A Study of Goethe's 'West-östlicher Divan'

歌德于1819年出版了《西-东分》，这是一部十二本书的诗歌集。它们是在拿破仑战争的动荡之后写的，灵感来自他发现波斯诗人哈菲斯的诗歌（他的作品被翻译和出版的约瑟夫冯哈默在1812年至1814年），一个经验，加强了他分享这一'启示'在一个激烈的关系与玛丽安冯威勒，一位已婚的朋友，他在两次前往家乡莱茵河/美因地区的旅行中拜访了他的家人。这些诗歌常常被认为是深奥和/或无关紧要的，结合了一个明显的简单，经常使用简单的诗歌形式，与内容，这是不可避免的陌生公众（例如，伊斯兰的天堂概念）。针对这一点，歌德认为有必要出版一套“笔记和论文，以更好地了解“西方-östlicher Divan”。这些诗确实遇到了不理解从公众和在一定程度上，这些诗仍然被忽视的歌德研究。本研究旨在提出这一工作在其应有的地位，解释它作为一个工作，尽管它的“奇怪”，有些人觉得遥远，内容，实际上反映了一个非常复杂的范围内的问题，是核心歌德的思想和经验。各种因素的复杂组合（上文提到）有助于其起源和灵感意味着，中心概念背后的周期，这些是'东方诗歌的西方诗人'（歌德在第一版的标题页上用阿拉伯语称呼他们），他踏上了东方之旅，接触了东方的文化、诗人、宗教，尤其是他心爱的“苏莱卡”，是歌德探索人类经验中的原型模式的非凡手段，它弥合了文化鸿沟。爱德华·萨义德将“东方主义”作为殖民工具的观点不足以解释歌德与东方的交往，歌德与东方的交往可以被描述为一种“对话”，这种对话是开放的、谦卑的、接受的，而不是居高临下的或上级的。对于一般读者来说，本研究将提供一个具有挑战性的视角，从不同的时代的跨文化关系，也许提供一个潜在的生产方式接近这个问题。更具体地说，这项研究将为第一次接触这项工作的学生提供一个有用的介绍，使他们能够克服一些明显的障碍，同时打开访问工作的丰富性和复杂性。正是在分析这一主题的复杂性，涵盖宗教，哲学，科学，伦理，政治，美学，情感和个人问题，研究的目的是使其学术贡献。它将为这部作品提供新的视角，并揭示这一循环的连贯性，表明这是歌德应对公共和个人危机的方式，他不能直接处理，但他可以通过这种明显具有欺骗性的“飞行”进入不同的文化背景。因此，这项工作的应用和效益将在各个层面上发挥作用。

Goethe published the 'West-östlicher Divan' [West-Eastern Divan] in 1819, a cycle of poems in twelve 'Books'. They were written in the wake of the upheaval of the Napoleonic wars and were inspired by his discovery of the poetry of the Persian poet Hafis (whose work was translated and published by Joseph von Hammer in 1812-14), an experience enhanced by his sharing of this 'revelation' in an intense relationship with Marianne von Willemer, a married friend whose family he visited on two journeys to his native Rhine/Main region. The poems have often felt to be abstruse and/or inconsequential, combining an apparent simplicity, very often using simple verse forms, with a content that was inevitably alien to the public (for instance, Islamic notions of paradise). To counter this Goethe felt it necessary to publish a set of 'Notes and essays for the better understanding of the 'West-östlicher Divan''. The poems were indeed met with incomprehension from the public and to a degree these poems have remained neglected in Goethe studies.This study aims to present this work in its rightful position, interpreting it as a work which, despite its 'strange', some feel remote, content, in fact reflects a very complex range of issues that are central to Goethe's thought and experience. The complex combination of factors (referred to above) contributing to its genesis and inspiration means that the central notion behind the cycle, that these are the 'eastern poems of the western poet' (as Goethe calls them in an Arabic inscription on the title page of the first edition), who undertakes a journey to the east and engages with its culture, its poets, religions and above all with his beloved 'Suleika', is an extraordinary device for Goethe to explore archetypal patterns in human experience that bridges a cultural divide. Edward Said's notion of 'Orientalism' as a colonial tool is shown to be inadequate to explain what is happening in Goethe's engagement with the east, which can be described as a kind of 'dialogue', that is open, humble and receptive, rather than condescending or superior. For the general reader, this study will provide an challenging perspective on intercultural relations from a different era and perhaps provide a potentialy productive way of approaching the subject. More specifically, the study will provide a useful introduction for students approaching the work for the first time, enabling them to overcome some apparent obstacles, and at the same time opening up access to the richness and complexity of the work. It is in the analysis of this thematic complexity, covering religious, philosophical, scientific, ethical, political, aesthetic, emotional and personal issues that the study aims to make its contribution to scholarship. It will offer new perspectives on this work and reveal a coherence in the cycle, showing it to be Goethe's way of responding to public and personal crises, that he could not tackle directly, but which he could engage with by means of this apparently beguiling 'flight' into a different cultural context. The application and benefits of the work will therefore operate on a variety of levels.