Goethe's Families of the Heart / Susan E. Gustafson

Author:: Gustafson, Susan E.
Published:: New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 2016.
Copyright Date:: ©2016
Physical Description:: viii, 199 pages ; 22 cm.

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Series:

New directions in German studies ; vol. 15

Contents:

Introduction -- 1 Same-sex, nonexclusiove and adoptive affinities in Goethe's Wahlverwandtschaften -- 2 Same-sex affinities between women and family redefinitions in Goethe's Stella plays -- 3 Learning what family and love can be in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre -- 4 Asserting and affirming all elective affinities in Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

Summary:

"Throughout his literary work Goethe portrays characters who defy and reject Enlightenment ideals of the bourgeois family, notions of heritage, assumptions about biological connections, expectations about heterosexuality, and legal mandates concerning marriage. The questions Goethe's plays and novels pose are often modern and challenging: Do social conventions, family expectations, and legal mandates matter? Can two men or two women pair together and be parents? How many partners or parents should there be? Two? One? A group? Can parents love children not biologically related to them? Do biological parents always love their children? What is the nature of adoptive parents, children, and families? Ultimately, what is the fundamental essence of love and family? Gustafson demonstrates that Goethe's conception of the elective affinities is certainly not limited to heterosexual spouses or occasionally to men desiring men. A close analysis of Goethe's explication of affinities throughout his literary production reveals his rejection of loveless relationships (for example, arranged marriages) and his acceptance and promotion of all relationships formed through spontaneous affinities and love (including heterosexual, same-sex, bisexual, group, parental, and adoptive)"--
"An analysis of all the radical love relationships (heterosexual, same-sex, bisexual, biological, and adoptive) that Goethe portrays throughout his literary works"--

Subject(s):

Other Subject(s):

Genre(s):

Criticism, interpretation, etc

ISBN:

9781501315763 (hardcover)
1501315765 (hardcover)
9781501315770
1501315773
9781501315787
1501315781
9781501336072
150133607X

Note:

NOT HANDLED ON AP-RECENT REPRINT.

Bibliography Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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