Whose Voice? Speaking, Singing, and Listening in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre and Cervantes’s Don Quijote

Abstract

ABSTRACT Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre appeared in 1795–96, two decades after the publication of Bertuch’s translation of Cervantes’ Don Quijote and three years before Tieck’s seminal translation of the same. Both novels famously feature errant protagonists with complex lives and problematic love interests. This comparative paper offers a detailed exploration of the potential links. The initial focus is contextual, with a discussion of Goethe’s reception of Cervantes’s work and the critical responses of Goetheforschung to this meeting of great minds. The paper then explores parallels between the texts, building on the work of Barry Ife on Quijote in relation to the use of voice (especially song) and dissembling (ventriloquy) in the Lehrjahre.