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Goethe's West östlicher Divan: Orientalism Restructured

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Karl J. Fink
Karl J. Fink
Affiliation:
St. Olaf CollegeNorthfiled, Minnesota
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Extract

In his recent book on Orientalism Edward Said made it clear that the German relationship to the Orient has been different from that of the British or French. In Germany there was no sustained national interest in the Orient; the relationship was not “actual,” for it was almost exclusively “scholarly.” Said also argues, however, that Germany did have in common with other European nations a “kind of intellectual authority over the Orient” and that it, too, contributed to the Western invention of the term “Orientalism,” itself an act of dominance and superiority. In this point it seems that Said is correct, for the act of labeling not only suggests expertise but also exercises expressibility as a means of intellectual and cultural control. Yet recognition of the linguistic basis of authority and the power to dominate another culture with that authority is not new. German writers during the eighteenth century also felt that British and French dominance interfered with the development of the arts and sciences in their country. Indeed, Goethe recognized at least two forms of authority which shaped Oriental literature: one was the political forces within the Orient itself and the second one, a more subtle form of authority extrinsic to the Orient, was the scientific philology of Western culture which fostered a particular image of the Orient. That is, Goethe suggests in his critical writings on Oriental literature a departure from the norms of Western science and at the same time champions the need to understand the sociocultural forces at work in the Orient itself. Thus Goethe's critical writings in many ways anticipate Said's view that “Above all, authority can, indeed must, be analyzed”.

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Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , August 1982 , pp. 315 - 328
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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References

NOTES

1 Edward, ṣaid, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1979), p. 19.Google Scholar

2 Ibid.; see also Chase, Stuart, The Tyranny of Words (New York: Harcourt, 1938), pp. 18–29.Google Scholar

3 See Thomasius, Christian, “Discours,” in Deutsche Schriften, Peter, von Düffel, ed. (Stuttgart: Philipp, 1970),Google Scholar concerning the French influence on everyday German life around 1700: “Es ist aber nicht genug, Meine Herren, daß wir mit dem Verstand derer Wörter, die bey denen Frantzosen einen Menschen in Hochachtung bringen, richtig sind. Wir müssen auch ein wenig betrachten; ob denn die Frantzosen hierinnen einen Vorzug für uns haben” (p. 19). Indeed, Thomasius developed a theory of prejudices from these experiences in cross-cultural chauvinism, praejudicium autoritas, in “De Praejudiciis oder von den Vorurteilen,” in Aus der Frühzeit der deutschen Aufklärung, Brüggemann, F., ed. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1928), pp. 28–59.Google Scholar Immanuel Kant (“Was ist die Aufklärung,” in Was ist die, Aufkläung, Thesen und Definition, Bahr, Ehrhard, ed. [Stuttgart: Philipp, 1974], pp. 9–17)Google Scholar formulates the problem a little differently by advocating German departure from self-inflicted infancy, immaturity, inarticulateness: “Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit” (p. 9). See Eric, A. Blackall, The Emergence of German as a Literary Language, 1700–75, 2d ed. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1978), for a study in the linguistic basis of German advocacy in the eighteenth century.Google Scholar

4 Said, Orientalism, p. 20.Google Scholar

5 Johann, W. von Goethe, Materialien zur Geschichte der Farbenlehre, Kuhn, Dorothea and Karl, L. Wolf, eds., in Goethe: Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft, Matthaei, Rupprecht, ed. 14 vols. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1947),Google Scholar hereafter LA designating the edition as the Leopoldina-Ausgabe which contains two parts, Part I for Goethe's scientific publications and Part II for his research notes and archival materials relating to his scientific writings, II, 6, 61. For an historical survey of Bacon's contribution to the sociology of knowledge see Horowitz, Irving, Philosophy, Science, and the Sociology of Knowledge (Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1961), pp. 10–32.Google Scholar

6 Groth, Angelika, Goethe als Wissenschaftshistoriker (Munich: Fink, 1972),Google Scholar and Karl, J. Fink, “Goethe in the Historiography of Science” Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1974, pp. 85–105.Google Scholar

7 See Groth, , Goethe als Wissenschaftshistoriker, pp. 96–113,Google Scholar and Hildebrandt, Kurt, Goethes Naturerkenntnis (Hamburg: Stromverlag, 1948), pp. 233–257.Google Scholar

8 On Goethe's response to traditions see Nisbet, H. B., Goethe and the Scientific Tradition (London: Maney, 1972),Google Scholar and Karl, J. Fink, “Atomism: A Counterpoint Tradition in Goethe's Writings,” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 13 (1980), 377–395.Google Scholar

9 Lentz, Wolfgang (Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen zum West-östlichen Divan [Hamburg: Augustin, 1958], pp. 65, 83, and 121)Google Scholar seems to be the first Goethe scholar to mention this aspect of Goethe's theory of Oriental literature, although he does not pursue its connections to the concept of authority or to Goethe's history of science. Trunz, Erich, ed., “Gedichte und Epen,” in Goethes Werke, 14 vols. (Hamburg: Wegener, 1967), Il, 633–634, also recognizes the broad cultural basis of Goethe's theory of Oriental literature: “Der Divan-lyrik gab Goethe als Hintergrund eine Kulturgeschichtliche Darstellung bei” (p. 633).Google Scholar

10 See Robert, K. Merton, The Sociology of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973).Google Scholar

11 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21.Google Scholar Gundolf, Friedrich (Goethe [Berlin: Bondi, 1916], p. 406) felt Goethe focused on the basic issue of all historical studies when he dealt with problems in “Autorität” and “überlieferung.”Google Scholar

12 Ernst, R. Curtjus (“Goethe als Kritiker,” in Kritische Essays zur Europäischen Literatur, ed. Ernst, R. Curtius [Bern: Francke, 1950], pp. 28–58) comments that Goethe is at the same time critic and historian: “Als Kritiker ist Goethe auch Historiker” (p. 40).Google Scholar

13 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbelehre, LA, 1, 6, 88–92.Google Scholar In her critical notes to this edition of Goethe's, Geschichte der Farbenlehre (LA, II, 6, 430), Dorothea Kuhn argues that in the essay “überliefertes,” Goethe establishes a morphological basis for his history of science: “An keiner Stelle des Werkes wird deutlicher als hier, daß Goethe mit semen Materialien zu einer Geschichte der Farbenlehre den Grund legte zu einer morphologischen, d. h. geistesgeschichtlichen Betrachtung der Naturwissenschaft.”Google Scholar

14 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 88–92 and 92–95.Google Scholar

15 The philological roots to eighteenth-century classical historiography are discussed in John, E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, 3 vols, 3d ed. (New York: Hafner, 1958),Google Scholar Vol. 3, “The Eighteenth Century in Germany.” Goethe's philological-historical work in biblical historiography are demonstrated in his essay on “Israel in- der Wüste,” Noten und Abhandlungen zu Besserem Verständniss des West-östlichen Divans, Siegfried, C. and Seuffert, B., eds., and in Goethes Werke, 143 vols. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1887–1919), vol. 1, 7, pp. 156–182Google Scholar (Hereafter WA). See Hans, H. Schaeder, Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens (Leipzig: Hinrich 1938), for a discussion of “Das Jahr 1797; Studien über Israel in der Wüste,” pp. 48–50.Google Scholar

16 Gotthold, E. Lessing (Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts, in Sämtliche Schriften, 3d ed. 23 vols, Lachmann, Karl, ed. [Leipzig: Göschen, 1886–1924], XIII, 416–436) also used the Bible as a model for the organic development of man and history.Google Scholar

17 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21.Google Scholar

18 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehrez, LA, 1/6, 89.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., p. 92.

20 Ibid., p. 93.

21 Goethe explains the ethnocentric basis of a text in the introduction to his Geschichte der Farbenlehre: “Denn wenn man behauptet hat: schon der Stil eines Schriftstellers sei der ganze Mann, wie vielmehr sollte nicht der ganze Mensch den ganzen Schriftsteller enthalten” (ibid., p. ix).

22 Ibid., p. 93.

23 Ibid.

24 For a discussion of the linguistic basis that Goethe saw in this formality see Karl, J. Fink, “The Meta-Language of Goethe's History of Science,” in Eighteenth-Century Quest for the New Science, Language and Thought in Eighteenth-Century Science, Karl, J. Fink and James, W. Marchand, eds. (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979), pp. 41–55.Google Scholar

25 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA 1/6, 93.Google Scholar

26 Ibid.

27 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21,Google Scholar and Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 94.Google Scholar

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid., p. 91. On the concept of Vorstellung see Fink, , “Meta-Language,” pp. 49–51,Google Scholar and also Carl, Knüffer, “Grundzüge der Geschichte des Begriffs Vorstellung von Wolff bis Kant”, Ph.D. Diss., University of Berlin, 1911.Google Scholar

30 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 93.Google Scholar On the concept of life-stages in the eighteenth century see Karl, J. Fink, “Herder's Life-Stages as Forms in Geometric Progression,” Eighteenth- Century Life, 7 (1981), 1–35.Google Scholar

31 Goethe's contemporary, Wachler, Ludwig, Geschichte der historischen Wissenschaften, 2 vols. (Göttingen: Röwer, 1812–1820), also saw the prejudices of British and French Orientalists such as Abraham Anquetil du Perron: “das Vorurtheil für die Wichtigkeit der von ihm europäisirten Denkmäler der ostasiatischen Litteratur hinderte ihn, dieselben mit kritischer Unbefangenheit zu würdign” (II, 48).Google Scholar

32 Goethe, , West-östlicher Divan, Burdach, K., ed., WA, 1, 7, 102.Google Scholar

33 See Johann, Fück, Die Arabischen Studien in Europa, Bis in den Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1955), pp. 108–124, on the secularization of history and on the role of Oriental studies in ending the sacra philologia: “Keiner hat so klar wie er [Johann Reiske] ihre [arabische Philologie] Eigengesetzlichkeit und Unabhäangigkeit erkannt, keiner sich so bewuβt gegen die damals herrschende sacra philologia gewandt” (p. 122).Google Scholar

34 Mommsen, Katharina, Goethe und Diez: Quellenuntersuchungen zu Gedichten der Divan-Epoche (Berlin: Akademie, 1961). includes a section on Goethe's “Gedichte zum Hammer-Diez-Konflikt,” pp. 246–290.Google Scholar See also lngeborg Solbrig, , Hammer-Purgstall und Goethe. 'Dem Zaubermeister das Werkzeug (Bern: Lang, 1973), pp. 165–191.Google Scholar

35 Johann, G. Hamann, “Aesthetica in nuce,” in Schriften über Philosophic, Philologie, Kritik, Josef, Nadler, ed., 3 vols. (Wien: Herder, 1950), II, 197.Google Scholar

36 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1,6, 131.Google Scholar

37 Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, p. 21.Google Scholar

38 Goethe, , Divan, WA, I, 7, 106.Google Scholar

39 Ibid.

40 Lentz, Wolfgang (“Goethes Beitrag zur Erforschung der iranischen Kulturgeschichte,” Saeculum, 8 [1957], 180–189) argues that Goethe's Noten und Abhandlungen is the first sociopsychological study of Iran: “So ist die erste—und meines Wissens bisher einzige—sozialpsychologische Studie über Iran entstanden und zugleich eine literarästhetische Analyse der persischen Klassik” (p. 189).Google Scholar

41 Lentz, , Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, p. 121;Google Scholar “Despotic als sozial-psychologischen Hintergrund.” Disregard of this perspective in the recent revival of studies on Goethe's Orientalism may be found in Lohner, Edgar, ed., Interpretationen zum West-östlichen Divan Goethes (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1973),Google Scholar as well as in his selections for the Studien zum West-östlichen Divan Goethes (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1971).Google Scholar

42 Lentz, , “Goethes Beitrag,” p. 185.Google Scholar

43 Lentz, , Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, offers various interpretations of the structure of Goethe's essays, explaining that Goèthe's labels are fuzzy-edged: “sämtliche dieser Termini haben unscharfe Grenzen” (p. 117).Google Scholar

44 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1, 7, 1.Google Scholar

45 Ibid., p. 18.

46 Ibid. p. 47.

47 Ibid., p. 84.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., p. 85.

50 Ibid., pp. 88–91. Concerning this essay see Mommsen, Goethe und Diez, who discusses the polemical aspects of Goethe's “objections” as part of a movement in defense of Oriental panegyric poetry: “Verteidigung der Panegyriker” (pp. 4–47). Indeed, Lentz, Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, argues that this particular essay serves as the basis for Goethe's social-psychological investigation of panegyric poetry.

51 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1, 7, 91.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., pp. 92–94. As has been pointed out by Mommsen, Goethe und Diez, this chapter, too, very subtly supported Goethe's defense of Oriental panegyric poetry: “Die Polemik ist so versteckt, daß nur der Betroffene selbst und allenfalls em Paar Fachleute davon angesprochen werden” (p. 278).

53 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, I, 7, 94.Google Scholar

54 Ibid., pp. 95–99.

55 Ibid., p. 95.

56 Ibid., p. 99. Indeed, according to René, Wellek, A History of Modern Criticism: 1750–1950: The Later Eighteenth Century (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1955), “The term “World Literature” is Goethe's invention. It suggests an historical scheme of the evolution of national literature in which they will fuse and ultimately melt into a great synthesis” (p. 221).Google Scholar

57 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1,7, 99.Google Scholar

58 Ibid., p. 98.

59 Curtius, , Kritische Essays, p. 40.Google Scholar Wellek, , A History of Modern Criticism, p. 218, also emphasizes Goethe's “strong sense for the setting of literature, its social and historical evolution.” Schaeder, Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, refers to this synthesis as historical distance and poetic presence: “geschichtliche Abstandnahme und dichterische Vergegenwärtigung” (pp. 65–69).Google Scholar

60 Goethe, , Geschichre der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 86.Google Scholar

61 Goethe, , “Theilnahme Goethe's an Manzoni,” in Aufsätze zur Literature, Hecker, M., ed., WA, I, 421, 135–181, considers the highest form of lyric historical: “Die höchste Lyrik ist entschieden historisch” (p. 173).Google Scholar

62 Schaeder, , Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, argues Goethe's presence in the historical poetry of the Divan: “Es waren die Erfahrungen des napoleonischen Zeitalters und der beginnenden Restaurationszeit, die in Goethes Auffassung orientalischen Geschichte und Dichtung fruchtbar wurden” (p. 95).Google Scholar On this point see also Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, “Zum Buch Timur,” pp. 227–44.Google Scholar

63 Goethe, , Divan, WA, I. 6, 137–138.Google Scholar

64 For references to this ahuman quality as demonic see Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, p. 243,Google Scholar and Schaeder, , Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, pp. 153–155.Google Scholar

65 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1, 6, 137.Google Scholar

66 Ibid.

67 Compare Goethe's version of the confrontation between Winter and Timur with that of Ahmed lbn ⊂Arabshäh, . Tamerlane, or Timur: The Great Amir, Sanders, J. H., trans. (London: Luzac, 1936), pp. 225–229.Google Scholar

68 Goethe, , Noren und Abhandlungen, WA, 1,7, 144–145.Google Scholar

69 Ibid., p. 145.

70 This quotation was taken from Eduard, Firmenich-Richartz, Sulpiz und Melchior Boisserée als Kunstsammler (Jena: Diederich, 1916), p. 394.Google Scholar

71 Goethe, , Dichtung und Wahrheit, Baechtold, J., ed., WA, I, 29, 175–177.Google Scholar

72 Ibid., p. 177. Yet Goethe also prized the demonic powers that rise in leaders, musicians, and artists, Johann, P. Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens, Bergemann, Fritz, ed. (Wiesbaden: Insel, 1955), pp. 438–439.Google Scholar

73 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1, 7, 143.Google Scholar

74 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 11/6, 431.Google Scholar

75 Goethe, , “Theilnahme Goethes an Manzoni,” WA, I, 42, 161,Google Scholar clearly distinguishes between destructive and productive criticism, favoring the latter and placing an emphasis on a critic's good intentions. On this point see also Wellek, , A History of Modern Criticism, pp. 223–224.Google Scholar

76 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 11/6, 431.Google Scholar See also Robert, K. Merton, On the Shoulders of Giants (New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, 1965), where Isaac Newton is cited for having said that “‘If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’” (p. 1).Google Scholar