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Elective Affinities
Elective Affinities was written when Goethe was sixty and long established as Germany's literary giant. This is a new edition of his penetrating study of marriage and passion, bringing together four people in an inexorable manner. The novel asks whether we have free will or not and confronts its characters with the monstrous consequences of repressing what little "real lif...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
March 4th 1999
by Oxford University Press
(first published 1809)
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In un castello di un imprecisato luogo della Germania, vivono Edoardo, un barone "nel meglio dell'età virile", con la moglie Carlotta. Privi di ogni preoccupazione, vivono la loro vita coniugale dedicandosi alla casa, alla ristrutturazione del parco intenti a migliorarne la bellezza, alla musica e alla poesia.
Nei primi tre capitoli si respira la pace, la serenità, il perfetto equilibrio della coppia con i loro caratteri opposti: Edoardo è un abile conversatore, padroneggia bene materie come la...more
Nei primi tre capitoli si respira la pace, la serenità, il perfetto equilibrio della coppia con i loro caratteri opposti: Edoardo è un abile conversatore, padroneggia bene materie come la...more
Nov 22, 2012
Pierre E. Loignon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
litterature,
philosophie
Parmi les très bons Romans que j'ai lu, celui-ci est probablement celui que j'ai trouvé le plus bizarre.
L'idée même d'« affinités électives », d'inspiration schopenhauerienne, constitue, à mon avis, une tendre rêverie toute à fait digne d'être prise en considération pour sa grande beauté et son originalité. Mais en lisant le roman, j'ai vraiment eu l'impression que Goethe y croyait dur comme fer à cette idée. Se serait-il laissé séduire l'esprit par la verve très jolie, très romantique et très p...more
L'idée même d'« affinités électives », d'inspiration schopenhauerienne, constitue, à mon avis, une tendre rêverie toute à fait digne d'être prise en considération pour sa grande beauté et son originalité. Mais en lisant le roman, j'ai vraiment eu l'impression que Goethe y croyait dur comme fer à cette idée. Se serait-il laissé séduire l'esprit par la verve très jolie, très romantique et très p...more
Goethe doesn't just write in German, he is the very definition of the German language. This book, as well as das Leiden des Jungen Werters, have clearly shown to me the beauty of die Deutsche Sprache.
Because of this reason I would recommend everybody with only the slightest knowledge of German, to read this in the original language. A translation could never grasp the majestic feeling in which Goethe seems to soak all his words.
Die Wahlverwandschaften is in the first place a book about interpe...more
Because of this reason I would recommend everybody with only the slightest knowledge of German, to read this in the original language. A translation could never grasp the majestic feeling in which Goethe seems to soak all his words.
Die Wahlverwandschaften is in the first place a book about interpe...more
Dopo Persuasione di Jane Austen avevo ancora voglia di un libro di quel periodo storico, ma volevo cambiare autore.
Devo dire che il romanzo in sè non è male, ma i dialoghi e il diario di Ottilia, fanno veramente calare un pò l'interesse e i personaggi non mi hanno nè convinta nè impressionata o quanto meno suscitato simpatia: nulla di nulla.
Ottilia non mi sembra poi tutta questa gran santa, anzi spesso e volentieri l'avrei presa a schiaffi. -__-"
Carlotta cerca una felicità tardiva con il suo a...more
Devo dire che il romanzo in sè non è male, ma i dialoghi e il diario di Ottilia, fanno veramente calare un pò l'interesse e i personaggi non mi hanno nè convinta nè impressionata o quanto meno suscitato simpatia: nulla di nulla.
Ottilia non mi sembra poi tutta questa gran santa, anzi spesso e volentieri l'avrei presa a schiaffi. -__-"
Carlotta cerca una felicità tardiva con il suo a...more
I read this beautiful novel in German. Though I might have objected to how structured it is, so full of symbols and echoes, in the hands of a master like Goethe it only contributes to the subtle atmosphere. What's more, the characters are individual and detailed, as comes out through their interactions and words. I found myself pitying Ottilie rather than being annoyed by her submissiveness (in any case, there's more to her than submissiveness); and Charlotte struck me as one of the most likable...more
Rich couple, pass middle-age. For both, their second marriage. The lady has a young, beautiful foster-daughter and the gentleman has a friend, a former military man (the Captain). Both come to live with them.
The gentleman and the foster-daughter fall in love with each other; the lady and the Major do likewise. From here, Goethe developed his story interspersed with quotable aphorisms about love, marriage, man, woman, relationships, religion and what not. It might have provided scandal and titill...more
The gentleman and the foster-daughter fall in love with each other; the lady and the Major do likewise. From here, Goethe developed his story interspersed with quotable aphorisms about love, marriage, man, woman, relationships, religion and what not. It might have provided scandal and titill...more
Symbolische roman waarin Goethe lijkt te willen aangeven dat sommige mensen elkaar sterker aantrekken dan andere, gelijk chemische stoffen dat doen (een toen vrij recente ontdekking).
De roman beschrijft een vierhoeksrelatie waarin de stabiele, zij het onspannende relatie tussen de edelen Eduard en Charlotte wordt opgeschud door de komst van Eduards vriend, de kapitein en het pleeghuismeisje Ottilie. Waar Charlotte en de kapitein hun wederzijdse aantrekking weten te weerstaan, gaat Eduard helemaa...more
De roman beschrijft een vierhoeksrelatie waarin de stabiele, zij het onspannende relatie tussen de edelen Eduard en Charlotte wordt opgeschud door de komst van Eduards vriend, de kapitein en het pleeghuismeisje Ottilie. Waar Charlotte en de kapitein hun wederzijdse aantrekking weten te weerstaan, gaat Eduard helemaa...more
Elective Affinities comprises the exploration of a simple conceit -- that human relationships are governed by forces similar to those acting in chemical reactions -- executed meticulously and gloriously. Starting from the relatively stable equilibrium of an apparently happy marriage, new characters are introduced into the experiment (set in the crucible of the grounds and house of a German estate), and things fall apart.
The novel is impeccably structured and paced, and has some of the most perfe...more
The novel is impeccably structured and paced, and has some of the most perfe...more
It was interesting. Goethe wrote this book in part as a meditation and exploration of the scientific developments that were happening at the time. Specifically he was interested in chemistry and the law of attraction. "The tendency of those elements which, when they come into contact, at once take hold of, and act on one another, we call 'affinity', states one of the characters in the book. So Goethe applies these laws that are being discovered in chemistry to human relationships, and so creates...more
Pur avendolo già letto ed apprezzato una decina d'anni fa, stavolta purtroppo non sono proprio riuscita a ricavare impressioni altrettanto positive. Sarà che ai tempi dell'università ero abituata a leggere romanzi di una certa corrente letteraria, ma ora ho faticato non poco a interessarmi alle frasi sentimentali del diario dell'angelica Ottilie, all'impetuositá dei sentimenti di Eduard o ai dialoghi un po' fuori dal tempo di Charlotte. Il libro di per sè ha degli spunti apprezzabili e la teoria...more
Goethe scrisse “Le affinità elettive” tra il 1808 e il 1809. La metafora chimica è la base strutturale dell’intreccio. Goethe si interessava di molte discipline scientifiche, prime fra tutte la chimica (e l’Ottocento sarà il secolo della chimica), ma anche di botanica, astronomia, geologia, mineralogia, ottica, anatomia. Il suo interesse scientifico si intrecciò inevitabilmente con le sue opere letterarie, in cui le sue osservazioni si riscontrano per lo più nel loro aspetto fenomenico. Non avev...more
A very interesting approach to human relationships based on a chemical metaphor - and of course my immediate association with chemistry is explosions, which is indeed what occurs here. The main characters are all well-off and spend a lot of time making important building and landscaping improvements but this is not reflected in their relationships which become more and more chaotic. It is an unusual portrait of four people who at all times are respectful and pleasant to each other despite the st...more
Feb 03, 2012
Frank
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
the-great-unfinished,
german
Pffffff.
I'm sure this is a masterpiece of sorts, and bristling with interesting metaphors and parallels and mirrored storylines. But fostering narrative interest, creating interesting characters, these, surely, are matters beneath the great German author's dignity.
And the works age is no excuse. He wrote this roughly in the same time Jane Austen started to write her novels, and Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne had already been celebrated for decades for theirs. People did know...more
I'm sure this is a masterpiece of sorts, and bristling with interesting metaphors and parallels and mirrored storylines. But fostering narrative interest, creating interesting characters, these, surely, are matters beneath the great German author's dignity.
And the works age is no excuse. He wrote this roughly in the same time Jane Austen started to write her novels, and Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne had already been celebrated for decades for theirs. People did know...more
Herr Goethe definitely had a passion for drama and tragedy. Except this time she dies but, don't cry yet, he joins her in death (gothic, right?) and "Thus the lovers lie sleeping side by side ; peace hovers above their resting-place ; fair angel faces gaze down upon them from aloft. And what happiness is in store for them at the moment of their common awakening!"
It started promising, a not-so-young couple's life is disturbed by 2 newcomers and using the chemical process of elective affinities, 2...more
It started promising, a not-so-young couple's life is disturbed by 2 newcomers and using the chemical process of elective affinities, 2...more
Hörbuch-Rezension:
Zugegeben, mit den Klassikern habe ich schon immer hinterhergehangen.
Jetzt habe ich zwar Die Wahlverwandtschaften (1809) immer noch nicht gelesen, aber zumindest angehört. Das Audiobook hat einen Umfang von acht CDs, da es von dem großartigen Gert Westphal (1920-2002) gelesen wird, ist es angenehm zu hören, auch wenn die Sprache Goethes wie auch beim Lesen eine Eingewöhnungsphase braucht. Ich bin ganz zufrieden, ein weiteres Werk kennengelernt zu haben.
"Wir blicken so gern in...more
Zugegeben, mit den Klassikern habe ich schon immer hinterhergehangen.
Jetzt habe ich zwar Die Wahlverwandtschaften (1809) immer noch nicht gelesen, aber zumindest angehört. Das Audiobook hat einen Umfang von acht CDs, da es von dem großartigen Gert Westphal (1920-2002) gelesen wird, ist es angenehm zu hören, auch wenn die Sprache Goethes wie auch beim Lesen eine Eingewöhnungsphase braucht. Ich bin ganz zufrieden, ein weiteres Werk kennengelernt zu haben.
"Wir blicken so gern in...more
Elective Affinities starts out in the midst of a perfectly comfortable country house inhabited by a perfectly content couple. However, the intrusion of each partner's guest starts the process of unwinding the marriage in slow and heartbreaking clarity. The delicate, sensitive portrayal of duty versus emotion is made even more poignant by the autobiographical aspect, derived from Goethe's torment between his wife and mistress. The thought that such a well-suited couple can be turned against each...more
Apr 19, 2013
Start from scratch
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
recensiti
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I made heavy weather of this tale of love. Eduard and Charlotte seem to be an ideally matched second time around couple, but problems ensue when Eduard invites a good friend, the Captain, to stay and Charlotte counters by bringing her yound ward Otillie to join them. Charlotte and the Captain discover a mutual attraction and Eduard conceives a passion for young Otillie. The idyllic life of the novel's beginning is never to be tasted again. Goethe's premise that attraction is primarily a chemical...more
This was my first novel by Goethe, I enjoyed it a lot. The structure and writing are elegant and refined. Everything is layered with symbolism. It's artificial, not in a negative way, but there is a symmetrical perfection of form.
Goethe explores the chemical theory of the affinities, where two elements are irresistibly drawn to each other and bind together, only to part again and bind to other elements for no apparent reason. He applies this theory to human relationships, Eduard and Charlotte b...more
Goethe explores the chemical theory of the affinities, where two elements are irresistibly drawn to each other and bind together, only to part again and bind to other elements for no apparent reason. He applies this theory to human relationships, Eduard and Charlotte b...more
A fantastically brilliant novel about relationships and human weakness. Goethe, as always, is pure genius, as he puts characters in difficult situations and consistently allows them to make the worst possible decisions, then follows them through the consequences. The true success here, though, is how little judgment the reader finds himself able to pass. Goethe's characters, flawed though they certainly are, never come off as anything less than justified, leaving the reader to ponder the differe...more
«Poiché l'amore è fatto così, da credere di avere esso solo dei diritti e che tutti gli altri spariscano dinanzi a lui.»
Ho sempre pensato che con affinità elettive, il modo di dire non il romanzo, ci si riferisse a quella particolare sintonia che viene a crearsi fra due persone, non necessariamente legate sentimentalmente, che si accorgono di avere un'affinità, appunto, privilegiata con l'altro, in un certo senso istintiva, forse non spiegabile con la ragione.
Scopro invece leggendo Goethe che no...more
Ho sempre pensato che con affinità elettive, il modo di dire non il romanzo, ci si riferisse a quella particolare sintonia che viene a crearsi fra due persone, non necessariamente legate sentimentalmente, che si accorgono di avere un'affinità, appunto, privilegiata con l'altro, in un certo senso istintiva, forse non spiegabile con la ragione.
Scopro invece leggendo Goethe che no...more
I don't even know where to start this was such a weird book. Goethe was obviously a polymath, but his attempts at using chemistry as a metaphor for love and relationships and psychology was oddly misguided, despite the fact that it's essentially a biological reality.
Furthermore, I still find the 18-19th century nobility talk about working hard, bothersome. These people spend all their time designing gardens and walkways, and then order peasants that they basically own to do all the heavy lifting...more
Furthermore, I still find the 18-19th century nobility talk about working hard, bothersome. These people spend all their time designing gardens and walkways, and then order peasants that they basically own to do all the heavy lifting...more
“Kindred by choice” isn't a decision to take lightly. Goethe's title reflects the mindset of married couple, Eduard and Charlotte. Their own kindred ties seem to have loosened, which could explain the longing for companionship of friends. Charlotte brings Ottilie, a foster-daughter from her first marriage to live with them, and Eduard invites The Captain, an old friend as well. Their elective affinities are welcomed by each partner at first, and then natural human attraction can't be denied when...more
Jul 17, 2008
Mike
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Germanists, fans of modern lit, Shakespeare
Recommended to Mike by:
Kora Battig, by way of the filmic version
Goethe's big works have left a strong imprint on modern literary field: Faust's endless ambition, Werther's primal despondency, and the Roman elegies' outright eroticism all set the stage for later authors to flesh out the Romantic worldview. Goethe's poetry doesn't translate to English comfortably, however, and so if one is to approach him as a casual reader, one must do so in an indirect way. Happily I came upon first his Italian Journey, a good start for anyone looking to venture beyond the L...more
Una mezza delusione.
La storia �� alquanto banale e prevedibile bench�� del tutto inverosimile, oggi e credo anche allora.
Alcune descrizioni sono inutili e leziose ed in particolare la seconda parte particolarmente insulsa.
Ne devo dire che mi sia piaciuto lo stile. Il forzare poi alcuni 'precetti' moraleggianti e saccenti non mi ha certo accattivato Goethe.
Vedr�� di leggere prima o poi I dolori del giovane Werter con spirito aperto. Sperando di ricredermi.
La storia �� alquanto banale e prevedibile bench�� del tutto inverosimile, oggi e credo anche allora.
Alcune descrizioni sono inutili e leziose ed in particolare la seconda parte particolarmente insulsa.
Ne devo dire che mi sia piaciuto lo stile. Il forzare poi alcuni 'precetti' moraleggianti e saccenti non mi ha certo accattivato Goethe.
Vedr�� di leggere prima o poi I dolori del giovane Werter con spirito aperto. Sperando di ricredermi.
The first half of this book I was anxious and concerned for the Trouble in Paradise that comes when the couple, each already not on their first marriage, invites a couple of younger, hotter people to their Edenic estate. But as the anxieties unfold, I got more and more irritated with the indecision, backsies and caprice of the characters. By the end I was hoping that everyone would just fall off a mountain peak while landscaping their symbolic gardens.
Il vecchio Goethe diffidato per aver insidiato una minorenne nella vita reale riesce a portare il romanticismo alle sue estreme conseguenze, isolare i ruoli e dimenticare le persone, soprattutto se donne. La giovanissima fanciulla che ama, la donna perfetta, è quella che si annulla nel suo innamorato. Da leggere per scoprire o ritrovare per sempre il disgusto per gli amorosismi ridicoli (assieme a Milan e al Guglielmo di As you like it)
Eduard and Charlotte are the wealthy and idle couple who dwell together, undisturbed in marital felicity. Their lives are altered strangely by the temporary addition to their household of Eduard's old friend, The Captain and Charlotte's niece, Ottilie. Their presence threatens that marriage and, eventually, all possible happiness.
Hopes and results do often differ, but there are also surprises to replace the former hopes with unsought for results. Less intense than his Werther, more leisurely and...more
Hopes and results do often differ, but there are also surprises to replace the former hopes with unsought for results. Less intense than his Werther, more leisurely and...more
Schöner Schmöker. Kann man so runter lesen. Aber die dahinter stehenden Ansichten über die Liebe teile ich nicht: Dass sie eigentlich nur aus Hindernissen besteht, dass Leidenschaft einen wie eine Naturgewalt überkommt (Wahlverwandschaften ist eine Metapher aus der Chemie), dass nur entweder Begehren oder Vernunft ausgelebt werden kann, dass man an der Liebe eigentlich hauptsächlich leidet und der konsequente Ausweg der Tod ist. Muah.
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include h...more
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“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
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“We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.”
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