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<p>The question of coherence in Goethe's novels, which, like <em>Faust</em>, compelled his attention throughout his creative life, has only recently occupied a few critics. Professor Muenzer's study offers the most comprehensive effort of this kind by examining the problematic nature of self-definition through the four novels and its emergence as a discursive process of the imagination.</p> <p>The self of these texts, Muenzer suggests, evolves as a symbolic construct that records a patter of pursuit for each of their protagonists and orients the reader toward three basic goals of human aspiration. Thus, Werther aspires to purposefulness as a center of teleological fulfillment, while the hero of <em>Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship</em> refers to an ideological center of participation in his social desire. Eduard, in <em>The Elective Affinities</em>, presumes to occupy a center of archaeological power through his typically self-assertive strategies.</p> <p>In the last of his novels, <em>Wilhelm Meister's Journeymanship</em>, Goethe articulates the need to balance all such self-involved behavior with an attitude of self-denial. Apparently, the mind can orient itself through centers o

Author

Clark S. Muenzer

Publisher

Pennsylvania State University Press

Published

1984

Language

EN

ISBN

9780271003610

Subjects

Philosophy, Literary Criticism, Literary Fiction