéndice” offering a supplement of 87 more titles. JKL

Gimenez, Manuel. Diccionario lógico de sinónimos y antónimos. Barcelona: Ediciones 29,1995. 350 p.; 20 cm. ISBN 8471753812. 1800 ptas.

  • A popular inventory of synonyms and antonyms. JKL

Náñez Fernández, Emilio. Diccionario de construcciones sintácticas del español: preposiciones. Madrid: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 1995. 880 p.; 24 cm. (Estudios; 43) ISBN 8474775345. 5350 ptas.

  • A scholarly inventory of prepositional constructions in Castilian, in a much amplified revision of the 1970 edition (277 p.). Contains a 17-page bibliography of methodological literature, and a 5-page list of sources of illustrations, which are occasionally cited in the footnotes to the entries. JKL

Trece anos de cine español: fichas de todas las películas españolas del periodo, 1983-1995; Estrenos comerciales/televisión/Vídeos-cover y una “Relación-Guia” de 3.500 titulos del Cine Español desde los años treinta hasta 1995. Madrid: Edice, 1995. 499 p.; 22 cm. (Pantalla; 90) ISBN 8471413256. 2100 ptas.

  • Casts and credits of 614 recent Spanish feature films. Besides a technical-artistic fiche, each film receives a commentary, a bibliographic reference, and artistic and moral ratings reflective of the views of the sponsor, the Comisión Episcopal de medios de comunicación social. Includes indices of titles and directors, and a listing of Spanish films since the 1930s giving director, genre, ratings, and a bibliographic reference. JKL

Varela, Fernando, & Kubarth, Hugo. Diccionario fraseológico del español moderno. Madrid: Gredos, c1994. xiv, 294 p.; 25 cm. (Biblioteca románica hispánica. V, Diccionarios; 15) ISBN 842491659X; LCCN: 95210840. 2975 ptas.

  • A scholarly glossary of current spoken Castilian idiomatic phrases. No dates, bibliographical references or index. JKL