The opening essay frames the book's intent as being one of experience rather than historical documentation, setting the images up to be reactive in their eeriness. Heike Geissler's In the Company of a Bear nimbly explores that line between the worlds of the day-to-day and the one of magical imagination evoked by these costumed characters, and manages to say a lot without being specific about anything. The tempered hand with which the essay was written is impressive, and creates a kind of odd counterpoint to the captions in the rear of the book which give a volume of specific information regarding the characters names and ages of costumes yet don't really say anything. I imagine a German audience long acquainted with the traditions and casts of these carnivals may have a different response. I knew next to nothing about what I was looking at, but figured that these costumes must have something to do with the Lenten season, some of the characters likely having roots in pagan tradition. A little research confirmed by guesses, but the book itself gives no explanation. But for the unaccustomed, the work achieves that state of otherness quicker, Hoedt's subjects being immediately unfamiliar. I am left with an overwhelming sense of that otherness, though it is not one entirely detached from what it is to be human.—SARAH BRADLEY
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