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Look Inside Goethe and the Myth of the Bildungsroman

Goethe and the Myth of the Bildungsroman
Rethinking the Wilhelm Meister Novels

Author: Frederick Amrine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Date Published: June 2020
availability: Available
format: Hardback
isbn: 9781108477680

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About the Authors

Goethe's Willhelm Meister novels, widely held to be the most significant and influential in all of German literature, have traditionally been classed as Bildungsroman, or 'novels of formation'. In Goethe and the Myth of Bildungsroman, Frederick Amrine offers a unique reading of Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre and Wilhelm Meister's Wanderjahre, which posits the second novel as a sequel to the first. Deconstructing and jettisoning the notion of the Bildungsroman, the features of the novels which have historically proved problematic for critics, seeming to testify to the novels' disunity, become instead the articulation points of a subtle concord between thematic and formal elements. Reading the novels in light of the eminent criticism of Northrop Frye, this book productively shifts away from social commentary towards the archetypal and symbolic, showing Goethe not to be an exception within world literature; rather, that he participates deeply in its overarching structures.
- A ground breaking interpretation of the most important German novels, with the potential to reinterpret the Bildungsroman: the major historical genre in German literature
- Offers a new perspective on Goethe, bringing him closer to Jung and others that seek symbolic and archetypal themes rather than social structures
- A unique reading of Goethe in light of the highly influential critic Northrop Frye
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'This an immensely informative and intelligent book.' E. G. Wickersham, Choice

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Product details
- Date Published: June 2020
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781108477680
- length: 216 pages
- dimensions: 235 x 159 x 17 mm
- weight: 0.46kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Rethinking the Bildungsroman
2. The picaresque novel: Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship II-VI
3. The comic novel: Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship I, VII and VIII
4. Interlude: the 'Sick Prince'
5. The romance: Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years.
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Author
Frederick Amrine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Frederick Amrine is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in German Studies at the University of Michigan. He has published more than a hundred books on topics ranging from Goethe's scientific work to Rudolf Steiner. Recent publications include a collection of essays entitled Thresholds (2017), and Kicking Away the Ladder (2019).