The list might be interested to learn that the fourth and final volume of
Wolf Gerhard Schmidt's magnum opus on the reception of Ossian in the
German- speaking countries, *'Homer des Nordens' und 'Mutter der
Romantik': James Macphersons Ossian und seine Rezeption in der
deutschsprachigen Literatur*, has just appeared (de Gruyter). It consists
of over 800 pages of annotated texts, including a number of firsts: e.g.
an accurate transcription of Goethe's important letter to Herder of
September 1771 in which Goethe provides an interlinear German translation
of sections from the Gaelic specimen of 'Temora'; also Ludwig Tieck's
hitherto unpublished Ossianic epics 'Iwona' and 'Gesang des Barden
Congal'. There is a wealth of translations, essays, reviews and examples
of productive reception from many different sources, including major
poets, such as Hölderlin, whose Ossianism has been scandalously
disregarded by critics.
Howard Gaskill
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