World on a Shelf: Submissions of Weltliteratur in Goethe’s Private Library — A Quantitative Approach (original) (raw)

Publications of the English Goethe Society, 2021

Abstract

In his writings on world literature, Goethe highlights direct ‘intellectual commerce’ between living authors while also emphasizing indirect exchange through intermediaries such as translators. This paper investigates whether book submissions to Goethe mirror these complementary modes on a material level. In our study, we map submissions in foreign literature and German literature in translation across time and space. We also attempt to determine the roles of the submitters with regard to the volumes sent. In practice, we demonstrate that the ‘intellectual commerce’ Goethe appreciated was mostly a domestic, indirect affair — a surprising result that raises questions with respect to the international reach of Goethe’s actual world literary practices. - For copyright reasons, this paper cannot be uploaded. Sorry!

Stefan Höppner hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Stefan know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.