Multilingual Philology and Monolingual Faust: Theoretical Perspectives and a Reading of Goethe's Drama

This paper conceptualizes multilingual philology as a method for reconstructing and interpreting the interplay of the manifold forms of multilingualism to be found in literary texts—including texts generally considered monolingual. From a philological point of view, it demonstrates the functional equivalence between linguistic and rhetorical constraints governing textual structures and shows how their thorough analysis can help to investigate the (subversive or affirmative) politico-cultural agency of literature. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through a reading of Goethe's Faust.