A Companion to Wolfram's Parzival. Edited by Will Hasty. Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1999. Pp. xx + 295. $75.

This volume is a very usable introduction to various aspects of Wolfram's Parzival, although, as in any collection of essays, the quality of the individual contributions is somewhat uneven. The essays are expressly intended for readers who may not be familiar with the work or lack a knowledge of German; all quotations from the Middle High German text and most foreign terms and titles are translated into English. Will Hasty's introduction provides a succinct review of Wolfram's life (such as we know it) and works, a brief discussion of the genre of Arthurian romance in general, and a historical review of critical evaluations of Parzival. The latter stress Wolfram's originality, both in terms of his attitude toward his sources and, implicit therein, a conscious rejection of the stylistic influence of the Latin clerical culture found in ChrŽtien de Troyes, Hartmann von Aue, and Gottfried von Strassburg.

Thomas Kerth
SUNY/Stony Brook