Description
Book SynopsisJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, a dominant figure in European literature and intellectual life, was the creator of a new and influential visual culture. This volume investigates a new science of perception through an exploration of his autobiographical works, novels and writings on optics. The psychoanalytic approach taken in this study focuses on central acts of perception and the role of vision in Goethe as key to the formation of identity. By addressing the impact of visuality on the act of writing, new interpretations of his most important works emerge through analysis of subject formation in the autobiographies,
The Italian Journey and
Poetry and Truth. Further, the relationship between the self and the gaze plays a central role in the semi-autobiographical works,
The Elective Affinities,
Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, as well as
Color Theory. In exploring the question of identity and identification within a Lacanian framework,
The Eye and the Gaze offers an innovative approach to biography, autobiography, and narrative.
Trade Review«Der weite Blickwinkel auf die Relation von Visualität und autobiographischer Dimension in G.s Werk ermöglicht einen vielversprechenden Grenzgang zwischen Literaturwissenschaft und Psychoanalyse mit einem umfangreichen Bildmaterial.»
(Klaus Schenk, GERMANISTIK Internationales Referatenorgan mit bibliographischen Hinweisen Band 59, Heft 1-2/2018)
Table of ContentsContents: The Eye and the Gaze: Goethe and the Autobiographical Subject – The Transformative View: Goethe’s Italian Journey – Birth in Language: Goethe’s Biographical Masquerade – The End of Language: Goethe, Lavater and the Eye/I of Physiognomy – Werther Fever: Cause and Cure – The Narcissistic I/Eye: Performance, Politics and Specular Lessons – Images of Desire: Tableaux Vivants in Goethe’s
Elective Affinities – Specular Confessions: Goethe on Newton and Lavater.
