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5 - Faust

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2006

Lesley Sharpe
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
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Summary

Faust has been seen as the paradigmatic text of modernity almost since its conception. By 1836 Karl Gutzkow was claiming that Goethe was 'set by the gods as a boundary-stone to mark where the past ends and modernity begins', while for Matthew Arnold he was the great manifestation of the modern spirit. Innumerable critics have identified Goethe's most famous work as the beginning of this or that tradition. Whether or not one fully agrees with these characterizations, Faust is undeniably one of those rare works that capture some major turning point in our history. Composed over six decades, from 1773 to 1832, Faust comprehends far-reaching changes in philosophy, science, political and economic organization, industrialization and technology that might best be summarized as Europe's confrontation with the impact of secularization. Europe entered the eighteenth century with institutions and structures still defined in terms of a cosmos ordered by a divine principle; but increasingly the universe was felt to operate on its own and sometimes seemed entirely the product of natural processes.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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  • Faust
  • Edited by Lesley Sharpe, University of Bristol
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Goethe
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521662117.006
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  • Faust
  • Edited by Lesley Sharpe, University of Bristol
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Goethe
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521662117.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Faust
  • Edited by Lesley Sharpe, University of Bristol
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Goethe
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521662117.006
Available formats
×