| Tracing Subversive Currents in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Contributor(s): Blair, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 1571130926 ISBN-13: 9781571130921 Publisher: Camden House (NY) OUR PRICE: $71.25 Product Type: Hardcover Published: May 1997 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | European - German |
| Dewey: 833.6 |
| LCCN: 96046641 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 6.76" W x 8.82" (0.98 lbs) 208 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this new reading of Goethe's most influential novel Blair's close attention to the text brings startling insights to light, often taking issue with received critical opinions. He shows, for example, that Goethe slyly introduced material full of low-cultural, subversive vitality that mocks conservative, authoritarian power interested in conformity or propriety. The novel does not just find fault with developments of the late Enlightenment but rather seductively describes loci of resistance to them: the marketplace, the travelling theatre, the Hanswurst. Equally, the author argues that although 'high' aesthetics, morals, institutions and rationality are impugned, they are not completely discredited: the problem with such high principles is demonstrated as being their tendency to present themselves as the only valid voice. |