The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II

The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Classics of The Nineteenth and
Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II, by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. In Twenty Volumes
Author: Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11366]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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VOLUME II
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

THE GERMAN CLASSICS
MASTERPIECES OF GERMAN LITERATURE
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

IN TWENTY VOLUMES
ILLUSTRATED

1914

VOLUME II

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES. By Calvin Thomas
THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES. Translated by James Anthony Froude and R. Dillon Boylan
SHAKESPEARE AND AGAIN SHAKESPEARE. Translated by Julia Franklin
ORATION ON WIELAND. Translated by Louis H. Gray
THE PEDAGOGIC PROVINCE (from "Wilhelm Meister's Travels"). Translated by R. Dillon Boylan
WINCKELMANN AND HIS AGE. Translated by George Krielin
MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS. Translated by Bailey Saunders
ECKERMANN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOETHE. Translated by John Oxenford
GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS WIFE. Translated by Louis H. Gray
GOETHE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH K. F. ZELTER. Translated by Frances H. King

ILLUSTRATIONS--VOLUME II
Capri
Edward reading aloud to Charlotte and the Captain
Charlotte receives Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
Edward and Ottilie. By P. Grotjohann
Edward, Charlotte, Ottilie and the Captain discuss the new plan of the house. By Franz Simm
Ottilie examines Edward's Presents. By P Grotjohann
Luciana posing as Queen Artemisia. By P. Grotjohann
Ottilie. By Wilhelm von Kaulbach
The Old Theatre, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
Martin Wieland. By E. Hader
Princess Amalia
Winckelmann
Weimar seen from the North
Goethe and his Secretary. By Johann Josef Schmeller
Goethe's Study
The Garden at Goethe's City House, Weimar. By Peter Woltze
Schiller's Garden House at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
The float at Jena. Drawing by Goethe
View into the Saale Valley near Jena. Drawing by Goethe
K.F. Zelter
INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES
In the spring of the year 1807 Goethe began work on the second part of Wilhelm Meister. He had no very definite plot in view, but proposed to make room for a number of short stories, all relating to the subject of renunciation, which was to be the central theme of the Wanderjahre. In the course of the summer, while he was taking the waters at Karlsbad, two or three of the stories were written. The following spring he set about elaborating another tale of renunciation, the idea of which had occurred to him some time before. But somehow it refused to be confined within the limits of a novelette. As he proceeded the matter grew apace, until it finally developed into the novel which was given to the world in 1809 under the title of The Elective Affinities.
When that which should be a short story is expanded into a novel one can usually detect the padding and the embroidery. So it is certainly in this case. Those long descriptions of landscape-gardening; the copious extracts from Ottilie's diary, containing many thoughts which would hardly have entered the head of such a girl; the pages given to subordinate characters, whose comings and goings have no very obvious connection with the story,--all these retard the narrative and tend to hide the essential idea. The strange title, too, has served to divert attention from the real centre of gravity. Had the tale been called, say, "Ottilie's Expiation," there would have been less room for misunderstanding and irrelevant criticism; there would have been less concern over the moral, and more over the artistic, aspect of the story.
What then was the essential idea? Simply to describe a peculiar tragedy resulting from the invasion of the marriage relation by lawless passion. As for the title, it should be remembered that there was just then a tendency to look for curious analogies between physical law and the operations of the human mind. Great interest was felt in suggestion, occult influence, and all that sort of thing. Goethe himself had lately been lecturing on magnetism. He had also observed, as no one can fail to observe, that the sexual attraction sometimes seems to act like chemical affinity: it breaks up old unions, forms new combinations, destroys pre-existing bodies, as if it were a law that must work itself out, whatever the consequences. Such a process will now and then defy prudence, self-respect, duty, even religion,--going its way like a blind and ruthless law of physics. But if this is to happen the recombining elements must, of course, have each its specific character; else there is no affinity and no tragedy.
It is no part of the analogy that the pressure of sex is always and by its very nature like