Description
Book SynopsisThe two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was celebrated in Scotland by a colloquium held under the auspices of the University of Glasgow's Centre for Intercultural Germanistics in April 1999. Its aim was to reflect both Goethe's own commitment to Weltliteratur and the pressing need in our global village at the turn of the millennium for cultural exchange between scholars of different nations. For if, as Goethe said, 'wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weis nichts von seiner eigenen', then it is also true that 'wer fremde Kulturen nicht kennt; weis nichts von seiner eigenen'.Discussing different themes, different texts, and working with different methodological presuppositions, the papers in this collection nevertheless share the conviction that the significance of Goethe for the new millennium can best be shown by setting his works in an intercultural context. The volume also includes John Michael Krois' Inaugural Ernst Cassirer Lecture in Intercultural Relations, held in the University of Glasgow in April 2000, entitled 'Ernst Cassirer and the Renaissance of Cultural Theory'.
Table of ContentsThe Problem of Origin in the Works of the Young Goethe; Huysmans' à Rebours Als Hinter Grund Für Eine Untragische Lektüre Der Wahlverwandtschaften; 'Brahma [...] Der Gerechte', 'Waltende Gerechtigkeit', 'Waltant Got': The Genesis of Goethe's Paria in an Intercultural Perspective; 'The Illustrious Goethe' Through Byron's Eyes: A Relationship of Analogy?; The Divine Feminine in the Spanish Kabbalah and Wilhelm Meister; Goethe's 'Chinesisch—Deutsche Jahres- Und Tageszeiten': An Intercultural Glance; Hatte Wilhelm Meister Eine Sendung?; Die Natürliche Tochter: A Model of Interculturality?; The Cultural Theory of Weimar Classicism in the Light of Coleridge's Doctrine of Aesthetic Knowledge; Ernst Cassirer and the Renaissance of Cultural Theory
