Essays On Goethe Classic Reprint

Professor Spingarn has done students of literature a real favor; for he has gathered into a single and well-made volume, golden pages from one of the great masters of literature. As divergent-minded judges as Carlyle, Matthew Arnold and Sainte-Beuve acclaimed Goethe the supreme literary critic of all time and, whatever might be said against so superlative an opinion, certainly Goethe's many-sidedness, his undoubted genius, and his keen insight all conspired to give his judgments on literature a value too great to be ignored. All phases of his critical activity are represented in this excellent volume, which is the work of several translators, all of high standard. Goethe was keenly interested in French and in English literature, no less than in German, and for the English reader there will be much to stimulate thought in his sympathetic appreciation of Shakespeare. Those of us who have found the great dramatist's plays strangely failing in power to lift us out of ou selves, can find much to ponder over in Goethe's declaration: "Shakespeare gets his effect by means of the living word, and it is for this reason that one should hear him read, for then the attention is not distracted either by a too adequate or too in adequate stage-setting. There is no higher . . . pleasure than to sit with closed eyes and hear a naturally expressive voice recite, not declaim, a play of Shakespeare's." Goethe was no hard and fast critic, and as he re-read a book and found that it appealed to him in a new light, he did not hesitate to revise his earlier opinions and even to call attention to corrected impressions or reversals of judgments. It was because of his open-mindedness to new impressions that his critical dicta appear perennially fresh and stimulate the reader by their frankness and their vitality. The task of collecting these admirable and valuable essays required a scholar. It found one in Professor Spingarn, to whom the lovers of the best in literature owe genuine gratitude for this volume. The essays are grouped under The theory of art — The theory of literature — On Shakespeare — On other writers — Extracts from the conversations with Eckermann.

Excerpt from Essays on Goethe In 1822 Carlyle had contributed to a New Edin burgh Review a paper on Goethe's Goethe thus being his first topic as a reviewer. While at Kirkcaldy he had translated Legendre's Geometry, and the translation was published in 1824. He was earning then, for a short time, £200 a year at Edin burgh as tutor to young Charles Buller. In 1823 and l824 - from October, 1823 - his Life of Schiller was appearing in the London Magazine, and in 1824 he published his translation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meis ter, which was praised and abused, and so brought the translator into notice. The Life of Schiller was published as a volume in 1825. When it was afterwards translated into German, Goethe himself wrote a preface to it, and gave some account of the young English author who had done more than any man to make German literature truly understood in England. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Goethe's Literary Essays Of Goethe Sainte-Beuve held that he was the "king of criticism." Sainte-Beuve was among the most competent of judges on such a point, and Matthew Arnold has endorsed his conclusion. The reason for it is not far to seek. Goethe's gifts as a critic fell within a large whole of knowledge which was his in a degree for which we must look back over two thousand years to Aristotle if we wish to find a rival. He wrote lyrics that are supreme in their kind. His capacity for observation of nature was, as Helmholtz has pointed out, of the first order. Although he hated philosophy, he had, none the less, a fine instinct for great metaphysical conceptions. Spinoza and Kant both made appeal to him, and the appeal was responded to from the depths of his nature. The world has seen no poem like Faust, with the exquisite perfection of the "Dedication" and the lyrical outbursts with which the first part is studded, set in a structure which signifies a profound conception of life as a whole, into which far-reaching reflection has entered. The second part of the drama is as great in this latter regard as is the first part in its occasional exhibitions of the purest lyrical gift. Goethe's work was uneven, as was his life. That is what we must expect from the variety which both contained. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Goethe, His Life and Works: An Essay To closeness and the bettering of his mind but he did not need, like Prospero, to neglect worldly ends all such he made serve his primary end Of self-culture, moral, aesthetical, intellectual self-culture. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Essays on German Literature The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. George Barrie, of Philadelphia, for permission to reprint, in a revised and amplified form, the papers entitled "The Life and Works of Goethe" and "The Life and Works of Schiller," which were originally written as introductions to the sumptuous, illustrated edition de luxe of the two poets, published by Mr. Barrie. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Essays on Art The first eight pieces are from Goethe's contributions to the Propylaeum, a periodical paper, devoted to art. The Introduction to the Propylaeum may serve as a general intro duction to our author's works on this subject and will give an idea of the earnestness of his views, and the strictness of his requirements, where Art was in question. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Literary Essays Of himself he says, it does not lie in my nature, but I am subject to its influence 5 by which Goethe probably meant modestly to disclaim having any personal fascination of this kind over other men, but to indicate, what we know from other conversations he really held to be true, that apparently arbitrary and quite inexplicable impulses had Often exercised the most decisive and frequently fortunate influence on his own career. But it is quite clear that Goethe did possess in no common degree this capacity for, in a certain sense, fascinating men by his presence, as well as by his writings. If Byron had more of it as a man, Goethe succeeded in imparting far more of it to his works, and neither his life nor works can be properly judged without reference to its influence. It is something quite distinct from mere beauty, power, or general merit, either of personal character or Of literary creation. It is a power which goes out from the individual man, and which can imprint itself only on such writings as carry with them the stamp of individual character; and not always even on these, if, as for example in the case of Byron's earlier works, the play Of character is a good deal merged in some exaggerated mood of sentiment. It is not intensity: numbers of writers have surpassed Goethe in the intensity both Of literary and personal characteristics. Schiller was a man of far keener and intenser, though narrower nature, and yet he could not help going into utter captivity to the calm and somewhat limply-constituted mind of his Weimar friend. It is not even in itself independence or strength Of will for though Goethe had this in a remarkable degree, many others, as probably Schiller. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Life and Times of Goethe Goethe, although even then enjoying the reputation of a poet, both in and out of Germany, was just enter ing that higher region of intellectual activity, and begin ning that career in which for himself and for us he became what he is, and what is comprehended in the ingle word Goethe. From his advent in Weimar the century moves on, stamped with the name of Goethe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.