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Chapter 29 - China

from Part V - World Cultures Inspiration and Reception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2024

By
Johannes D. Kaminski
Edited by
Charlotte Lee
Charlotte Lee
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Chapter 29 centres on Goethe’s idea of China. Goethe was initially ambivalent, even condescending, about Chinese culture and aesthetics, but in later years, this attitude was replaced by a greater degree of interest in the country. This chapter explores the evolution of Goethe’s position on China, beginning with the eighteenth-century fashion for chinoiserie and Goethe’s disparagement of it; it then considers Goethe’s more open-minded engagement with Chinese literature in translation towards the end of his life, noting at the same time the gulf between Goethe’s source material and China’s most representative cultural outputs.

Keywords

GoetheChinaaestheticsliteraturetranslation
Type
Chapter
Information
Goethe in Context , pp. 282 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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