Reason read: June 2023, botm Reading 1001
This is my first Goethe though he wrote so much and so much variety, maybe I’ve been exposed but unaware that I had. I listened to the audio which was updated version, Read by Leighton Pugh. This was Goethe's second novel, published in 1795/6. One could say this was a coming of age story It is also considered a precursor to the Bildungsroman. It is considered an influential novel of the 19th century so therefore I guess it belongs on the 1001 list. This was a revision of Thomas Carlyle’s translation to improve on the archaic style.

I also have a book from the collected works, volume 9. This was translated by Eric A. Blackall and is slightly different from the audio version.

After reading the German novels or German based novels that we read recently, I was a bit dreading it but this turned out to be very readable. I thought is a bit long and at times it didn’t flow well for me but at least it had a plot however full of coincidences.

The key points seem to me to be theater, especially Shakespeare. It also included exploration of social class structure or social integration. And about finding one’s way in life.

There is quite a bit about architecture which I paid little attention to until I read that Goethe had a keen sense of architecture and could describe it such that the reader could actually picture it. Lotherio’s Estate; a nobleman’s home is suppose to show us that his home wasn’t that pretentious. It also had a secret side where a secret society met. The Hall of the Past featured art and music. I am not sure about the others.

Problems with the book for me is the disunity. Thus my question on Book 6. Here’s what my afterword has on book 6. “Where does Book Six fit in? Can it be conceived as a transition to the last two books: if so, in what sense? And those last two books; predominately concerned with ideas and debates about ideas, and yet shot through with elements that seem to fit uneasily into a novel on the ideational plane…” The novel was written at two different periods of Goethe’s life.

While this book had a plot it is one full of coincidences.

So the book is not a true Bildungsroman nor is it a book about Culture. It is about finding oneself (apprenticeship) — like Saul son of Kish who goes out looking for his father’s asses and ends up with a kingdom.

My summary “German finds Shakespeare” ( )

To which degree does Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, the prototypical Bildungsroman, speak to us today? Maybe first of all as a counterweight to the fragmented “postmodern condition”. Though I started reading this work mostly as a sort of historical document, I found that it has more to offer than just that. It’s a fairly easy read; I never quite got used to the stylized and archaic language though – and especially in those parts that focuses on the inner state of the protagonist. On the other hand, Goethe’s descriptions of the theatre and individual actors actually sometimes have an almost contemporary feel – and so does his great wit and irony whenever it shines through. Other parts of the book can be more longwinded, particularly those dealing with e.g. the ideals of pietism, but even here the characters have some interesting traits and it also serves as an efficient contrast to the more lighthearted life in the theatre group. The sections and layers of the book that are influenced by freemasonry are a lot more intriguing. Throughout the book, Goethe moves effortlessly from the subjective to the objective; the individual versus the world; the young Wilhelm comes crashing into a world he doesn’t quite understand, with high hopes for himself and with boundless naiveté, yet manages to learn from his many strange encounters and to build character and integrity, slowly becoming his own person – almost in spite of himself it would seem, but still because of his innate character traits and the interaction with the outside world.
The novel can easily be seen as an expression of Goethe’s Ganzheitsdenken, and as for the development of the protagonist, there is little of what can be characterized as idealistic loftiness to it (as opposed to that of the protagonist himself), but rather a gradual insight gained through his encounters with the various other characters -- and through his work, Goethe aims to educate his reader as well as young Wilhelm. While, in the end, Wilhelm Meister successfully concludes his apprenticeship, I suppose it can be said that it is up to the individual reader to make a similar achievement.




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. ( )

AG-4

This was a great read. It is no wonder why Goethe is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time in Germany and abroad. It is a classic tale that allows one to get into the sensibilities of the setting it was in while looking out at the greater world, towards freedom and self-discovery. This Bildungsroman is one that is definitely worth reading. Sections of the writing are simply brilliant and the story courses forward, like a current towards an endless ocean, in its graceful meaning.

5 stars. EXCELLENT! ( )

ANYS D'APRENENTATGE

PRESENTACIÓ

Si, segons afirmava l'escriptor existencialista, la qüestió fonamental
de la filosofia és la d'escatir si la vida val o no val la pena de
ser viscuda, semblantment podríem dir nosaltres, tot parafrasejant
lo, que el repte cabdal a què ha de fer front tota reflexió sobre la
literatura és el de decidir si una obra -la que sigui val o no val
la pena de ser llegida, i per què.

Aquest plantejament em sembla tant més honest si abans, per
tal de fer assequible una obra literària en concret a un públic
determinat -el català, en aquest cas-, ha calgut que una casa editora
amb el suport financer d'una institució de govern- hi esmercés
uns diners, i que un traductor-amb l'ajuda dels seus coneixements
i de la seva perícia- hi prodigués els seus esforços.

De pròpia iniciativa m'arrogo aquí el dret de constatar com la
publicació del llibre que el lector té ara a les mans -i semblant
ment pot dir-se de la practica totalitat d'obres aparegudes en la
col-lecció que l'acull- s'inscriu de ple dins d'una política cultural
imprescindible que ja fa molts anys fou clarament formulada per
Josep Carner en els següents termes: «En tot Estat d'ordenada
cultura caldria que les seves autoritats rectores, com ja volia Talley
and en una iniciativa que no prosperà, disposessin d'un sistema
onablement complet i tècnicament segur de traduccions d'obres
essencials de parles alienes. Això s'aplicaria, amb doble raó, als
pobles amb quadres de cultura incomplets.

Valguin, doncs, aquests mots del príncep, no únicament dels
poetes, sinó també dels traductors catalans, a fi de justificar, des de
la vessant político-cultural i econòmica de l'empresa, l'anostra-
ment de l'obra que ens ocupa.

Des de l'altra vessant, però, la purament estètico-literària, em
pertoca a mi, com a traductor, de presentar-la en base al criteri de
egibilitat al ludit d'antuvi. D'entre les raons que abonen aques
ibilitat, comencem primer de tot per les que podriem considerar
com a més objectives en el context de la història literària, les...