Book Description

This book gives the graduate student of German literature a comprehensive survey of the secondary reference works on the medieval German fox and wolf epic Reinhart Fuchs. The critical literature is examined in four major sections, moving from older texts like those written by Jakob Grimm (of Grimm's Fairy Tale fame) and his manuscript analysis of Reinhart Fuchs to the literary sources focused on beast epic studies, to the references that investigate the history and main themes in beast epics, and finally to the fourth section, in which Reinhart Fuchs is compared to its Old French predecessor Roman de Renart.

In each of these sections, the author highlights the salient points covered in each reference work. The author doesn't hesitate to point out the strengths and the perceived shortfalls in each of the texts.

This annotated bibliography offers researchers of Germanic literature a useful guide to the prominent themes on the subject of medieval fox and wolf literature in general and on the Reinhart Fuchs epic specifically.

Irmeli S. Kuehnel has a Ph.D. in German literature, specializing in medieval Germanic literature, from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.