Goethe, Myth and Science: Perspectives from European Literature

Actes du colloque de Mulhouse (Université Haute-Alsace),

14–16 November 2018

Texts compiled by Dominique Massonnaud

Published online with the support of the University of Lausanne.

At the dawn of the 21st century, attention is once again turning insistently to Goethe’s thought: a remarkable exhibition at the Martin Bodmer Foundation in Geneva recently highlighted the place of France in Goethe’s work (Goethe et la France, ed. J. Berchtold, Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 2016), whilst an edition of Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew presented Diderot’s original text and the back-translation of Goethe’s version, with, on the ground floor, Goethe’s German translation (Diderot, Goethe, De Saur & Saint Genies, Rameau’s Nephew, Rameaus Neffe, Second Satire, J. Berchtold and M. Delon (eds.), Fayard, bilingual ‘Ouvertures’ series, 2017). A Colloque de Cerisy, chaired by C. König, D. Thouard and H. Wismann in 2018, focused on Goethe: The Relevance of the Out-of-Date.

The aim is therefore to reassess what this great European figure, who developed the concept of Weltliteratur, has to offer us today. (J. David, Spectres de Goethe. Les Métamorphoses de la « littérature mondiale », Paris, Les belles Lettres, “les prairies ordinaires”, 2012).

Held in Mulhouse in November 2018, the conference Goethe, Myth & Science: Cross-Perspectives in European Literatures sought to capture the ‘Goethe effect’ within the contexts of its emergence and across historical periods, from the 18th century to the present day.

https://www.fabula.org/colloques/sommaire6098.php