Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship": A Reader's Commentary (review)

Abstract

Goethe Yearbook 275 however, this "Western culture" emerges as oddly static and docUe in Goethe's hands. For example, Ui his essay, "The Diachronie SoUdity of Goethe's Faust," R. H. Stephenson emphasizes so thoroughly the recurrent, persistent, and ageold character of "Western thought" that one begins to long for greater cultural and historical specificity. Certainly this is not to suggest that the essays in this volume need toe the most recent theoretical Une, but the inclusion of more counter-perspectives and approaches could only have advanced Bishop's projects of "pluraUty" and "debate." And yet it would certainly be an injustice to the range of this volume to imply that it does not open up meaningful debate. Indeed fundamental questions of interpretation remain in dispute here, including quite simply how and why Faust is redeemed at the end of part 2. Is he saved as a result of, or despite, his striving? The answers are subtle and diverse. For ElUs Dye, Faust achieves redemption not through any individual merit or striving at aU but only through a givenness—Uideed a gift—that Goethe associates with the feminine (117). In an ironic reversal of the terms of the pact, Cyrus Hamlin suggests Faust approaches redemption when he stUls his disharmonious striving in a beautiful moment, such as in his rhyming encounter with Helena (239-40). By contrast, Alberto Destro does see Faust's salvation as directly tied to his striving. Yet in Destro's interpretation, Faust is a "negative hero" (67), whose achievement is only to have remained faithful to his own individual character. There is an impersonal, amoral character to this salvation, for Faust has defied aU historical and interpersonal relationship (73-74). SimUarly for Franziska Schößler, whUe it is Faust's never-ending striving that wins him redemption, the nature of this redemption stands Ui question. Schößler sees an ironic analogy at work between the otherworldly apotheosis of striving at the play's conclusion and the representation of ceaseless modern economic activity earUer in the work. Transcendence becomes the capitahst work-ethic transfigured. Gn Schößler's reading, this economic analogy coexists Ui Goethe's final scene with a restorative ideal, a selfconsciously anachronistic, neo-Platonic cosmology [182-86].) At last no critical "companion," be it faithful as VergU or paradoxical as Mephistopheles, can guide us securely or exhaustively through the textual trials of Faust. Thus Bishop's final goal is quite appropriately to launch us out on our own "close reading of the original text." At the very least, this volume deUvers some first-rate maps and tools for the trek. University of Oklahoma Karin Schutjer Jane V. Curran, Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship": A Reader's Commentary. Rochester: Camden House, 2002. 328 pp. Jane V. Curran's thorough and thoroughly interesting commentary on Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship meets a particular need Ui the field of EngUsh scholarship on Goethe. As James Hardin, editor of the series Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture, says, "Although a wealth of critical material has accumulated since its pubhcation in 1795-96, a detaUed commentary Ui EngUsh on this novel of 'apprenticeship' has been lacking from the corpus. Jane V. Curran's fuU-length commentary fills this gap" (Q. As Curran draws upon numerous previous critical commentaries and interpretations Ui her chapter-bychapter account, she also produces something of a compendium of scholarly conversation on the many facets of this complex work. Curran handles scholarship deftly, integrating the contributions of others (many avaUable only Ui German ) into the body of her text without stopping to elaborate or argue. The 276 Book Reviews result is a reader-friendly commentary, simultaneously informative and enjoyable to read. In her introduction, Curran explains the method she wUl foUow in summarizing and characterizing Goethe's compUcated narrative. She wiU teU Goethe's story as he does, chronologicaUy, delineating themes, mottfs, structural patterns, etc., as they arise and as they form patterns Ui retrospect. She wUl not, Ui other words, impose any overarching interpretations on the work as a whole from the beginning. In this way Curran preserves the momentum of the story as weU as its secrets. Possessing good instincts for narrative...