[A] daringly original, elegantly written, rigorous, and witty book ... Nagel’s slim book is a power tool with a broad range of applications. It combines historical with formal (in particular, narratological and rhetorical) analysis of realist and modernist works in tandem and considers intimate verbal and physical aggression, in its larger social context, as an emotional phenomenon, thus drawing on and contributing to affect studies. The result is a wealth of insights. … For somewhat different reasons, contemporary feminism, literary studies, and affect studies all need a high tolerance for and a strong practice of ambiguity. Ambiguous Aggression in German Realism and Beyond intervenes at the intersection of these three fields to sharpen our sensorium for the workings of ambiguity. This is a brilliantly structured and deftly argued book that models a new kind of scholarship: rigorously formalist and politically relevant.