Options
Die Elementenlehre in Goethes Roman 'Die Wahlverwandtschaften'
Stingelin, Martin
1998
Abstract
The principle of ambivalence that, according to Goethe, expresses the essence of the demonic, controls the elemental dimension in "Wahlverwandtschaften". Man ought to face the physiological unpredictability of the elements that interests the totality of the natural forces by opposing it with a pragmatic conduct based on prudence and discretion, so as to absorb the ambivalence within a balanced design of humanity. While in "Wahlverwandtschaften" the characters reveal their incapability to dominate the ambiguity implied in the language of love (that dooms them to perish from the pervasiveness of the elements), in the short novel 'Der Mann von fünfzig Jahren' the elemental constitutes precisely the necessary context for the accomplishment of their relationship.
Series
Prospero. Rivista di Letterature Straniere, Comparatistica e Studi Culturali
V (1998)
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Martin Stingelin, "Die Elementenlehre in Goethes Roman "Die Wahlverwandtschaften"", in: Prospero. Rivista di Letterature Straniere, Comparatistica e Studi Culturali, V (1998), pp. 133-151
Languages
de
File(s)