Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 The world Goethe lived in
- 2 Goethe the writer and literary history
- 3 Goethe the poet
- 4 Goethe the dramatist
- 5 Faust
- 6 Weimar Classicism
- 7 Goethe and the Weimar theatre
- 8 Goethe’s prose fiction
- 9 Autobiographical writings
- 10 In defence of experience
- 11 Goethe and gender
- 12 Goethe and the visual arts
- 13 Goethe and the political world
- 14 Religion and philosophy
- 15 Reception in Germany and abroad
- A guide to further reading
- Index
11 - Goethe and gender
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 The world Goethe lived in
- 2 Goethe the writer and literary history
- 3 Goethe the poet
- 4 Goethe the dramatist
- 5 Faust
- 6 Weimar Classicism
- 7 Goethe and the Weimar theatre
- 8 Goethe’s prose fiction
- 9 Autobiographical writings
- 10 In defence of experience
- 11 Goethe and gender
- 12 Goethe and the visual arts
- 13 Goethe and the political world
- 14 Religion and philosophy
- 15 Reception in Germany and abroad
- A guide to further reading
- Index
Summary
Goethe created poetic and complex female and male characters in his key works. But because he viewed his works as 'fragments of a great confession' (HA ix, 283), biographical accounts of Goethe's relationship with women coloured the readings of his works for almost two centuries; moreover, they were often marked by a condescending attitude towards the women in Goethe's life, an exclusive focus on and a naive adoration of the poet as a great man. Goethe's Faust and his concept of the 'Eternal Feminine' were seen as the loftiest ideal of modern German man, and the poet's biography was constructed along a string of ever-fascinating sexual experiences with women. In recent decades, such hagiography has given way to spirited studies of Goethe's relationship to women, who are seen as personalities in their own right with contributions to literary culture. Feminist and gender studies have produced new readings of his female (and male) characters in their gender roles and relationships. They have started a lively debate about Goethe's representations of gender dichotomy, his sophisticated gender discourse, his negotiations of femininity, masculinity, androgyny, homoeroticism and male bonding in the patriarchal setting of his age.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Goethe , pp. 179 - 192Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
- 1
- Cited by