Der Einfall des Bildes: Ottilie in den "Wahlverwandtschaften" (review)

Goethe Yearbook 279 lie fungiert in den Wanderjahren nur mehr als ferne Briefadressatin und kommt auch als Mutter nicht zum Zug; von ferne beschirmt sie den Männerbund FelixWilhelm rein ideeU" (427). This book is an exhaustive source of layered phUosophical, text-critical, linguistic , feminist, psychological and bibUographical materials for Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. It asserts "Der Roman spielt die MögUchkeit weibUcher Freiheit durch, wie sie in den Machtkämpfen des 18. Jahrhunderts vielerorts eingeklagt wurden, und unterwirft sie rigiden Mechanismen der VereUinahmung, aUerdings ohne diese durch einen übergeordneten Wahrheitsanspruch abzusichern. Er steUt sich einfach als einen strukturierenden BestandteU der ReaUtät dar und hat damit so unrecht nicht: Der Weg ins 19. Jahrhundert wftd zeigen, dass die Entstehung des bürgerUchen Selbstbewusstseins, die VerinnerUchung des modernen Menschen nicht mit der Befreiung, sondern mit der Vereinnahmung des WeibUchen einherging" (440). Clearly suitable for the professional, rather than occasional, reader, this book rewards study, meriting consideration by every serious student of Goethe's prose. Rosemont College Erlis Wickersham Heike Brandstädter, Der Einfall des Bildes: Ottilie in den "Wahlverwandtschaften ." Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann, 2000. 209 Pp. Goethe's novel Die Wahlverwandtschaften offers a never-ending source of new and creative interpretations, and Heike Brandstädter's 1999 study Der Einfall des Bildes is a superior contribution to this tradition. Her erudite book, which also served as her dissertation at the University of Hamburg, takes as its object of study the figurative language (Bildlichkeif) of Goethe's novel. According to Brandstädter, the novel's obsession with images (Bilder)—broadly defined to include not just pictures but also many rhetorical figures—both expands the capacity of language for expression and points to its limitations. Recently, other researchers such as Fritz Breithaupt and Caroline WeUbery have addressed Goethe's use of images in his fiction. Brandstädter's study, which draws heavUy on the contemporary methodologies of semiotics and deconstruction, is an insightful addition to this scholarly discussion. Brandstädter views OttUie as a key figure in the novel because she represents the nexus of conceptual language and images. Before analyzing OttiUe hersetf, however, Brandstädter considers the various ways Ui which the novel introduces the tension between these two means of expression. For example, the famous "Gleichnisrede" Ui chapter 4 displays a "longing" for a concrete image that cannot be filled by language. In the foUowing chapters, Brandstädter discusses key scenes Ui which OttUie 's relationship to language and images emerges in more detaU. Particularly insightful is the suggestion that (in Kristeva's terms) OttiUe represents the semiotic rather than the symboUc side of language, as is evidenced by her interest in the materiality of signs. Thus, Brandstädter argues, when OttUie foUows the text Ui the book from which Eduard is reading aloud, she is more captivated by the appearance of the words than by theft meaning. Brandstädter also offers a very convincing interpretation of OttiUe's diary excerpts, contending that they present an historicaUy new, non-Enüghtened, form of subjectivity: "eine Freiheit des Subjekts, das nie ganz frei ist" (87). Brandstädter demonstrates that Ui book 2 of the novel, OttUie UteraUy becomes an image. This occurs, for example, when the architect paints her face onto the pictures of angels Ui the chapel. Here, the process of becoming an Un- 280 Book Reviews age represents a kind of death, but it also represents a displacement of death by focusing the reader's attention on beauty instead of mortaUty. Unfortunately, a serious printing error on p. 145 causes a gap in the argument at a crucial moment . However, Brandstädter resumes this Une of reasoning in her final chapter, when she considers OttUie's ultUnate renunciation of speech in favor of images, which come to displace her Ui death. Brandstädter has constructed her analyses and close readings with the utmost care and attention to detaU. The book is exceedingly weU researched and demonstrates the author's thorough knowledge of the text and the vast secondary Uterature. However, there are times when an intriguing insight gets lost Ui a thicket of theoretical background. One wishes Brandstädter would trust her own voice more and not leave...