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A Companion to the Works of Friedrich Schiller. Ed. Steven D. Martinson. Rochester, New York: Camden House (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture), 2005. xvi + 333 pp. £65.00/$90.00. ISBN 1–57113–183–3, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 43, Issue 4, October 2007, Page 471, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqm075
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This volume has a number of good essays which will appeal to the newcomer to Schiller and have something to say as well to the more experienced reader. It touts itself as “point[ing] to promising areas for future research on the life and works of Germany's greatest dramatist” (p. 7) – a task it fulfils with mixed success. The more general chapters discuss Schiller's aesthetics in relation to philosophy, his reception of classical antiquity, and his work as a historian and writer of historical fiction. Additional chapters cover Schiller's most important dramas, his lyric poetry and the Letters on Aesthetic Education. The chapters by Pugh (“Schiller and Classical Antiquity”) and Sharpe (“Concerning Aesthetic Education”) stand out as clearly written, helpful guides to their respective subjects. Less helpful is the introductory chapter by Martinson, which is at times confusing (even Schiller's biography was difficult to distil, and is easier to understand from chapters on other topics). Koepke's sometimes contradictory overview of the scholarship, which concludes the volume, covers the 20th century, stopping some 8 years before publication, and so is already out of date. What is lacking in the volume as a whole is any clear engagement with (post-)modern trends in reading and interpreting texts, including Schiller's. It is a somewhat old-fashioned volume, and has the concomitant strengths and weaknesses.
