Goethe und die Jungen: Über die Grenzen der Poesie und vom Vorrang des wirklichen Lebens (review)

Goethe Yearbook 271 works, from Karl Philipp Moritz and Klinger to the Nachtwachen and E.TA. Hoffmann, are more extensive than in the case of any of the other figures discussed. I am not certain what the moral to be drawn from this is, or even if there is one. There is surety little likelihood that we will find ourselves speaking of a Richterzeit anytime soon. Nevertheless I find something intriguing about this apparent near-Ebenbürtigkeit of the acknowledged Dichterfürst and the godfather of German humor in what Hegel taught us to regard as the paradigmatically modern literary genre. It is perhaps not the least of the merits of Mahoney's study that, in addition to summarizing a large body of more or less received wisdom on an undeniably important topic, it is also capable of stimulating reflection in this way. Other readere wilt doubtless have their own examples. Duke University Michael Morton Weber, Johannes, Goethe und die Jungen: Über die Grenzen der Poesie und vom Vorrang des wirklichen Lebens. Tübingen : Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1989 (Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Bd. 48). This is a relatively brief, very intelligent monograph on the subject of Goethe and his would-be disciples: both those younger writere who looked to Goethe for encouragement, patronage, and acceptance, and those whom Goethe wanted to encourage, support, and make into junior colleagues if possible. Goethe and Schilfer were practically besieged by younger writers seeking encouragement. Many a poem or other short piece was submitted for possible publication in the Horen or the various Musenalmanache which the two luminaries produced, and they evaluated the crop of budding writers with a view to nurturing contributors. The young writers and intellectuals discussed in Weber's monograph run the gamut from the famous tragic cases (Kleist and Hölderlin) to the Romantics (Schlegels, Novalis, Wackenroder) to the quirky (Jean Paul) to those never heard from again. As Weber makes clear, much of Schiller's dealing with aspiring young writere like Hölderlin was on behalf of Goethe, and Schiller was not seldom engaged in trying to gain Goethe's approval for one of his own protégés. Much of this material has been known before (although perhaps some of the gems contained in letters to Schiller are only now emerging with the progress of the correspondence section of the National-Ausgabe). But it has remained a set of disparate episodes, while Goethe himself has often appeared (and been judged to be) coldly egotistical and unsympathetic throughout — even though it is clear that in many instances one is asking of Goethe that he have suffered fools gladly. Weber achieves a more comprehensive interpretation of this material by exploring Goethe's point of view in his relations with young contemporaries, aspiring disciples, and would-be poets (often as mediated by Schilfer). Schiller himself was the first of the "Jungen" who are the subject of the monograph, the most capable of these, the one for whom Goethe had the most sympathy and hope, and Goethe's relationship with Schiller becomes a paradigm for interpreting Goethe's fiterary and human relations with other young writere. It would appear that Goethe developed his 272 Book Reviews views on aspiring young writers during his own prime of life, after the Italian journey. His own growth experiences — encounters from his Sturm und Drang period, with Lenz, Klinger, Plessing, etc. — become the object of reflection late in life, in his autobiographical writings. By the time of completion of Dichtung und Wahrheit Lenz can be regarded almost as an archetypal figure. What did Goethe demand of young writere who came to his attention after (roughly) 1790? Weber's subtitle — "Über die Grenzen der Poesie und vom Vorrang des wirklichen Lebens" — expresses his construction of Goethe and the standards he sees Goethe applying to others. Weber's Goethe did not believe that poetry was anything metaphysically special, that there was anything particularly profound about the "truth" found by poets, or that the production of poetry should be the be-all and end-all of a human life. Anyone who saw in poetry the cure for all the ills of human existence was immediately suspect. Wilhelm Meister straightens...