Goethe's Views on World Literature

12 Questions

What was described as giving new life in a foreign language to a text that had lost luster in the original?

Translation

Who articulated the objective material and historical basis for a world literature in the communist manifesto of 1848?

Marx and Engels

What historical events are noted by Marx and Engels as signalizing the era of capitalist production?

Discovery of gold and silver in America

What replaced the slave plantation system in the evolution of capital from its mercantile to industrial stage?

Factory system

What were the imperatives of the new industrial capital according to Marx and Engels?

Import of raw materials and export of finished goods

From which stage to which stage had capital evolved by the time Marx and Engels wrote about it?

Mercantile to industrial

According to the passage, what was Goethe's view on patriotic art or science?

Patriotic art and science do not exist, as they belong to the whole world.

What did Goethe say was necessary for fostering a possible world literature?

Untrammeled intercourse among all contemporaries, bearing in mind the past.

What did Goethe believe was happening by January 1827 in terms of world literature?

World literature was in the process of being constituted.

How did Goethe's views on world literature contrast with Macaulay's advocacy of the English language and literature?

Goethe's views were more inclusive of diverse cultural heritages, while Macaulay's were more exclusive.

What did Goethe see in 1828 as enabling the imminence of world literature?

A greater ease of communication.

What did Goethe talk about as enabling a shared heritage of the best of the European nations?

The exchange of journals between European nations.

Study Notes

Translation and World Literature

Translation is a major means of mutual enrichment, giving new life to a text that has lost luster in the original language due to overfamiliarity.
Goethe believed that world literature could be fostered by an untrammeled intercourse among all contemporaries, bearing in mind what we have inherited from the past.

Capitalism and Globalization

Capitalism has a globalizing tendency, which emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries in its mercantile stage.
Adam Smith noted the globalizing tendency of capitalism, citing the discovery of America and the passage to the East Indies as the two greatest events in human history.
Marx and Engels elaborated on these consequences, highlighting the exploitation of resources and people in the Americas, East Indies, and Africa.

Development of Capitalism

Capitalism evolved from the mercantile to the industrial stage, with the replacement of the slave plantation system by the factory system.
The slave was replaced by the wage earner, and trade in humans was replaced by industrial products.
The factory system dependent on the import of raw materials and export of finished goods.

Goethe's Vision of World Literature

Goethe believed that there was no such thing as patriotic art or science, as they belong to the whole world.
He thought that world literature could be fostered by an untrammeled intercourse among all contemporaries.
He advocated for the exchange of journals to enable a shared heritage of the best of the European nations.
Goethe saw the "greater ease of communication" as a key factor in the emergence of world literature.

Comparison with Macaulay

Goethe's position contrasts dramatically with the 1835 Macaulayan advocacy of English language and literature as a superior replacement of Indian heritage.