Camden House Publishing
Encyclopedia
Camden House, Inc. was founded in 1979 by professors James Hardin and Gunther Holst with the purpose of publishing scholarly books in the field of German literature
, Austrian Literature
, and German language culture. Camden House books were published in Columbia, SC until 1998. When the company became an imprint in that year, place of publication moved to Rochester, NY.
. German language literature in Austria and Switzerland were added to the purview of Camden House early in its history.
The new series Literary Criticism in Perspective was established in the following decade, and in time broadened to include American and British literature. The aim of this more specialized series was, and is, to elucidate the role of literary criticism over the years, to show how it is subject to varying vogues and philosophical or critical viewpoints, and how criticism itself is a mirror of changing taste and critical bias.
, Friedrich Schiller
, Heinrich von Kleist
, Heinrich Heine
, Thomas Mann
, Rainer Maria Rilke
, Franz Kafka
, and many others over the next two decades. In addition, companions to major works were commissioned and published, including books focused on Goethe’s Faust
(I and II), the Nibelungenlied
, Gottfried von Strassburg
’s Tristan
, and Mann’s Magic Mountain. Distinct periods in the history of German literature were treated in companions to German Realism and German Expressionism
.
Another important aspect of the German program included translations of such key works as Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
’s Simplicius Simplicissimus, the first great German novel
; Johann Beer
’s early comic novel Teutsche Winternaechte (German Winter Nights); and Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung (Wilhelm Meister’s Theatrical Calling), the neglected forerunner to the prototype of the Bildungsroman
, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
Publication of individually authored monographs on numerous prominent German writer have appeared in the Camden House list, as well as numerous works on German film, theater, song, satire, holocaust literature, literature of the German Democratic Republic
, and Austrian literature.
The ten-volume Camden House History of German Literature, which appeared over a period of six years with completion in 2007, treats German literature in extended essays beginning with the earliest Germanic literature, including Gothic, and discusses in detail not only the literary highpoints of German literature -- the High Middle Ages, the Age of Goethe, early twentieth-century works-- but also generally neglected periods such as the Early Modern period. About this volume, edited by Max Reinhart, a reviewer wrote 'The editor and the contributors are to be praised for having accomplished a truly Herculean task through which this period finally receives the recognition it deserves. There is nothing comparable on the German, or any other, scholarly book market.' The CH history is prima facie the most voluminous recent analysis of German literature in English; it engaged the collaboration of Germanists from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Austria, and Australia. This is perhaps the most significant achievement to date of Camden House.
In recent years Camden House has branched out into North American literature, extending its series "Literary Criticism in Perspective" (series editors: Scott Peeples and James Walker) in that area and having launched a "European Studies in North American Literature and Culture" (ESNALC; series editor: Reingard M. Nischik
) in 1996. Part of the latter series is the 605-page History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian (ed. R.M. Nischik, 2008), Camden House's second major literary history and one of the extremely few histories of Canadian literature to discuss both Canadian literature written in English and Canadian literature written in French in a balanced way.
In 1998 Camden House became an imprint of its long-time distributor, Boydell & Brewer
, and has continued to bring out books in all the areas described above under the editorship of James Walker, who has been associated with the firm since 1994. James Hardin remains a consulting editor with Camden House.
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
, Austrian Literature
Austrian literature
Austrian literature is the literature written in Austria, which is mostly, but not exclusively, written in the German language. Some scholars speak about Austrian literature in a strict sense from the year 1806 on when Francis II disbanded the Holy Roman Empire and established the Austrian Empire...
, and German language culture. Camden House books were published in Columbia, SC until 1998. When the company became an imprint in that year, place of publication moved to Rochester, NY.
Early publication history
The series Studies in German Literature, Language, and Culture was established in that same year and continues to the present; over 350 books in this series have appeared as of 2011 The Camden House areas of interest expanded over the following years under the direction of James Hardin, emeritus professor at the University of South CarolinaUniversity of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
. German language literature in Austria and Switzerland were added to the purview of Camden House early in its history.
The new series Literary Criticism in Perspective was established in the following decade, and in time broadened to include American and British literature. The aim of this more specialized series was, and is, to elucidate the role of literary criticism over the years, to show how it is subject to varying vogues and philosophical or critical viewpoints, and how criticism itself is a mirror of changing taste and critical bias.
Publications since the late 1980s
In the late 1980s, Camden House increasingly sought out highly qualified scholars to write or edit commissioned works, especially in its Companion series. It was fortunate in locating and working with prominent Germanists who brought out companions to the works of such canonical writers as Hartmann von AueHartmann von Aue
Hartmann von Aue was a Middle High German poet. He introduced the courtly romance into German literature and, with Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg, was one of the three great epic poets of Middle High German literature...
, Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
, Heinrich von Kleist
Heinrich von Kleist
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
, Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
, Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, and many others over the next two decades. In addition, companions to major works were commissioned and published, including books focused on Goethe’s Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
(I and II), the Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
, Gottfried von Strassburg
Gottfried von Strassburg
Gottfried von Strassburg is the author of the Middle High German courtly romance Tristan and Isolt, an adaptation of the 12th-century Tristan and Iseult legend. Gottfried's work is regarded, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Nibelungenlied, as one of the great narrative...
’s Tristan
Tristan
Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
, and Mann’s Magic Mountain. Distinct periods in the history of German literature were treated in companions to German Realism and German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
.
Another important aspect of the German program included translations of such key works as Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen was a German author.-Biography:Grimmelshausen was born at Gelnhausen. At the age of ten he was kidnapped by Hessian soldiery, and in their midst tasted the adventures of military life in the Thirty Years' War...
’s Simplicius Simplicissimus, the first great German novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
; Johann Beer
Johann Beer
Johann Beer also Bahr, Behr or Bär, was an Austrian author, court official and composer....
’s early comic novel Teutsche Winternaechte (German Winter Nights); and Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung (Wilhelm Meister’s Theatrical Calling), the neglected forerunner to the prototype of the Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
Publication of individually authored monographs on numerous prominent German writer have appeared in the Camden House list, as well as numerous works on German film, theater, song, satire, holocaust literature, literature of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, and Austrian literature.
The ten-volume Camden House History of German Literature, which appeared over a period of six years with completion in 2007, treats German literature in extended essays beginning with the earliest Germanic literature, including Gothic, and discusses in detail not only the literary highpoints of German literature -- the High Middle Ages, the Age of Goethe, early twentieth-century works-- but also generally neglected periods such as the Early Modern period. About this volume, edited by Max Reinhart, a reviewer wrote 'The editor and the contributors are to be praised for having accomplished a truly Herculean task through which this period finally receives the recognition it deserves. There is nothing comparable on the German, or any other, scholarly book market.' The CH history is prima facie the most voluminous recent analysis of German literature in English; it engaged the collaboration of Germanists from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Austria, and Australia. This is perhaps the most significant achievement to date of Camden House.
In recent years Camden House has branched out into North American literature, extending its series "Literary Criticism in Perspective" (series editors: Scott Peeples and James Walker) in that area and having launched a "European Studies in North American Literature and Culture" (ESNALC; series editor: Reingard M. Nischik
Reingard M. Nischik
Reingard M. Nischik is a German university professor and literary scholar.-Academic career:Nischik studied English and North American Literature as well as Social Sciences at the University of Cologne , taking the First State Examination in 1977...
) in 1996. Part of the latter series is the 605-page History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian (ed. R.M. Nischik, 2008), Camden House's second major literary history and one of the extremely few histories of Canadian literature to discuss both Canadian literature written in English and Canadian literature written in French in a balanced way.
In 1998 Camden House became an imprint of its long-time distributor, Boydell & Brewer
Boydell & Brewer
Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editions, and translations of material related to the...
, and has continued to bring out books in all the areas described above under the editorship of James Walker, who has been associated with the firm since 1994. James Hardin remains a consulting editor with Camden House.