Images of Identity: Goethe and the Problem of Self-conception in the Nineteenth CenturyThe word «Bildung» - variously defined as «education» or «self-formation» - came into popular usage in western Europe through the terminological revolution of the late eighteenth century. No single individual was more influential in giving his own definition to this key word than was Goethe. Through an analysis of Goethe's use of the term in the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Goethe's autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit, and the much neglected text Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, Sax shows how «Bildung» was more than a process of self-formation, for it included an understanding of the relation of the individual to society, to history, and through the interpretation of symbols, to a transcendent level of meaning as well. It is Sax's purpose to place Goethe's notion of «Bildung» within the context of the history of Western self-conceptions since the Renaissance. |
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Page 99
... perceives such an image through his relation to Friederika . He loves her but not in the deep sense he loved ... perceive the members of Friederika's family as part of an ideal unity and each member as having a particular part to ...
... perceives such an image through his relation to Friederika . He loves her but not in the deep sense he loved ... perceive the members of Friederika's family as part of an ideal unity and each member as having a particular part to ...
Page 194
... perceive the vision that answers , more than any other , to the individual's need for wholeness of existence , existence not understood as an overwhelming experience of the here and now , but of an experience which confirms the identity ...
... perceive the vision that answers , more than any other , to the individual's need for wholeness of existence , existence not understood as an overwhelming experience of the here and now , but of an experience which confirms the identity ...
Page 251
... perceive a governing " inner form , " which both developed by its own internal laws and organically united the ... perceiving entitites within increasingly larger and larger levels of meaningful totalities . Anschauung was always tied to ...
... perceive a governing " inner form , " which both developed by its own internal laws and organically united the ... perceiving entitites within increasingly larger and larger levels of meaningful totalities . Anschauung was always tied to ...
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Common terms and phrases
able acceptance achieved action active Anschauung appearances attempts beautiful become begins Bildung called comes complete comprehend condition continues creation creative criticism cultural definition desire Dichtung direct drama dream earlier enjoyment entire eternal existence experience expression eyes fate Faust feelings final forces fully gives Goethe Goethe's harmony Helena higher historical human idea ideal identity impressions individual infinite inner interpretation Italy knowledge language leads learned Lehrjahre limitations living longing meaning Meister move movement nature never novel object once organ original particular past perceive perception personality possess present problems provides pure question reality realize recognizes reflection relation remains revealed scene seems sense social society specific spiritual stage striving structure symbolic temporal things thought tradition true truth turn ultimate understanding unity universal various viewing vision Wanderjahre Werther whole Wilhelm young