Ursula Ehler, collab. Frankfurt a.M. Suhrkamp. 2001. 144 pages, ill. ISBN 3-518-41275-2

THE TITLE IS somewhat misleading, for what we have before us is not an original and independent work by Tankred Dorst, the justly famous and most widely staged contemporary German playwright, but a

medley of brief vignettes (by H. Zimmer on "Merlin" and G. Hensel on a "visit"), of interviews and conversations with Dorst (by P. von Becker and J. Lux), of reviews (by Lux, F. Wille, S. Diehl, H. Schwab-Felisch, and H. Klunker), of a letter, and, finally, a listing of Merlin productions both in Germany and abroad (Norway, Romania, Finland, Brazil, even Lagos [Nigeria] and Yaounde [Cameroon]). Interspersed are, granted, a couple of new and as yet unpublished texts by Dorst himself. Otherwise, the volume contains merely reprints from Dorstian works such as "Entwurf zum Merlin-Drama" (1978), Merlin oder Das waste Land (1981), Der nackte Mann (1986), Parzival: Ein Szenarium (1990), and "Den Realismus erweitern" (1999), the latter explicitly ending and culminating in the significant confession, "Ich mochte eigentlich den Realismus nicht aufgeben, sondern nur erweitern." Whether "Purcells Traum von Konig Artus," an interesting libretto sketch for an opera with Henry Purcell's music, has already been printed before is, unfortunately, not clear.

In addition, there appear supporting and enlightening quotations from Thomas Malory, John Milton, Andreas Gryphius, Heine, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Adorno, C.M. Cioran (whom Dorst seems to like), Jean Amory, and the American-born "German" stage director Bob Wilson. Still, the piece de resistance of the entire book is constituted, no doubt, by Joachim Lux's lengthy and detailed conversation with Dorst, here published for the first time. Their discussion covers not only the playwright's whole oeuvre from its beginnings, but also gives his longtime companion and collaborator Ursula Ehler her due; with reason, she takes a lively part in this conversation, and with momentous and revealing remarks to boot. Of Dorst's own statements, two are perhaps most exhilarating. When asked by Lux if he believes in a universal "Heilsplan," an interpretation of history stressing God's saving acts, Dorst replies with an emphatic "Nein!" Similarly, he answers Lux's rhetorical question that the existence of evil in the world must then, obviously, be "sinnlos und absurd" with an equally laconic "Ja." Concerning his creative method and procedure, Dorst told one interviewer (Becker): "Ich schreibe zuerst Bewegungen auf, Momente zwischen Personen, Bilder, manchmal ein Stuck Dialog, um eine Person festzuhalten, einen Tonfall; ich schreibe eine Bilderfolge auf. Nie eine fertige Konstruktion. Etwas ordnen, das heisst auch: etwas eingrenzen." And there emerge, needless to say, various other such observations.

How are we to classify this volume--a very beautiful book, printed on costly paper, and including scores of illustrations (many of them in color), which extend from medieval miniatures, to the paintings of Edward Burne-Jones, to modern photographs, and indeed even to present-day comic strips? The answer, I think, is simple. Merlins Zauber must be seen as an overall and richly deserved hommage a Tankred Dorst, who recently (19 December 2001) celebrated his seventy-sixth birthday. Hence, it is with great satisfaction that, in conclusion, I for my part can report that I published, as early as 1980, two excerpts from Dorst's budding "Merlin-Projekt" in my then capacity as editor of the American journal Monatshefte (72:3, pp. 228-32).

Reinhold Grimm
University of California, Riverside