Freiheit in Goethes West-östlichem Divan

Abstract

This thesis presents two of the most important, but still unresearched, motifs in Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan – the “Realitätsvermeidung” and the “Freiheit des Geistes”. In order to demonstrate this concept, an overview of the literary movements of the 18th and the 19th centuries is given. As a great influence on western art and literature, the oriental fairy tales are introduced. The focus, however, lies on German Romanticism and the influence of oriental literature on Romantic authors. The main emphasis lies on the Divan and the Noten und Abhandlungen. A few poems from the first and the second book of the Divan, serve as an argument to prove the “Freiheit des Geistes” and the “Realitätsvermeidung”. The last two chapters address Hegel’s Ästhetik and Gautier’s poem Préface and discuss the thesis further. The last chapter also demonstrates the influence of Goethe’s Divan on French Symbolism in the 2nd half of the 19th century.