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Erlebte Rede in Goethes Wahlverwandtschaften

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2020

Ludwig W. Kahn*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, New York

Abstract

Die Wahlverwandtschaften is an early example of the sustained and systematic use of “erlebte Rede.” This fact has remained generally unrecognized to the detriment of a correct reading. It is of paramount importance to know whether Goethe or a narrator speaks with authorial authority, or whether a narrator draws back the curtain to let us overhear the preformulated, groping mediations of one of the characters. By its very nature, “erlebte Rede” is ambiguous, multileveled, hovering between objective assertion and subjective consciousness. By using “erlebte Rede” the narrator does not withdraw behind his characters (contrary to some critics); he is often present as an ironic artist who manipulates and “exhibits” his characters. By revealing subjectivity as subjectivity, the narrator, in a sense, reestablishes an ironic objectivity. (In German)

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1974

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