Art. Goethe and Europe

8/11/2019 Art. Goethe and Europe

1/20

South tlantic Modern Language ssociation

Goethe and EuropeAuthor(s): Paul Michael LtzelerSource: South Atlantic Review, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Spring, 2000), pp. 95-113Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3201813 .Accessed: 08/09/2014 08:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

South Atlantic Modern Language Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to South Atlantic Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 1 57.92.4.12 on Mon, 8 Sep 201 4 08:51:05 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=samlahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3201813?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3201813?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=samla


2/20

Goethe nd EuropePAULMICHAEL LOTZELER

I WOULDLIKETO BEGIN MYPAPER'BY PROPOSING THREEtheses: first, hatGoethe's deas on Europe developed throughcontacts with the Romantic generation; econd, that his con-cept of European culture s pluralistic nd dialogic rather hanmonistic nd exclusive; and third, hat n times of continentalcrises, he leading authors f the twentieth entury ave citedGoethe's works as convincing xamples of European culture.

Goethe was not a writer f Europe essays,' as were Novalis,Friedrich chlegel, Coleridge, nd Madame de Stael in that heproduced no utopias depicting he Continent's ultural, oliti-cal, social,or religious nity. What he brought o the discussionwas his visionof world iterature, nd this ision aid the ground-work for new ideas that went beyond national concerns, deasof a growing uropean ntegration. erder was the ntellectualpatron of the national movements f the nineteenth entury,but Goethe was the spiritual ather f European efforts owardinternational ooperation.WhileHerder tressed he nsurmount-able differences etween the various cultures, Goethe concen-trated n what they had in common. However, we must akeinto account the fact hatHerder proposed his ideas in expan-sive treatises, while Goethe's thoughts n the topic of worldliterature ere short omments, nterspersed n his letters, on-versations, nd essays. Goethe would never have formulatedthesis ike this one of Herder's: Each nation's happiness s cen-tered n tself." n order o llustrate hedifference etweenHerderand Goethe, would like to offer ou a few more quotes fromHerder's essay Another Philosophy' f the Histot' of'the du/ca-tion ofJankiznd "Everything hat fits my nature, everything

that t can assimilate, s something strive or, s somethingwant to be part f; everything eyond that am protected gainstby my nature, rotected gainst by unfeelingness, oldness and

This content downloaded from 1 57.92.4.12 on Mon, 8 Sep 2014 08:51:05 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/20

96 PaulMichael itzelerblindness; this negative motion can even turn nto contemptand disgust." Then follows Herder's praise of national preju-dice: "Prejudice s good ... since t makes you happy. t bringsthe nations to their centers, makes them more concise as acommunity, ets their haracter evelopmore freely,makes theirdesires and goals deeper and more passionate."Herder ontin-ues: "This is why the most ignorant nd most biased nationoften s the highest anking ation: he age of desire for hope-ful travels o foreign ountries s already sign of sickness, fflatulence, nhealthy bundance, foreboding f death " 44-46). Goethe's ideas of building national dentities ere entirelydifferent, s his deliberations n European and world iteratureshowed.3 Asimportant s Goethe's heoretical emarks n worldliterature ere, his literary raxis nd his correspondence withother uthors rom ll parts f Europe were at least as relevant.One must keep this practical spect n mind. t s reflected henGoethe muses that he terms European iterature" nd "generalworld iterature" ndicate bove all "that he iving nd strivingwriters will become familiar ith each other nd that heywillfind hemselves oerced through ommon nterests nd a com-munal spirit"(12: 63).1 Goethe believed that iterature ouldempower nations to overcome the racial, inguistic, nd cul-tural differences f millenia. He was convinced that spiritualexchange and mutual nfluences ould exist beyond the bound-aries of space and time. He was sure that he various nationsshould not be limited o merely ttempting o understanding

their wn nature. hese cosmopolitan iewsenabled Goethe toplace the concept of world literature bove that of nationalliterature, nd this concept had a lasting ffect n the culturalunderstanding f the Europe essayists f the decades and cen-turies ofollow. The fact hat Goethe perceived heterm worldliterature" s a step up from nd as a further evelopment fthe term "European iterature" s sometimes verlooked. Thisperception s evident from comment he made in 1828, inwhich he stated that he had "dared to announce a European,indeed a general world literature." transnational uropeanliterature ould provide the model, as it were, for the nextlevelof the nternationalization f iteratures owardwhat Goethecalled the "approaching world literature" 12: 363), that s, to-



4/20

South tlantic eview 97ward a literature hatwould construct bridge o other worldcultures. he choice of the word "approaching" s indicative fthe progressive nature of this development as well as of itsavant-garde haracter. oethe saw himself s the promoter ndagent of this burgeoning iterature.World iterature ould crossnational s well as continental oundaries, n idea reflected nhis well known comment o his assistant ckermann: Nationalliterature s not of much importance now; this s the era ofworld literature, nd everyone should support this tendency"(12: 362). Furthermore, e stressed that the Germans would

have "an honorable role" 12: 360) to play n the process of thisinternationalization. hile his tance must not be conceived asa condemnation f national iteratures er se, it s obvious thathere Goethe adopted a position counter o Herder's, ince heemphasized he nsuffiency f a nationally imited orizonwithinthe cultural ealm.

With regard to their perceptions of a European literature,there are similarities etween Goethe's position and that of

August Wilhelm Schlegel. In his "Overview of the EuropeanConditions f German Literature" chlegel ntended o demon-strate uropean and international wareness of contemporaryGerman iterature. n this ummary f German iterature, hichwas written or English readers in 1825, he lamented he factthat German iterature as still nmapped territory, erra ncog-nita, and that he works of Klopstock, Lessing,Winckelmann,Wieland, Btirger, oethe, Herder, nd Schillerwere largely n-

known n England. Schlegelconsidered t a typically uropeanaspect of the intellectual roduction o examine the nationaland continental istory s it related o the history f mankind.In Schlegel'sas well as in Goethe's opinions, t was the task ofthe scholar "to explain the current ircumstances f humanityin all parts of the world by examining he past" 9). It is in thislight hat one must see Schlegel's transnational eclaration: Ithas always been my endeavor to raise myself o a European

perspectiven all occurrences f the

century"5).

Goethe's perception f world iterature oundresonance andresponse not only among contemporaries ut even today, wocenturies ater. n his 1994book 7DeLocation ofJ'Culture omiBhabha demonstrates that even today theoreticians of



5/20

98 PaulMichael iitzelermulticulturalism nd postcolonialism onsider world literaturea very useful concept. Bhabha believes that hybrid ultures rerepresentative f the ate twentieth entury. is interest s cap-tured by the mixtures hat have resulted from he confronta-tions, overlappings, nd interrelations f the various culturesduring he course of colonization nd decolonization, f warsand migrations.With eference oGoethe, while mindful f thecurrent istorical ituation, habha writes bout the new placeswhere one comes in contactwith what is alien: "Where, nce,the transmission f national raditions as the major hemeof a

world iterature, erhaps we can now suggest hat ransnationalhistories f migrants, hecolonized,or political efugees-theseborder and frontier conditions-may be the terrains f worldliterature" 12). While Goethe placed the greatest mportanceon the exchange and interaction f national iteratures, habhafocuses on those literatures manifesting he cultural isplace-ments hat re the result f today's ispossession, xile,diaspora,and migration. n Bhabha's case we can refer o an expansion

of Goethe's concept of world iterature. t is obvious from neof Goethe's commentaries n world iterature hathe, too, con-sidered hosecultural ispossessions hat re the result f wars-in his case, the Napoleonicmilitary ampaigns: Forquite sometime here has been talk of a generalworld iterature, nd quiterightly o, for all those nations that were first haken up inhorrible wars noticed after time of recovery hat they hadbecome aware of many foreign lements, hat they had ab-

sorbed these, and that heyperceived here and there hithertounknown ntellectual eeds" 3: 364).Goethe associated his idea of world literature losely with

his concept of cosmopolitanism. e recognized he "true os-mopolitan pirit erhaps nowhere n a more refined orm hanin the arts and in literature" 12: 55). At a point he declared:"Wherewe educateourselves, here s our fatherland" JA: 80).2It is hardly possible to find n Goethe's time a more explicit

positionagainst narrow, nationalistic hinking, nd from his

position, t seems to me, we can draw ines to the current is-cussion of European multiculturalisnm,6 hich has been dis-cussed, among others, by Edgar Morin, Renmy rague, andJacques Derrida. The view of multiculturalism avoredhere is



6/20

South tlantic eview 99that of a dialogic, not of a dialectic nature, .e., cultures hatcome in contact with ach other do not result n pure synthesesbut rather hey retain contradictory lements, feelings of un-ease, points of friction, nd the potential for onflict. We mustbe aware that Goethe did not envision a neutral or passivetolerance toward other cultures; nstead, he pleaded for theconstant xpansion of horizons nd a readiness to examine, omodify, o supplement, r to revise our current ositions. ntel-lectual growth nd the recognition f new phenomena werethe goals of Goethe's educational vision; n this ontext he tol-

erated no regional, national, or continental boundaries. Theresurrection f the classical concept of humanity layed an im-portant, lthough not an exclusive, role in this process, as evi-denced by Goethe's ate work, he TWest-OstlicberDi,a-7 herehe described the nteraction etween different ultures n thesewords: "The Orient has beautifully spread across the Mediter-ranean; / Only he who loves and knows Hafis, / knows whatCalderon has sung" 2: 57).The interconnectedness f cultures

is even more strongly xpressed when Goethe continues: Hewho knows himself nd others, will recognize: / Orient ndOccident / can no longer be separated" 2: 121).Goethe seemsalready to be practicing what has become the benchmark fpostmodern ulture: nomadic thinking. n spite of rootednessin a specific ulture, henomad stands for mobility, heundog-matic,migration etween worlds, fascination ith hatwhich sdifferent, willingness o leave the familiar, Protean, non-

fixed dentity, ut the nomad also stands for a return o theorigin, which is never seen as a final goal. As Deleuze andGuattari ave shown, nomadic hinking hatters heone-dimen-sionality f an identity nd creates or propagates nstead newidentities, vercoming arriers n the process so that pirit ndbody may explore new options. We can easily trace Goethe'sgeographical xplorations, nd we are able to follow his intel-lectual ourneys n his work. t is the very essence of nomadicthinking hat t s marked

bytravel nd

bythe

crossingf bor-

ders; endentially t santi-essentialisticnd anti-ftindamentalistic;it s aimed at new adventure, ew knowledge, nd new defini-tion; t deconstructs raditional ayers f consciousness, t s fas-cinated by the transitional, nd it thrives n the acknowledg-



7/20

100 PaulMichael itzelerment f cultural iversity. he "home"of the nomadic hinker slimited either y national pace nor by historic ime; t s, so tospeak, the world itself, ncluding he world of literature ndworld literature. n its excursions through ultures, nomadicthinking onstructs or tself n identity f its own. In otherwords, the familiar nd the alien are juxtaposed n constantlyshifting onfigurations. oethe had two favorite igures rommythology: lysses and Proteus. He saw Ulyssesas a "leader"and "patron" 11: 307)while Proteus-see Faust1I--is equatedwith perpetual hange, that s,Proteus epresents hoseaspectsof mobility nd changeability hat are so characteristic f no-madic thinking 3: 251).This s not a matter f claimingGoethefor postmodernism nd multiculturalism. t is rather he otherway around: even our era is able to find deas articulated n thecomplexworks f Goethe, hat ppear contemporary, otmerelyof historical nterest.

Returning o the topic of Goethe and the Romantics, t mustbe pointed out that not all Romantic urope essayists were as

closely aligned with Goethe's concepts of iterature nd cultureas was August Wilhelm chlegel. Novalis'sEurope speech, forinstance, ould not be expected o meet with Goethe's pproval.Napoleon and Novalis belonged to the same generation, ndthe coincidence of the completion f Novalis's speech "Chris-tianity r Europe" at the time of Napoleon's coup d'tat of No-vember 1799is revealing.With ts frontal ttack n the philoso-phy of the Enlightenment nd the cultural oncept of Goethe's

Classicism,Novalis'sspeech also contained heseeds of a coupd'etat. However, in contrast o what happened in Paris, thisrevolt, imed as it was at Weimar, ailedbecause of the resis-tance of the established power, i.e., Goethe advised againstpublishing ovalis's peech in the periodicalAthendurm.n truth,the speech was not of a visionary ature.The achievements fthe Enlightenment--pluralism nd tolerance--could otbe coun-teracted with a new universal religion without regressing ooutdated modes of European thinking. nd n the field f prac-tical politics, no cultural vision of perfect harmony ould beconstrued onvincingly n light f the conflicted nforcementof nterests. oethe's reservations owardNovalis's peech wereprobably lso connected with ts distance from eality nd its



8/20

SouthAtlantic eview 101

prophetic Messianic zeal. Goethe could not help but interpretthe exemplary haracter hat was accorded to medieval cultureas a direct ttack on his vision of man, which at that imewascharacterized y classical ideals. Goethe's fascination with theGothic had long passed, and even in the most enthusiasticmoments f his Strasbourg-Cathedral hase, he had not beencarried way to the point of such mythisizing s had Novalis.

On the other hand, Friedrich chlegel,with his Europe essay"Travels o France,"was somewhat loser to Goethe's position.Novalis had expected that the new Christian eligion with ts

peace mission could be universally ffective eyond Europe.Schlegel,however, denied that Europe possessed any capabil-ity t all of cultural ransference. Sincethe times of Alexander,"he stated, all attempts .. to conquer Asia,to rebuild t and toEuropeanize t,have totally ailed"76).Of course, here Schlegelalso hinted t the debacle in Egypt, onaparte's failed Asia ex-pedition. Yet, Schlegelstated, Europe owed its very ulture oAsia. "We can hardly ave forgotten," e reminded his readers,

"from where every religion nd mythology as come to us sofar, hat s, the principles f ife, heorigins f our concepts." nthe attempt o "build n Europe a new world from estruction"(77), we must earn from Asia, n particular rom ndia. Novalishad mentioned ndia only in passing, since he felt hat medi-eval Europe had once had what Schlegelnow associated withIndia, namely, ultural ompleteness nstead of dissolution ndharmony nstead of disruption. n 1803 Schlegel did not yet

share this view of the Middle Ages. He stressed hat "the realEurope" n the sense of cultural nity had never existed, hat t"had yet ocome about" 78). It becomes evident hat Goethe'sreservations ere not the only reason Schlegelblocked the print-ing of Novalis's Europe speech. While Schlegel had little ncommon with Goethe's respect for Classicismhe used Goethe'sveto as an instrument orhis own interests. ovalis's view ofthe Middle Ages, his optimism oncerning he start f a new

European religion,is

respectfor

European history ltogether,his marginalization f the India theme, which was central forSchlegel-these were all grounds for him o heed Goethe's sug-gestion not to publish Novalis's speech on Europe in theAthend/zm.



9/20

102 PaulMichael iitzelerAs far s the Europe essays of Novalis and Friedrich nd of

AugustWilhelm chlegelwere concerned, Goethewas the cata-lyst s well as the subject of criticism. Wherever urope wasdiscussed,Goethe'sviewswere nthe forefront. hiswas equallytrue n Madame de Stael's case. Her expansive 1810essay DeIAllemagne has been calledby RobertMinder he "earliest,mostbrilliant .. and most congenial cultural istory f the Goetheera" 94). Madame de Staelsaid about Goethe and his contem-poraries: One might ay that he Germans orm heavant-gardeof the human spirit; hey blaze new trails nd try new means;how could one not be eager to hear what they . . have totell?" 2, 9). Madame de Stael praised he Germans s a "peoplewhose very nature . . is literary nd philosophical, 1, 15)call-ing tswriters the most rudite men, hemost ntellectual eadsof Europe" (2, 9). The positive ncentive or his book on Ger-many was Goethe, the negative mpetus was Napoleon. ForMadamede Stael's work De IAllemwagne as not only book inwhich German culture was admired but also a means for deci-

sive criticism f Napoleon's regime, document f revenge forthe shame she had suffered y being forced nto exile. That aFrench woman-or rather Swiss-French woman living inFrance-should bemoan the sterility f the stagnating renchliterature f the time, he literature f a country hat had as-sumed the leading political role in Europe, that he could fur-thermore ompare the literature f French Classicism, avoredas itwas by Napoleon, to the iterature f the neighboring oun-

try-all of this was considered an extremely npatriotic ct inFrance.Madame de Stael's German colleagues were even less con-

strained n their riticism f Napoleon. Between 1800 and 1815,the Europe essays of the German writers rystallized roundtheir opposition to Napoleon's politics. Goethe's contributionto these essays was deafening silence. At the crossroads ofparliamentarianism nd dictatorship, f a European power bal-ance and French dominance n Europe, Napoleon alwayschosethe etter ption. Despotism nstead f republicanism, univer-sal monarchy nstead of the formation f nations within fed-eration of states that was based on equality-this concept en-raged the rest of Europe, founded as it was on a repressive



10/20

South tlantic eview 103

police system nd an aggressive foreign olicy. Arndt, Gentz,Coleridge, Wordsworth, orres, and Kleist were among thedeclared opponents of Napoleon; they vented their anger insharp polemics and hate-filled amphlets. The more bitter hepublications gainst heFrench mperor ecame, the more ob-vious and more enervating ecame Goethe's ilenceon the topicof Napoleon. There were two main reasons for hisbehavior:one personal, heother olitical-ideological. n October 2, 1808,Goethe had been introduced o Napoleon during breakfastmeeting n Erfurt. he few reports f this vent are sparse, and

Goethe himself was never willing o comment n this encoun-ter n detail. t s certain hat or Goethe the meeting was one ofthe great moments of his life. At the same time Goethe, thecosmopolitan European, was unhappy with the national over-tones espoused by Napoleon's opponents. Even at the zenithof the patrioticmovement n the course of the war of iberationGoethe would not join the chorus of the emperor's despisersand demonizers. Now, their atred f Napoleon became aligned

with ntipathy owardGoethe.This s evident n Kleist's lanminglyanti-Napoleonic amphlets f 1809and his ncreasingly ggres-sive attitude oward Goethe.

During heRestoration ra after 815,the elder Goethe gaveexpression o his admiration orNapoleon. The emperor's dateof death, May5, 1821,became the day of Bonaparte's rebirth nlegend and myth. he prisoner f St. Helena had been dead foronly womonths when AlessandroManzoniwrote heode "TheFifth f

May,"which Goethe found so touching hat he trans-lated it in 1824. In the third nd fourth tanzas he found hissilence about the French mperor onfirmed nd vindicated. nhis translation oethe wrote:

The muse saw him,Radiant on his throne,Then saw the change, sawHim fall, hen climb, aw him supine;In a thousand voices that alledShe did not oin hers.

A virgin, nnocent of any praise



11/20

104 PaulMichaelLiitzelerNor guilty f shameful isdain,She rises suddenly, xcitedly,Because the rays re waning,And adorns his urn with song [ ... . (558)8

Hans Blumenberg described the affinity oethe felt towardNapoleon thus: Goethe projected his favorite deas of the pro-ductive, rtistically alented, romethean man onto the Frenchemperor. Goethe, the "author f the word," iked to comparehimself o the "author f the deed." This comparison truck t

the very heart f Napoleon's being, ince he tended o comparehis ability as a warrior with that of an author or an artist.Blumenberg points out to what degree the rise of Napoleoninfluenced heconception f the Faust figure n the second partof the tragedy, hepartwhere Faust s identified s a Prometheanfigure. f we interpret aust as the ncarnation f the Europeanidea of the constant ransgression, hen we will also see Napo-leon as a prototypical uropean, human being who executes

in the field of politics what Faust explores in the realms ofknowledge and experience. f this nterpretation s indeed cor-rect, hen Goethe's admiration f Napoleon and his silence inthe face of the chorus of Napoleon's enemies, his refusal o oinNapoleon's disdainers, ecome understandable. he last stanzaof Manzoni's ode "TheFifth f May" nd Goethe's adaptation fit accentuate the Christian eath of Napoleon. This ode thenshows a kinship to the end of the Faust drama where a reli-

gioussolution s also formulated.

Goethe's view of Napoleon as a central figure f Europeanhistory would have been well suited to the French mperor'simage of himself.At east n retrospect, riting is memoirs sa prisoner n St. Helena, Napoleon interpreted is ife s that fa great uropean. Hisautobiography llemoriialdeaiuteHillnle,published n 1823,became the greatest estseller f the nine-teenth entury. Here Napoleon declared the federal union ofEuropean states s his life's goal, claiming hathe would havebegun the organization f a united Europe after successfulRussian ampaign. Amonghis plans he named the creation f aEuropean congress, a European legal code, a European highcourt of law, the introduction of a universal system of weights



12/20

South tlantic eview 105and measures, and even the abolishment f the contintent'sarmies. He claimed that then the Europeans would have feltlike one people in a united fatherland. uch an idea of a politi-cally united Europe would certainly ave well exceeded thegoal of European interaction nvisioned by Goethe. However,since Goethe wrote no political Europe essays, one can onlyextrapolate what he might ave intended. A certain robabilityspeaks for the fact that a Europe of fatherlands, pen to theworld, would have come closest o his wishes for heContinent'spolitical future.

Thiswas also the opinion of many wentieth-century uthors.During and after he two catastrophes f the First nd SecondWorld Wars, heyrediscovered Goethe. n Goethe's works theysaw the basis for he reestablishment f a humanity n Europewhose goals were peace and liberty. n November 1914, in acontribution o the Anle Zlircher ZeitHng, Hermann Hessestrongly dmonished his writer olleagueswho had succumbed

to the militaristic, ar-mongering renzy. With horror he re-acted to the sudden turning f those "super patriots" gainstGoethe. He accused them of arguing We were always suspi-cious of this Goethe, he was never a patriot; nstead he pol-luted the German pirit with that mild, detached international-ity nder which we have suffered o long and which has decid-edlyweakened our German onsciousness."Hesse,on the otherhand, deferred is European feelings oGoethe and found him

exemplary n that he had placed the "joy in humanity" bovethe "joyof being German."Hesse added that Goethe had been"acitizen nd a patriot n the nternational orld of deas" 411-16). Hesse was the first riter f a Europe ssayto praiseGoethe'swork as quintessentially uropean and to proclaim he GermanClassicist'swork and attitude oward ife as the yard stick forthe European identity. t is possible that he was influenced nthis by Nietzsche,who had ranked Goethe as well as Napoleonamong the "good Europeans," .e., the

"displaced",the "wan-

derers," he"Europeans f the future," ho might e capable ofdefeating nihilism." Hesse also wanted to be a European citi-zen of the world, and as such he formulated the task of theintellectual t times of war: "to preserve freedom, o build bridges,



13/20

106 PaulMichael ftzelerto explore new paths" 415).Atthe end of the war twas RudolfPannwitzwho, in his book Germaun' nd Europe, argued n avery similar manner and in the name of Goethe's concept ofhumanity gainst militaristic deologues of the WilhelminianEmpire.Pannwitz declared that worlds eparated Wilhelminianiedology from Goethe's idea of humanity.

During he ame year, n 1918, he mperialist swald Spengleralso referred o Goethe's ideas in his work 7he Decline oftheWIPst.e declared that Occidentalman was "Faustian" nd thatthe symbol of the Faustian man was limitless, nfinite pace.According o Spengler, he time concept of Faustian man wascharacterized y rational planning nd calculated delineation.Spengler stated that Faust, the landowner, ntrepreneur ndengineer-as Goethe had pictured him---was he ideal of theOccidental present. Spengler saw the Faustian, audaciouspragmatician epresented n such figures f colonialism s CecilRhodes.

At the time of the FirstWorld War t was thus mperialists s

well as anti-imperialists ho referred o Goethe as a "Euro-pean." Incited by Spengler's title, The Decline of the West,"Hermann Hesse published in 1919 the essay "The BrothersKaramazovor the Decline of Europe."This text s a pessimisticvision of the European future fter hewar. In 1914Hesse hadbeen inspired by Goethe and filled with hope; now, after hewar, he saw the humanity hat Goethe had envisioned, n de-cline. As in 1914,he still felt hat "the spiritual urope" 161)

was embodied in the work of Goethe; in the writingsof

Dostoyevsky, however, he saw the embodiment f what hecalled "Asiatic hinking." he contemporary eception f thesetwo authors, Goethe and Dostoyevsky, was sufficient ndica-tion for Hesse that what was European was about to be dis-placed by what was Asian.To Hesse it eemed "an indication four future hatnow the European youth ees Dostoyevsky ndnot Goethe as its favorite riter." ccording oHesse, "the dealof the Karamazovs, an ancient, Asiatic-occult deal,"was nowbeginning o"consume he pirit f Europe."As "a totally moralmode of thinking nd feeling" t was threatening oethe's "Eu-ropean spirit n its very roots" 163). He blamed the decline of



14/20

SouthAtlantic eview 107

European value concepts for he young people's affinity or heAsiaticchaos.

Without eferring o Hesse directly, hree years later Hugovon Hofmannsthal ttempted o rebut Hesse's thesis. He did soin his essay "ALook at the Intellectual ondition of Europe."Hofmnannsthal eversed Hesse's method by playing the Euro-pean Goethe against the "Asian" Dostoyevsky. Hofmannsthaldeclared that "at this moment Europe does not have a singleintellectual epresentative ho could be truly cknowledged asthe dominant European figure" 478). He maintained hat the

"throne f the intellectual eader" was currently acant. t wasonly by virtue f this deficit hat Dostoyevsky ad gained such"power over the souls of our youth," hus becoming ttle spiri-tual leader" of our Continent. Only Goethe could depriveDostoyevsky f the position hat uropean youth ccorded him.For the "most crucial element of current uropean intellectuallife"was the "fight f these two spirits ver the souls of thosesearching or irection." ofmannsthal ad no doubt hat Goethe

would emerge as the victor n this heroic fight. Hofmnannsthalwrote: Goethe was a "spiritual ower of the first rder; he wasnot merely n artist ut a sage, a magician, true eader ofsouls" (479f.).On the polarity f Europe and Asia, of Goetheand Dostojevsky, Hofmannsthal rote: "It is the old Europe,based on the synthesis f Occidental Christianity nd deeplyembodied antiquity, nd Russia,as it eans toward Asia,whichoppose each other n Goethe and Dostoyevsky" 480f.). For

Hofmannsthalhis

ssaymeant revision f his former

ositionon Europe, which he had adopted in 1917. At that time hehoped, like Friedrich chlegel a century efore him, for a re-newal of the Continent through Asia's wisdom. NowHofmannsthal was convinced of the superiority f the Euro-pean over the Asiatic pirit. He believed that the "Occidentalsecret" ontained n Goethe's work was "more complex" thanthe "Oriental secret" of Dostoyevsky's novels. WhileDostoyevsky's last word" had perhaps already been spoken,Goethe's work would serve even "a later generation" 481) ofEuropeans as a spiritual oundation.

Thomas Mannwould have nothing o do with his uxtaposi-tion of Goethe and Dostoyevsky as found in Hesse's and



15/20

108 PaulMichael itzelerHofmannsthal's ritings. n 1922Thomas Mann published theessay "Goethe and Tolstoi" n the DeutscheRundscLhau. hisessay could just as easilyhave been called "Goethe nd Tolstoiin Comparison o Schiller nd Dostoyevsky."Mann saw in theworks of Goethe and Tolstoi he embodiment f the "power ofnature," n the works of Schiller nd Dostoyevsky, he "audac-ity f the spirit" 93). He stated hat he works of these authorpairs expressed a European intellectualism that in itscomplementarity ould only contribute o "the best of human-ity" 173).

In the ate 1920sand very arly 1930s,Goethe also served asthe crown witness f the future urope. n 1928 n his essay "Ofthe European Spirit" Georges Duhamel demanded the unifica-tion of the continent nd the education of a new generationalong the lines of Goethe's idea of cosmopolitanism. uch de-mands ncreased during heyear 1932,when the 100th nniver-sary of Goethe's death was commemorated. he Europe-ori-ented writers elebrated him s one of their wn. Such a writer

was Stefan weig, who, in his essay "The European dea in itsHistorical Development", nterpreted oethe's idea of worldcitizenship s the "epitome f European ivilization"210).AndreSuares published a comprehensive work on that ccasion, en-titled oethe. heGreatEuropean. t he beginning f he bookSuareswrites: Goethe s the greatest uropean, nd he is thefirst uropean since Montaigne . . . There is no future for Eu-rope without Goethe. t s impossible hatGoethe's piritwouldvanish ince it s the

quintessencef the

European spirit.With-

out Goethe, Europe would be an empty word" 14).10 In theEurope-orientedulturalmagazines f 1932 suchas the Ne/ueRindschaui, Europe, nd NouvellereviuerwJaaise), Goethe wascelebrated n numerous rticles s an exemplary uropean byvirtue f his cosmopolitanism. n the NeueRundscbhaa he Eu-rope essayists Benn, Gide, Hesse, Ludwig,Thomas Mann, andOrtegay Gassetwrote bout Goethe;the ournal uropebroughtcontributions y Romains, Hesse, Benedetto Croce, ThomasMann, and Rolland; and La Noiwellere'vue/franfaise roughtessays on Goethe by ErnstRobert urtius, ndre Gide, BernardGroethuysen, Denis de Rougemont, Andre Suarks, and PaulVal1ry. Simultaneously, Ernst Robert Curtius published his book



16/20

South tlantic eview 1097heEndangered German Spirit, n which he pleaded for re-newal of a European humanism n the spirit f Goethe, while atthe same time peaking out against he nationalism nd collec-tivism f the German right. t was as if one wanted to call uponGoethe-the greatest maginable counterpart o Hitler n thehistory f the Germans--as symbol f ndividualism nd of anencompassing humanity n order o ban the menacing demonsof fanaticism, f mass delusion, of the abuse of power, nd ofthe disdain for human rights.

Only a few months ater Hitlerwas appointed Chancellor f

the German Reich, and now even Goethe's works were inter-preted in the spirit f nationalistic deology. However, therewas no place for European Goethe in the Hitler tate, nd in1939--asGustaveMathieuhas noticed-Goebbels's propagandaministry elt t necessary o publish n edict n its news serviceaccording o which "Goethe, the European,"was a term o beavoided. However, he writers n exile continued heir dentifi-cation of Goethe with Europe. This is apparent n an essay by

Ferdinand Lion entitled Old Europe-New Germany" whichwas published n KlausMann's exile periodicalDie Sammlihng.Lioncalled Goethe a "pater uropae" whose work represented"the European sum" by virtue f "its harmonic ompilation fall elements" 150f.) n the field f art. Lionsaw Goethe's workas a model for the many permutations hat European culturehad to offer nd as a document of European individualism. twas in this pirit f admiration, ratitude, nd identification hatThomas Mannwrote his

Goethe novel Lotte n Weimiarn exile,published in 1939. Already n 1936, in his essay "Achtung,Europa " Thomas Mann had argued with quotes from Goetheagainst hedestruction f European culture ythe GermanNazisand European fascists.Goethe's writings lso served as a spiri-tual incentive or urvival n a concentration amp, as can beseen in the moving book by Nico Rost, Goethe n Dachai:..

Lit-eratire and Reality,which was published n Germany s earlyas 1949.

After heSecondWorldWar, uropeans, ccording oKatharinaMormmsen1991),also gathered round Goethe. The year 1949was the 200th anniversary f Goethe's birth. n a collectionpublished by UNESCOupon the occasion, international epre-



17/20

110 PaulMichael itzelersentatives f culture nd politics elebrated Goethe as a Euro-pean genius and even as the ncarnation f the benevolent piritof international elations.And today?The Europe essays of today no longer mentionGoethe. European ntegration ent ts conomic-and-monetary-unification ay toward he European Market nd the Eurowith-out without ultural isions. In the decades before and afterGoethe's death, his poetry nd dramas nspired uch compos-ers as Beethoven, chubert, iszt, nd HugoWolf o create iederand symphonies. A hundred years go, and even as recently s

fifty ears ago, philosophers, heologians, nd social scientistssuch as Benedetto Croce,Georg Sirmmel, udolf teiner, rtegay Gasset,Paul Tillich, nd Ernst assirer iscovered he coordi-nating ystem f their humanity n Goethe's perception f theworld. Today it is primarily he German-speaking riters whoexpress their ritical evotion nd their estrained dmiration ntheir essays and writings. oremost among them are UlrichPlenzdorf, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, eter Hacks. Eckhard

Henscheid,Thomas Brasch,DieterKifhn, dolfMuschg,MartinWalser, nd Hanns-Josef rtheil.I would like to conclude my remarks n the topic of Goethe

and Europe with reference o a new historical ovel about theauthor:Hanns-Josef rtheil's austina "sKisses.t s a book aboutGoethe in Rome, about the cosmopolitan writer ar excellencein the capitalof European culture. t s the book most fitting oran anniversary earand is to be recommended oanyone whowould like to understand ow alive Goethe continues o be forthose who feel a kinship with him.

Wi7shbingtonniziversit)'

NOTES'There are four book publication n the topic of Goethe and Europe, but

none of them deals with Goethe's contribution o the Europe discourse. Theauthors re Albert Fuchs,John Hennig, Horst Ridiger, and WillemFrederikVeltman.

- In nmy ook Die Scb;?ftste//er nidEuropa I analyse the contributions fthe European uthors o the Europediscourse rom omanticism o the present.3On that opic compare the studies by Raidiger nd Birus.' Goethe's works are quoted according to the Hamburg edition n 14

volumes, edited by ErichTrunz. The first umber ndicates he volume, and



18/20

SouthAtlantic eview 111the second one refers o the page. All translations rom he German intoEnglish are mine.

5This sentence s quoted from he Goethe JubilA~ums-Ausgabe,dited byEduard von der Hellen.6See ny book Eir-opd//c.e dentmitdtndIM/tikuZ/tti; specially the n-

troductory ssay "'Europtiische dentittit eute. Vom Ethnozentrismus urMultikultur" here I discuss the authors mentioned.

See the studies by Katharina Mommnnsennd Hendrik Birus on the topic.*Quoted after he Gedicbte volume of the Deutscher Klassiker VerlagGoethe edition, dited by Karl Eibl.

9See Nietzsche's Sdmt/ic/EIe IPTrke:628; 11:362;5:151.'t Quoted from Katharina Monmmsen, oethe ind imsere Zeit.

WORKS CITEDBhabha, HomiK. 7heLocation oJfCtl/ture. ondon and New York: Routledge,

1994.Birus, Hendrik. "Goethes Idee der Weltliteratur. Eine historische

Vergegenwairtigung."Tl'/thiteratur bete.KAonzepte Zd PeISpektiv'en. d.Manfred chmeling. Wtirzburg: 6nigshausen & Neumann, 1995.5-28.

Blumenberg, Hans. "Prometheus wird Napoleon, Napoleon Prometheus."Arbeit m

Ml./thos.Frankfurt m Main: Suhrkamp, 979.504-66.

Curtius, rnst Robert. DLeutscher eist nGefit: Stuttgart,

erlin: DeutscheVerlags-Anstalt, 932.

Deleuze, Gilles, nd Felix Guattari. Ka/qka. z1reinek/eineZiteratzi: rankfurtam Main: Suhrkamp, 996.

Duhamel, Georges. "Vom uroptiischen eist."ie'ueRindsc/hai 39.2(1928):235-48.

Fuchs, Albert. Goet/helndEitiopa. Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 956.Goethe, Johann Wolfgang on. Hambtilger Amugabe Pn 4 Bdnden in der

ANelubearbeitrg ion 1981.Ed. Erich Trunz. Hamburg: Beck, 1982.OtherGoethe editions uoted from: Goet/essdmt/ic/ie 'Trke.J/bi/du/ns-Awsgabe.Ed. Eduard von der Hellen.

Stuttgart: otta,1902-1912;

Gedic/hte800-

18'2. Ed. Karl Eibl. Frankfurt m Main: Deutscher KlassikerVerlag, 988;Tl'st-dst/icber :itn. 2 volumes. Ed. Hendrik Birus. Frankfurt m Main:

Deutscher KlassikerVerlag, 1994.Hennig, John. Goethes Europakznde.. Goeth/es KAenntnisse

desnichtdel/tscbspraclcge/n Etuopa.Amsterdam: odopi, 1987.

Herder, Johann Gottfried. dich eine EPilosophieder Gesc/ic/htezu'rBildungderAlJenschbeit. rankfurt m Main:Suhrkamp, 967.Hesse, Hermann. O Freunde, nicht diese T6ne " Betoiac/btu7zgen. ol. 10 of

Gesamme/teW'ifrke.rankfurt m Main: Suhrkamp. 1970.411-16.- . "Die

Brtideraramasoff der Der

Untergang uropas.'" etr7c/tmtngeilundBriefe. Gesa-mme/tec/rffen. Vol. 7. Frankfurt m Main: Suhrkamp,1958. 161-78.

HofmTannsthal, ugo von. "Blick uf den geistigen Zustand Europas."' RedenunidA;/sdtze Frankfurt m Main: S. Fischer, 9"9. 478-81.



19/20

112 PaulMichael atzelerLion, Ferdinand. "AltesEuropa-Neues Deutschland." Geist nd Politik n

Europa. Verstreute chrtften urs den /abren 1915-1961.Heidelberg:

Schneider, 1980. 148-63.LUitzeler, aul Michael. Die SchrKf/ste//ernd Europa. ,bnder Romantik bis

zur" GegRen'ua-. Mtinchen: Piper, 1992. 2nd ed. Baden-Baden: Nomos,1998.---.uropdiscbe Identitdt uiind ultikultur. Fa//llstudien ur

deutschspichbigen Litelatur" eit der Romantik. Tuibingen: tauffenburg,1997.Mann,Thomas. "Goetheund Tolstoi.Fragmente um Problem er Humanittit."

RedenlundAu/Jdtze . Vol.9 of GesanmmelteWr-ie.rankfurt m Main: S.

Fischer, 990..

"Achtung, uropa "Reden zind

AtfsLdtze. Vol.12 of

Gesamme/teWlri';e. rankfurt m Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1990. 766-79.Mathieu,Gustave. "ANazi propaganda directive n Goethe." Publications o/

the Enghlbh oethe ociety 2 (1953): 129-37.Minder, obert. Madame de Staelentdeckt eutschland."A'l/tnurndliteratur

in.Deutsch/and ndFainkreich/. Frankfurt m Main: Insel, 1962. 94-105.Mommsen, Katharina. Goethe nd die aabaiche WI',/t.

rankfurt m Main:Insel, 1988.

Goethe ind iunlsere eit. Frankfurt m Main:Suhrkamp, 999.. nur aus dem fernsten er kommt die erneuung." nternationa/er

Gernlanisten-AKongressn

Tol'o. Anspiachen. Plenanoi'rqe.

BerichtC. d.Eijiro wasaki and Yoshinori hichiji.Miinchen: udicium, 1991. 23-43.Nietzsche, riedrich. Sdmnt/icheWT'r-ke.ritichete tlzdienausgabe nflif/ehn

Bdnden. 2nd ed. Ed. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. Miinchen,Berlin: Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, 988.

Novalis Friedrich on Hardenberg). DieChristenheit der Europa. EinFrag-ment.'" aspilosopbischle 1'irllZ Vol.3 of Sclril/en. Ed. Richard amuelin cooperation with Hans-Joachim M-ihl

und Gerhard Schulz. Stuttgart:Kohlhammer, 968.507-24.

Ortheil, Hanns-Josef. azistinasAfisse.Mtinchen: uchterhand, 998.

Pannwitz,Rudolf.

Deutsch/and Itnd Etropa. Grltndriss iner deultsch-eur'opdiscbeu olitik. Ntirnberg: arl, 1918.Rost,Nico.Goethe nDachau. Literturn'wnd fr7/ic/hkeit.finchen: eismann,1949.

Rtidiger, orst. Goethetnd Europa. Essals lnld Aql/srtze ,944-1968)'.d.

WillyR.Berger nd ErwinKoppen. Berlin nd NewYork:Walter e Gruyter,1990.

Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Abriss on den Europiiischen Verhiltnissen erDeutschen Litteratur."Ar'itisc/e chl'fIen. Berlin: Reimer,

828.1-4.Schlegel, Friedrich. Reise nach Frankreich." Studien zuir Geschichteund

Po/iti&.ol. 7 of

AK'itischeeFriedl'ic/h-Sc/h/ege/-Aul,,goabe.d. Ernst Behler.

Miinchen. Paderborn. Wien: Sch6ningh, 1966.56-79.Spengler, Oswald. Der Untegang, esAbend/andes. Mtinchen: eck, 1980.Suares. Andre. Goethe. e GazndEuropeen. 1Paris: mile-Paul, 1932.Veltman, Willem Frederik. Goeth/e n Europa. Een bezinning op de h/tidige

i ere/dsituatie. eist: VrijGeestesleven, 1982.



20/20

South tlantic eview 113Zweig, tefan. Der uropiiische edanke n einer istorischenntwicklung."

Die sclajlose Wellt. Afsdtze zd btrirdge us denJabren 1909-1941.

Frankfurt m Main: S. Fischer, 983. 185-210.

Documents

Art. Goethe and Europe