The Victorians and Germany by John R. Davis

MLR, 104.3, 2009 825 in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Double. The argument, although somewhat dry when compared with the excellent second chapter on Prosper Merimee's 'LaVenus d'llle' and Vladimir Odoevsky's 'The Sylph', still fitswell with themain purpose of the study (i.e. to improve upon Todorov's definition of the fantastic). Chapter 4 offers one of themost elaborate and interesting discussions of the entire book, suggesting thatTodorov's understanding of allegory, as incompatible with the fantastic, actually overlaps with popular concepts of irony' ? la Jonathan Culler (c. 1974), and that they can be considered 'related phenomena' (p. 120) which are friendly to the fantastic. The 'ironic fantastic' text, Whitehead argues, will still be able to generate hesitation (albeit in an unconventional way) (p. 131), providing that the reader understands the 'conventions of the fantastic' (p. 121). In the ironic fantastic text,even the reader's rolemay become a target (pp. 141-43) since there is an 'ironiz[ing of] the idea thatmeaning [...] has to exist' (p. 150) and because, more broadly, ironyposes a problem to the 'categorization' of texts as fantastic (p. 123). The discussion in Chapter 4 is a particularly stimulating one for its overlap with issues already raised in Poe scholarship (specifically inG. R. Thompson's work on Romantic Irony (c. 1973)), andWhitehead is indeed aware, by the conclusion, that the topics covered inher studymay 'prove equally pertinent to other textsbelonging to the fantastic' (p. 155). The Fantastic inFrance and Russia most of all benefits through its comparative analyses of chosen texts; thisnot onlymakes obvious the 'pan-European' context in which the fantastic flourished during the nineteenth century (p. 157) but will, it is to be hoped, inspire others to tinker furtherwith some of the (semi-narratological: p. 8) concepts applied here to the fantastic, especially in relation to other examples ofGothic fiction. University of Alberta Slobodan Sucur The Victorians and Germany. By John R. Davis. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2007. 419 pp. ?45; 74. ISBN 978-3-03911-065-0. The avowed aim of this ambitious book is to give an overview, a frame of reference, and away ofunderstanding theVictorian interactionwith Germany' (p. 19), drawing on thework of comparatist scholars in the fields of literature, religion, philosophy, art,music, science, and politics. It seeks to navigate carefully between the Scylla of superficiality [. . .] and the Charybdis of dusty scholarship' (ibid.) and to give a comprehensive view of the countless and complex ways' inwhich Germany Teft its mark on modern Britain through theVictorians' (p. 391). It is a tall order, and one which is fulfilled in parts. The early chapters, on philosophy and literature?taken together and given perfunctory treatment?on religion, and on art and music, sufferfrombeing little more than a survey based on thework of other scholars. There is littledirect quotation fromVictorian sources themselves; important figures in the history of British interest inGermany, from Walter Scott and Coleridge toCarlyle, George Eliot, and Matthew Arnold, are not 826 Reviews heard in their own strong, distinctive voices. For the reader acquainted with the subject, the discussion offers nothing new, while for those seeking to learn about Victorian responses toGerman culture it is too distant from thematerial to bring it to life. Though generally skilful at not claiming either toomuch or too little in theway of 'influence', Davis does occasionally succumb to the temptation to over-generalize, as when he follows a quotation from Gustav Waagen on the esteem forGerman composers he found during a visit to Britain in 1834 with the sweeping and rather empty remark: 'This sense ofmusic's importance inGermany and belief in itsvalue to theworld helped spread German music inBritain' (p. 243). On the other hand, the chapters on 'Reform,Education, and theGerman Model', on Victorian travellers in Germany, and on 'Victorians and the German Nation State' engage directly with the subject, quoting from parliamentary reports, illus trating the linksbetween British Benthamites and German?in particular Prussian? governmental initiatives onmatters such as the training of teachers, inwhich Britain lagged behind, and extra-mural burial, forwhich Dickens and Chadwick, among others, agitated in themid-century, looking to German models. There is a clear section on theways inwhich German universities were also taken...

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