For an anthology of essays written by a dozen authors, the book has a tight focus, which is held intact largely by a common methodology that gives emphasis to close reading of the text. In this approach each author stays the course, letting the reader draw conclusions about the kind of science that is embedded in narratives inspired by poetic visions of the world." - Monatshefte"Scholars have come to expect new perspectives and innovative critical approaches from the St. Louis symposia, and the present volume raises the standard of this already high expectation. The essays in this volume are uniformly well conceived and well edited; they represent some of the boldest new research in German literature and culture of the early modern period." - Sixteenth Century Journal