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Warum aus Mücken Flöhe wurden - Hintergründiges zum Anfang von Goethes XV. Römischer Elegie

Published/Copyright: November 7, 2006
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arcadia
From the journal Volume 41 Issue 1

Abstract

As is well-known, Goethe blended a quotation from the classical Historia Augusta into the beginning of the fifteenth Roman Elegy, changing it, however, significantly. The shift from the Latin “mosquitoes” (culices) to “fleas” is especially striking. Contrary to assumptions, this change of insect species appears to be motivated by sexual symbolism. Following the interpretatio obscena that the humanist scholar Adrianus Turnebus made of culices, the shift is possibly related to Goethe's problems concerning homosexuality.

Published Online: 2006-11-07
Published in Print: 2006-07-01

© Walter de Gruyter

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