Goethe as Woman
The Undoing of Literature
Benjamin Bennett(Author)
Wayne State University Press
Published on 31. May 2001
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-8143-2948-1 (ISBN)
Description
A new approach to understanding Goethe that offers fresh insights into some of his most important works. The most celebrated of German poets, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is today as much an institution as a writer. This innovative study shows unexpected relations between Goethe the artist and "Goethe" the posthumous tradition, and considers the radical historical metamorphosis of his textual being. Drawing on a lifetime of reading and reflecting on Goethe, Benjamin Bennett focuses on that writer's own struggle with the idea of reading, and with an understanding of the "wrongness" of literature that opens onto the possibility of woman as a needful destabilizing factot. Bennett shows that even in his early writing Goethe exhibits a highly developed theoretical resistance against both the aesthetic and the national aspects of what was understood as literature in his time, an attitude that would lead him to experiment with gender difference as a means of staking out new literary positions.
Bennett revlews a number of Goethe's works, offering a bold new interpretation of Werther, fresh insights into Die naturliche Tochter, and an assessment of Die Wahlverwandtschaften that reveals Goethe's feminine voice. He establishes important parallels between Goethe's position and that of modern radical feminism regarding the problem of literary revolution, uncovering a web of suggestions that spreads throughout Goethe's work and the history of reading. Engaging a wide range of prominent thinkers from Nietzsche and Freud to Derrida and Irigaray, Bennett shows the centrality of Goethe to today's literary issues. His book offers Goethe scholars new grist for ongoing consideration of the author's work.
Bennett revlews a number of Goethe's works, offering a bold new interpretation of Werther, fresh insights into Die naturliche Tochter, and an assessment of Die Wahlverwandtschaften that reveals Goethe's feminine voice. He establishes important parallels between Goethe's position and that of modern radical feminism regarding the problem of literary revolution, uncovering a web of suggestions that spreads throughout Goethe's work and the history of reading. Engaging a wide range of prominent thinkers from Nietzsche and Freud to Derrida and Irigaray, Bennett shows the centrality of Goethe to today's literary issues. His book offers Goethe scholars new grist for ongoing consideration of the author's work.
Reviews / Votes
"As the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth, 1999 hns seen the publication of countless books on Goethe. When all is said and one, few books will withstand the test of time, we can be sure that Bennett's Goethe as Woman will be among them." - Simon Richter, University of Pennsylvania"More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Detroit, MI
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8143-2948-1 (9780814329481)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Benjamin Bennett is a professor of German at the University of Virginia. He has published six other books, including Goethe's Theory of Poetry: Faust and the Regeneration of Language (Corneli University Press, 1986).
Content
Part I: Man and the Problem of Reading; 1. Werther and Montaigne Reading in the Aesthetic Sense; 2. Werther: Double Perspective and the Game of Life; 3. Egmont as a Politician; 4. Prometheus and Saturn: The Three Versions of Gotz von Berlichingen; Part II: The Undoing of Literature; 5. Lotte's Name and Lotte's Body; 6. Heroes and Fleabags and Women: Gender and Representation in Penthesilea; 7. Guerrilla Warfare: Goethe and the Future of Literature; 8. Bridge, Against Nothing: Nietzsche as Woman; 9. Goethe and the Possibility of a Feminist Literary Project; 10. Goethe in "Goethe": The Primal Scene