Weimaraner Weltbewohner: Zur Genese von Goethes Begriff "Weltliteratur"

by Manfred Koch

Goethe's concept of Weltliteratur ('world literature') made its first appearance in his periodical »Über Kunst und Altertum« and displays three historical diagnosis, moral injunction, a classicistic poetics of modernism. This book attempts to do justice to the wide-ranging implications of the concept by exploring two different avenues in the history of ideas. The first part examines 18th century theoretical debates on cultural difference and the formation of a global society (Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, Herder, Humboldt). The second traces the evolution of Goethe's program for a 'world literature' from the age of the French Revolution to the last decade of his life.

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002