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Goethe on Tragedy

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Art, Nature, and Self-Formation in the Age of Goethe
This chapter is in the book Art, Nature, and Self-Formation in the Age of Goethe

Abstract

The essay explores Goethe’s notion of tragedy in three stages. From early on, Goethe conceives of the plot of tragedy as the exfoliation of a fundamental tension or contradiction between freedom and necessity or desire and obligation. But tragedy is also a generic concept, and the essay demonstrates with respect to Goethe’s Faust how generic norms are inherited and transformed. The essay concludes with an interpretation of the Faust drama that highlights both the anthropological and the theological aspects of Goethe’s conception of tragedy.

Abstract

The essay explores Goethe’s notion of tragedy in three stages. From early on, Goethe conceives of the plot of tragedy as the exfoliation of a fundamental tension or contradiction between freedom and necessity or desire and obligation. But tragedy is also a generic concept, and the essay demonstrates with respect to Goethe’s Faust how generic norms are inherited and transformed. The essay concludes with an interpretation of the Faust drama that highlights both the anthropological and the theological aspects of Goethe’s conception of tragedy.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Goethe, Faust, and the Power of Tragedy
  6. Goethe on Tragedy 11
  7. Philosophy of Tragedy: Schiller and Hölderlin 37
  8. Goethe and Hegel: Faust and the Phenomenology of Spirit 63
  9. Part II: Art, Meaning, and Aesthetic Formation
  10. Artworks as Organic Wholes: A Goethean and Hegelian Concept of Art 85
  11. Transparency and Enigma in the Age of Goethe 115
  12. Sentimental Symbolism in Goethe’s “Alexis und Dora” 139
  13. Part III: Nature and the Divine
  14. Beautiful Creatures: Schiller and Goethe on Animal Freedom 165
  15. Goethe’s Demonic Idealism and Elective Affinities 181
  16. The Problem of God in Goethe’s Gott und Welt 197
  17. Part IV: Imagination, Memory, and Becoming in the Age of Goethe
  18. Intuition and Comprehension: Productive Imagination in Fichte and Goethe 225
  19. Experiments in Becoming 245
  20. Rhythms of Memory: The Mnemosyne Palimpsest 269
  21. Contributors 293
  22. Index 297
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110751383-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Abbreviations VII
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Goethe, Faust, and the Power of Tragedy
  6. Goethe on Tragedy 11
  7. Philosophy of Tragedy: Schiller and Hölderlin 37
  8. Goethe and Hegel: Faust and the Phenomenology of Spirit 63
  9. Part II: Art, Meaning, and Aesthetic Formation
  10. Artworks as Organic Wholes: A Goethean and Hegelian Concept of Art 85
  11. Transparency and Enigma in the Age of Goethe 115
  12. Sentimental Symbolism in Goethe’s “Alexis und Dora” 139
  13. Part III: Nature and the Divine
  14. Beautiful Creatures: Schiller and Goethe on Animal Freedom 165
  15. Goethe’s Demonic Idealism and Elective Affinities 181
  16. The Problem of God in Goethe’s Gott und Welt 197
  17. Part IV: Imagination, Memory, and Becoming in the Age of Goethe
  18. Intuition and Comprehension: Productive Imagination in Fichte and Goethe 225
  19. Experiments in Becoming 245
  20. Rhythms of Memory: The Mnemosyne Palimpsest 269
  21. Contributors 293
  22. Index 297
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