Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Special Section on Goethe and the Postclassical: Literature, Science, Art, and Philosophy, 1805–1815
- Book Reviews
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian August Vulpius. Circe: Oper mit der Musik von Pasquale Anfossi. Ed. Waltraud Maierhofer. Hannover-Laatzen: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2007. 58 pp.
- Katharina Mommsen, ed. Die Entstehung von Goethes Werken in Dokumenten. Band IV. Entstehen—Farbenlehre. Founded by Momme Mommsen. With the assistance of Peter Ludwig und Uwe Hentschel. Berlin und New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. xix + 998 pp., 12 illustrations
- Manfred Zittel. Erste Lieb' und Freundschaft: Goethes Leipziger Jahre. Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2007. 247 pp
- Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla, Leidenschaft: Goethes Weg zur Kreativität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. 266 pp
- Michael Hertl, Goethe in seiner Lebendmaske. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2008. 140pp.
- Henrik Boëtius, Marie Lousie Lauridsen, and Marie 373 Louise Lefèvre. Light, Darkness and Colours. Brooklyn, NY: Icarus Films, 2000
- Steven Ritz-Barr and Hoku Uchiyama, Faust, Classics in Miniature, 2008. DVD, www.classicsinminiature.com. Home edition: $19.90
- Carsten Rohde, Spiegeln und Schweben: Goethes autobiographisches Schreiben. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 444pp
- Werner Frick, Jochen Golz, and Edith Zehm, eds., Goethe-Jahrbuch 2005. Volume 122. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006. 570pp
- J. M. van der Laan, Seeking Meaning for Goethe's Faust. London: Continuum, 2007. 202 pp
- Lorna Fitzsimmons, ed., International Faust Studies: Adaptation, Reception, Translation. London: Continuum, 2008. ix + 299 pp
- Jill Anne Kowalik, Theology and Dehumanization: Trauma, Grief, and Pathological Mourning in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century German Thought and Literature. Ed. Gail K. Hart et al. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009. 186 pp
- Paul Bishop, Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, and Jung. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 233 pp
- Alexander Mathäs, Narcissism and Paranoia in the Age of Goethe. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2008. 255 pp
- Andreas Gailus, Passions of the Sign. Revolution and Language in Kant, Goethe, and Kleist. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 222pp
- Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science. The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. New York: Routledge, 2009. 221pp
- John A. McCarthy, Remapping Reality: Chaos and Creativity in Science and Literature. (Goethe—Nietzsche—Grass). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006. 373 pp
- Matthias Buschmeier, Poesie und Philologie in der Goethe-Zeit: Studien zum Verhältnis der Literatur mit ihrer Wissenschaft. Studien zur deutschen Literatur, Bd. 185. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008. 490 S
- Susan Bernstein, Housing Problems. Writing and Architecture in Goethe, Walpole, Freud, and Heidegger. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2008. 216pp
- Chenxi Tang, The Geographic Imagination of Modernity: Geography, Literature, and Philosophy in German Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2008. 356 pp
- Louise von Göchhausen, “Es sind vortreffl iche Italienische Sachen daselbst”: Louise von Göchhausens Tagebuch ihrer Reise mit Herzogin Anna Amalia nach Italien vom 15. August 1788 bis 18. Juni 1790. Ed. Juliane Brandsch. (Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft 72.) Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008. 520pp., 7 illustrations
- Matt Erlin, Berlin's Forgotten Future: City, History, and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 216 pp
- Jost Schillemeit, Studien zur Goethezeit. Ed. Rosemarie Schillemeit. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 620 pp
- Marjanne E. Goozé, ed., Challenging Separate Spheres—Female Bildung in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Germany. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 317pp
- Andrew Cusack, The Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature: Intellectual History and Cultural Criticism. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2008. 257 pp
- Grant Profant McAllister, Jr., Kleist's Female Leading Characters and the Subversion of Idealist Discourse. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature, vol. 75. 210 pp
Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science. The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. New York: Routledge, 2009. 221pp
from Book Reviews
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Special Section on Goethe and the Postclassical: Literature, Science, Art, and Philosophy, 1805–1815
- Book Reviews
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian August Vulpius. Circe: Oper mit der Musik von Pasquale Anfossi. Ed. Waltraud Maierhofer. Hannover-Laatzen: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2007. 58 pp.
- Katharina Mommsen, ed. Die Entstehung von Goethes Werken in Dokumenten. Band IV. Entstehen—Farbenlehre. Founded by Momme Mommsen. With the assistance of Peter Ludwig und Uwe Hentschel. Berlin und New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. xix + 998 pp., 12 illustrations
- Manfred Zittel. Erste Lieb' und Freundschaft: Goethes Leipziger Jahre. Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2007. 247 pp
- Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla, Leidenschaft: Goethes Weg zur Kreativität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. 266 pp
- Michael Hertl, Goethe in seiner Lebendmaske. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2008. 140pp.
- Henrik Boëtius, Marie Lousie Lauridsen, and Marie 373 Louise Lefèvre. Light, Darkness and Colours. Brooklyn, NY: Icarus Films, 2000
- Steven Ritz-Barr and Hoku Uchiyama, Faust, Classics in Miniature, 2008. DVD, www.classicsinminiature.com. Home edition: $19.90
- Carsten Rohde, Spiegeln und Schweben: Goethes autobiographisches Schreiben. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 444pp
- Werner Frick, Jochen Golz, and Edith Zehm, eds., Goethe-Jahrbuch 2005. Volume 122. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006. 570pp
- J. M. van der Laan, Seeking Meaning for Goethe's Faust. London: Continuum, 2007. 202 pp
- Lorna Fitzsimmons, ed., International Faust Studies: Adaptation, Reception, Translation. London: Continuum, 2008. ix + 299 pp
- Jill Anne Kowalik, Theology and Dehumanization: Trauma, Grief, and Pathological Mourning in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century German Thought and Literature. Ed. Gail K. Hart et al. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009. 186 pp
- Paul Bishop, Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, and Jung. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 233 pp
- Alexander Mathäs, Narcissism and Paranoia in the Age of Goethe. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2008. 255 pp
- Andreas Gailus, Passions of the Sign. Revolution and Language in Kant, Goethe, and Kleist. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 222pp
- Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science. The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. New York: Routledge, 2009. 221pp
- John A. McCarthy, Remapping Reality: Chaos and Creativity in Science and Literature. (Goethe—Nietzsche—Grass). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006. 373 pp
- Matthias Buschmeier, Poesie und Philologie in der Goethe-Zeit: Studien zum Verhältnis der Literatur mit ihrer Wissenschaft. Studien zur deutschen Literatur, Bd. 185. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008. 490 S
- Susan Bernstein, Housing Problems. Writing and Architecture in Goethe, Walpole, Freud, and Heidegger. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2008. 216pp
- Chenxi Tang, The Geographic Imagination of Modernity: Geography, Literature, and Philosophy in German Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2008. 356 pp
- Louise von Göchhausen, “Es sind vortreffl iche Italienische Sachen daselbst”: Louise von Göchhausens Tagebuch ihrer Reise mit Herzogin Anna Amalia nach Italien vom 15. August 1788 bis 18. Juni 1790. Ed. Juliane Brandsch. (Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft 72.) Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008. 520pp., 7 illustrations
- Matt Erlin, Berlin's Forgotten Future: City, History, and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 216 pp
- Jost Schillemeit, Studien zur Goethezeit. Ed. Rosemarie Schillemeit. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 620 pp
- Marjanne E. Goozé, ed., Challenging Separate Spheres—Female Bildung in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Germany. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 317pp
- Andrew Cusack, The Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature: Intellectual History and Cultural Criticism. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2008. 257 pp
- Grant Profant McAllister, Jr., Kleist's Female Leading Characters and the Subversion of Idealist Discourse. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature, vol. 75. 210 pp
Summary
Jocelyn Holland opens her book with two epigraphs: the first from Goethe, the second from Ritter (the passage with which she also concludes the book). Both epigraphs indicate the centrality of the idea of procreation for Goethe, Ritter, and German romanticism in general, and, as Holland puts it, emphasize that procreation was the mystery of the day (5). In focusing her study on the conception of procreation, contextualizing it within the science of the time, and showing how procreation serves as a discursive phenomenon with distinctive “patterns, tendencies, and rhetorical features” (2), Holland makes an important contribution to scholarship on romanticism, most especially to the nascent field of the history of romantic science.
Holland's book is divided into six chapters. The first chapter introduces her project and describes the intellectual (specifically scientific) context around 1800. Her discussion of the various competing theories at the time (epigenesis and preformation) is coupled with a consideration of the influence of these theories on Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. In the same way that Blumenbach and Kielmeyer saw the force of reproduction as “central to all organic processes of the body,” so, she argues, “a more generalized understanding of procreation is central to an early Romantic interest in connecting different braches of scientific thought and considering them in relation to the poetic” (5). In this way, Holland sketches the program of the book: she plans to examine the role that the scientific notion of procreation played in the development of romantic notions about language and thought. Thus, chapter two, whose focus is Goethe, places special emphasis on the elegy, “The Metamorphosis of the Plants,” pointing out significant parallels between the scientific conception of procreation and the language and structure of the poem (48). Chapters three and four similarly illustrate the foundational role of “procreation” in the development of Novalis's understanding of language. Holland emphasizes Novalis's use of the idea of a “procreative tool [Werkzeug],” that cannot be reduced to either an organic or mechanistic worldview, and argues that for Novalis the novel and fairy tale function as “instruments [Werkzeuge] of the idea” (98–105). The final two chapters examine Ritter's use of the procreative metaphor in his autobiographical work (124ff.). In this way, Holland's study provides an incisive and detailed examination of the literary uses of procreation, and the ways in which procreation enabled a revision and expansion of discourse, thought, and observation in general.
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- Information
- Goethe Yearbook 17 , pp. 389 - 392Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010