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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
In his recent book on Orientalism Edward Said made it clear that the German relationship to the Orient has been different from that of the British or French. In Germany there was no sustained national interest in the Orient; the relationship was not “actual,” for it was almost exclusively “scholarly.” Said also argues, however, that Germany did have in common with other European nations a “kind of intellectual authority over the Orient” and that it, too, contributed to the Western invention of the term “Orientalism,” itself an act of dominance and superiority. In this point it seems that Said is correct, for the act of labeling not only suggests expertise but also exercises expressibility as a means of intellectual and cultural control. Yet recognition of the linguistic basis of authority and the power to dominate another culture with that authority is not new. German writers during the eighteenth century also felt that British and French dominance interfered with the development of the arts and sciences in their country. Indeed, Goethe recognized at least two forms of authority which shaped Oriental literature: one was the political forces within the Orient itself and the second one, a more subtle form of authority extrinsic to the Orient, was the scientific philology of Western culture which fostered a particular image of the Orient. That is, Goethe suggests in his critical writings on Oriental literature a departure from the norms of Western science and at the same time champions the need to understand the sociocultural forces at work in the Orient itself. Thus Goethe's critical writings in many ways anticipate Said's view that “Above all, authority can, indeed must, be analyzed”.
1 Edward, ṣaid, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1979), p. 19.Google Scholar
2 Ibid.; see also Chase, Stuart, The Tyranny of Words (New York: Harcourt, 1938), pp. 18–29.Google Scholar
3 See Thomasius, Christian, “Discours,” in Deutsche Schriften, Peter, von Düffel, ed. (Stuttgart: Philipp, 1970),Google Scholar concerning the French influence on everyday German life around 1700: “Es ist aber nicht genug, Meine Herren, daß wir mit dem Verstand derer Wörter, die bey denen Frantzosen einen Menschen in Hochachtung bringen, richtig sind. Wir müssen auch ein wenig betrachten; ob denn die Frantzosen hierinnen einen Vorzug für uns haben” (p. 19). Indeed, Thomasius developed a theory of prejudices from these experiences in cross-cultural chauvinism, praejudicium autoritas, in “De Praejudiciis oder von den Vorurteilen,” in Aus der Frühzeit der deutschen Aufklärung, Brüggemann, F., ed. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1928), pp. 28–59.Google Scholar Immanuel Kant (“Was ist die Aufklärung,” in Was ist die, Aufkläung, Thesen und Definition, Bahr, Ehrhard, ed. [Stuttgart: Philipp, 1974], pp. 9–17)Google Scholar formulates the problem a little differently by advocating German departure from self-inflicted infancy, immaturity, inarticulateness: “Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit” (p. 9). See Eric, A. Blackall, The Emergence of German as a Literary Language, 1700–75, 2d ed. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1978), for a study in the linguistic basis of German advocacy in the eighteenth century.Google Scholar
4 Said, Orientalism, p. 20.Google Scholar
5 Johann, W. von Goethe, Materialien zur Geschichte der Farbenlehre, Kuhn, Dorothea and Karl, L. Wolf, eds., in Goethe: Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft, Matthaei, Rupprecht, ed. 14 vols. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1947),Google Scholar hereafter LA designating the edition as the Leopoldina-Ausgabe which contains two parts, Part I for Goethe's scientific publications and Part II for his research notes and archival materials relating to his scientific writings, II, 6, 61. For an historical survey of Bacon's contribution to the sociology of knowledge see Horowitz, Irving, Philosophy, Science, and the Sociology of Knowledge (Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1961), pp. 10–32.Google Scholar
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9 Lentz, Wolfgang (Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen zum West-östlichen Divan [Hamburg: Augustin, 1958], pp. 65, 83, and 121)Google Scholar seems to be the first Goethe scholar to mention this aspect of Goethe's theory of Oriental literature, although he does not pursue its connections to the concept of authority or to Goethe's history of science. Trunz, Erich, ed., “Gedichte und Epen,” in Goethes Werke, 14 vols. (Hamburg: Wegener, 1967), Il, 633–634, also recognizes the broad cultural basis of Goethe's theory of Oriental literature: “Der Divan-lyrik gab Goethe als Hintergrund eine Kulturgeschichtliche Darstellung bei” (p. 633).Google Scholar
10 See Robert, K. Merton, The Sociology of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973).Google Scholar
11 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21.Google Scholar Gundolf, Friedrich (Goethe [Berlin: Bondi, 1916], p. 406) felt Goethe focused on the basic issue of all historical studies when he dealt with problems in “Autorität” and “überlieferung.”Google Scholar
12 Ernst, R. Curtjus (“Goethe als Kritiker,” in Kritische Essays zur Europäischen Literatur, ed. Ernst, R. Curtius [Bern: Francke, 1950], pp. 28–58) comments that Goethe is at the same time critic and historian: “Als Kritiker ist Goethe auch Historiker” (p. 40).Google Scholar
13 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbelehre, LA, 1, 6, 88–92.Google Scholar In her critical notes to this edition of Goethe's, Geschichte der Farbenlehre (LA, II, 6, 430), Dorothea Kuhn argues that in the essay “überliefertes,” Goethe establishes a morphological basis for his history of science: “An keiner Stelle des Werkes wird deutlicher als hier, daß Goethe mit semen Materialien zu einer Geschichte der Farbenlehre den Grund legte zu einer morphologischen, d. h. geistesgeschichtlichen Betrachtung der Naturwissenschaft.”Google Scholar
14 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 88–92 and 92–95.Google Scholar
15 The philological roots to eighteenth-century classical historiography are discussed in John, E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, 3 vols, 3d ed. (New York: Hafner, 1958),Google Scholar Vol. 3, “The Eighteenth Century in Germany.” Goethe's philological-historical work in biblical historiography are demonstrated in his essay on “Israel in- der Wüste,” Noten und Abhandlungen zu Besserem Verständniss des West-östlichen Divans, Siegfried, C. and Seuffert, B., eds., and in Goethes Werke, 143 vols. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1887–1919), vol. 1, 7, pp. 156–182Google Scholar (Hereafter WA). See Hans, H. Schaeder, Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens (Leipzig: Hinrich 1938), for a discussion of “Das Jahr 1797; Studien über Israel in der Wüste,” pp. 48–50.Google Scholar
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17 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21.Google Scholar
18 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehrez, LA, 1/6, 89.Google Scholar
19 Ibid., p. 92.
20 Ibid., p. 93.
21 Goethe explains the ethnocentric basis of a text in the introduction to his Geschichte der Farbenlehre: “Denn wenn man behauptet hat: schon der Stil eines Schriftstellers sei der ganze Mann, wie vielmehr sollte nicht der ganze Mensch den ganzen Schriftsteller enthalten” (ibid., p. ix).
22 Ibid., p. 93.
23 Ibid.
24 For a discussion of the linguistic basis that Goethe saw in this formality see Karl, J. Fink, “The Meta-Language of Goethe's History of Science,” in Eighteenth-Century Quest for the New Science, Language and Thought in Eighteenth-Century Science, Karl, J. Fink and James, W. Marchand, eds. (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979), pp. 41–55.Google Scholar
25 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA 1/6, 93.Google Scholar
26 Ibid.
27 Said, , Orientalism, p. 21,Google Scholar and Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 94.Google Scholar
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid., p. 91. On the concept of Vorstellung see Fink, , “Meta-Language,” pp. 49–51,Google Scholar and also Carl, Knüffer, “Grundzüge der Geschichte des Begriffs Vorstellung von Wolff bis Kant”, Ph.D. Diss., University of Berlin, 1911.Google Scholar
30 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 93.Google Scholar On the concept of life-stages in the eighteenth century see Karl, J. Fink, “Herder's Life-Stages as Forms in Geometric Progression,” Eighteenth- Century Life, 7 (1981), 1–35.Google Scholar
31 Goethe's contemporary, Wachler, Ludwig, Geschichte der historischen Wissenschaften, 2 vols. (Göttingen: Röwer, 1812–1820), also saw the prejudices of British and French Orientalists such as Abraham Anquetil du Perron: “das Vorurtheil für die Wichtigkeit der von ihm europäisirten Denkmäler der ostasiatischen Litteratur hinderte ihn, dieselben mit kritischer Unbefangenheit zu würdign” (II, 48).Google Scholar
32 Goethe, , West-östlicher Divan, Burdach, K., ed., WA, 1, 7, 102.Google Scholar
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34 Mommsen, Katharina, Goethe und Diez: Quellenuntersuchungen zu Gedichten der Divan-Epoche (Berlin: Akademie, 1961). includes a section on Goethe's “Gedichte zum Hammer-Diez-Konflikt,” pp. 246–290.Google Scholar See also lngeborg Solbrig, , Hammer-Purgstall und Goethe. 'Dem Zaubermeister das Werkzeug (Bern: Lang, 1973), pp. 165–191.Google Scholar
35 Johann, G. Hamann, “Aesthetica in nuce,” in Schriften über Philosophic, Philologie, Kritik, Josef, Nadler, ed., 3 vols. (Wien: Herder, 1950), II, 197.Google Scholar
36 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1,6, 131.Google Scholar
37 Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, p. 21.Google Scholar
38 Goethe, , Divan, WA, I, 7, 106.Google Scholar
39 Ibid.
40 Lentz, Wolfgang (“Goethes Beitrag zur Erforschung der iranischen Kulturgeschichte,” Saeculum, 8 [1957], 180–189) argues that Goethe's Noten und Abhandlungen is the first sociopsychological study of Iran: “So ist die erste—und meines Wissens bisher einzige—sozialpsychologische Studie über Iran entstanden und zugleich eine literarästhetische Analyse der persischen Klassik” (p. 189).Google Scholar
41 Lentz, , Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, p. 121;Google Scholar “Despotic als sozial-psychologischen Hintergrund.” Disregard of this perspective in the recent revival of studies on Goethe's Orientalism may be found in Lohner, Edgar, ed., Interpretationen zum West-östlichen Divan Goethes (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1973),Google Scholar as well as in his selections for the Studien zum West-östlichen Divan Goethes (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1971).Google Scholar
42 Lentz, , “Goethes Beitrag,” p. 185.Google Scholar
43 Lentz, , Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, offers various interpretations of the structure of Goethe's essays, explaining that Goèthe's labels are fuzzy-edged: “sämtliche dieser Termini haben unscharfe Grenzen” (p. 117).Google Scholar
44 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1, 7, 1.Google Scholar
45 Ibid., p. 18.
46 Ibid. p. 47.
47 Ibid., p. 84.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., p. 85.
50 Ibid., pp. 88–91. Concerning this essay see Mommsen, Goethe und Diez, who discusses the polemical aspects of Goethe's “objections” as part of a movement in defense of Oriental panegyric poetry: “Verteidigung der Panegyriker” (pp. 4–47). Indeed, Lentz, Goethes Noten und Abhandlungen, argues that this particular essay serves as the basis for Goethe's social-psychological investigation of panegyric poetry.
51 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1, 7, 91.Google Scholar
52 Ibid., pp. 92–94. As has been pointed out by Mommsen, Goethe und Diez, this chapter, too, very subtly supported Goethe's defense of Oriental panegyric poetry: “Die Polemik ist so versteckt, daß nur der Betroffene selbst und allenfalls em Paar Fachleute davon angesprochen werden” (p. 278).
53 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, I, 7, 94.Google Scholar
54 Ibid., pp. 95–99.
55 Ibid., p. 95.
56 Ibid., p. 99. Indeed, according to René, Wellek, A History of Modern Criticism: 1750–1950: The Later Eighteenth Century (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1955), “The term “World Literature” is Goethe's invention. It suggests an historical scheme of the evolution of national literature in which they will fuse and ultimately melt into a great synthesis” (p. 221).Google Scholar
57 Goethe, , Noten und Abhandlungen, WA, 1,7, 99.Google Scholar
58 Ibid., p. 98.
59 Curtius, , Kritische Essays, p. 40.Google Scholar Wellek, , A History of Modern Criticism, p. 218, also emphasizes Goethe's “strong sense for the setting of literature, its social and historical evolution.” Schaeder, Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, refers to this synthesis as historical distance and poetic presence: “geschichtliche Abstandnahme und dichterische Vergegenwärtigung” (pp. 65–69).Google Scholar
60 Goethe, , Geschichre der Farbenlehre, LA, 1/6, 86.Google Scholar
61 Goethe, , “Theilnahme Goethe's an Manzoni,” in Aufsätze zur Literature, Hecker, M., ed., WA, I, 421, 135–181, considers the highest form of lyric historical: “Die höchste Lyrik ist entschieden historisch” (p. 173).Google Scholar
62 Schaeder, , Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, argues Goethe's presence in the historical poetry of the Divan: “Es waren die Erfahrungen des napoleonischen Zeitalters und der beginnenden Restaurationszeit, die in Goethes Auffassung orientalischen Geschichte und Dichtung fruchtbar wurden” (p. 95).Google Scholar On this point see also Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, “Zum Buch Timur,” pp. 227–44.Google Scholar
63 Goethe, , Divan, WA, I. 6, 137–138.Google Scholar
64 For references to this ahuman quality as demonic see Mommsen, , Goethe und Diez, p. 243,Google Scholar and Schaeder, , Goethes Erlebnis des Ostens, pp. 153–155.Google Scholar
65 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1, 6, 137.Google Scholar
66 Ibid.
67 Compare Goethe's version of the confrontation between Winter and Timur with that of Ahmed lbn ⊂Arabshäh, . Tamerlane, or Timur: The Great Amir, Sanders, J. H., trans. (London: Luzac, 1936), pp. 225–229.Google Scholar
68 Goethe, , Noren und Abhandlungen, WA, 1,7, 144–145.Google Scholar
69 Ibid., p. 145.
70 This quotation was taken from Eduard, Firmenich-Richartz, Sulpiz und Melchior Boisserée als Kunstsammler (Jena: Diederich, 1916), p. 394.Google Scholar
71 Goethe, , Dichtung und Wahrheit, Baechtold, J., ed., WA, I, 29, 175–177.Google Scholar
72 Ibid., p. 177. Yet Goethe also prized the demonic powers that rise in leaders, musicians, and artists, Johann, P. Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens, Bergemann, Fritz, ed. (Wiesbaden: Insel, 1955), pp. 438–439.Google Scholar
73 Goethe, , Divan, WA, 1, 7, 143.Google Scholar
74 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 11/6, 431.Google Scholar
75 Goethe, , “Theilnahme Goethes an Manzoni,” WA, I, 42, 161,Google Scholar clearly distinguishes between destructive and productive criticism, favoring the latter and placing an emphasis on a critic's good intentions. On this point see also Wellek, , A History of Modern Criticism, pp. 223–224.Google Scholar
76 Goethe, , Geschichte der Farbenlehre, LA, 11/6, 431.Google Scholar See also Robert, K. Merton, On the Shoulders of Giants (New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, 1965), where Isaac Newton is cited for having said that “‘If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’” (p. 1).Google Scholar
