The Will to Create: Goethe's Philosophy of Nature (review)

192 Book Reviews a letter to Charlotte von Stein). Goethe's activities seem instead to point up another matter that interested him, namely, "Bildung" and the bourgeois person 's insufficiency Ui this regard. The phrase "die Kunst des Lebens" was used by Goethe in another letter to Charlotte von Stein (11 March 1781), in connection with his admiration for Jeanette Louise, Countess WerthernBeichUngen of NeunheUigen. Here are some of the relevant portions, in German (the letter is quoted in Goethe's Art of Living): "Die Gräfinn hat mir manche neue Begriffe gegeben, und alte zusammengerückt. . . . Wie offt hab ich die Worte Welt, grose Welt, Welt haben u.s.w. hören müssen und habe mir nie etwas dabey dencken können, die meisten Menschen die sich diese Eigenschafften anmasten, verfinsterten mir den Begriff, . . . Dieses kleine Wesen hat mich erleuchtet. Diese hat Welt oder vielmehr sie hat die Welt, sie weis die Welt zu behandlen (la manier) . . . Was in ieder Kunst das Genie ist, hat sie in der Kunst des Lebens" (March 11). The topic of "BUdung" may not have interested the German publisher (Insel Verlag) in 1999, when this book originaUy appeared.The epoch of bourgeois culture being in decline, the publisher may have believed that an emphasis on stress management would have greater appeal in an age of mass culture. But Goethe foresaw mass culture as much as he understood the bourgeoisie. What more ordinary—postmodern—person than WUhelm Meister, bereft of skills and life models? For his counterparts in the year 2004, Goethe's works offer practical examples of life lived well or poorly, but particularly the challenge to live the good ltfe in an age when aU the old sign posts are disappearing : learn a few skills, use your time weU, appreciate what people can offer who know more than you, keep your eye on your goal. Such considerations bring me back to a point with which I began, namely, the divide between scholarly evaluation and popular reception of Goethe. This book wUl do nothing to harm the latter, and it may have been Katharina Mommsen's ulterior intention to bolster Goethe's place in the pantheon of greats. (As an aside, it might be mentioned that José Ortega y Gasset, in the essay "In Search of Goethe from Within" [1932], advises against using the phrase "art of ltfe" in connection with Goethe, precisely because "art" is superficial and frivolous compared "to the terrible seriousness of ltfe." But that is another matter). Two caveats concerning the translation. One smaU example—from Mommsen , not Goethe—may suffice to demonstrate certain infelicities: "The following letters date from the time of Goethe's love for LUi Schönemann with whom he became engaged to be married for a while" (123)· As for the quotations from Goethe, some are so unbelievably stUted that I constantly went back to check the original; Ui fairness, comparisons with the Princeton edition often served to make me aware of the difficult task of translating Goethe and to compliment those involved in this venture for the attempt. New York, New York Elizabeth Powers Astrida Orle TantUlo, The Will to Create: Goethe's Philosophy of Nature. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2002. 241 pp. Every student of Goethe's life and work comes across his perplexing claim that his scientific writings were far dearer to him than any of his Uterary works, Faust included. And let's face it, most of us have not devoted as much time to Goethe's scientific writings as we know we should, and so find Goethe Yearbook 193 it difficult to articulate why he might have made such a provocative assertion. Astrida OrleTantillo's very readable and weU-researched book goes a long way in helping us come to terms with this dUemma, to understand why Goethe would make this assertion, what he meant by science, and what connections he drew between art and the careful observation and assessment of the natural world. As she makes clear in her introduction,Tantillo does not treat Goethe's scientific writings in chronological fashion, but rather according to "Goethe's four main scientific principles: polarity, Steigerung (intensification), compensation , and competition" (6...