About the granite

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Goethe 1777

A small poetic treatise on granite from the estate of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , written in January 1784 and first published in Berlin in 1878, was published. Contrary to what the title suggests, the essay has nothing to do with geology or any other exact science .

content

Goethe writes that the ancients called the red-blasted granite Syenit von Syene . It follows that the Egyptians and their obelisks , sphinxes and Ethiopian images of Memnons are mentioned .

The granite, which got its name from its grainless appearance , is the highest and the deepest, the foundation of our earth . How did Goethe come up with the subject of granite? He admits that the portrayal of the human heart, the youngest, most diverse, most agile, most variable, erschütterlichsten part of creation , it , the deepest to the observation of the oldest festesten, steadfast son of nature had led . For all natural things , as Goethe explains his line of thought, are closely related .

Goethe suspects the first, firm beginnings of our existence in granite , which remain unshaken even when volcanoes rage in the distance .

Finally, Goethe goes into contradicting views of our ancestors . If some maintain stiffly and firmly that the primeval mountains are absolutely whole, as if they were cast from one piece , there are other observers who see only seams in beds and banks separated and cut in all directions . It looks as if the author is trying to resolve this confusion in an orderly fashion, but then the fragment breaks off.

Quote

In view of the primeval rock from the depths , the poet asks the reader: Allow me the sublime tranquility that the lonely, silent closeness of the great, softly speaking nature affords (source, p. 255).

Self-testimony

"On the way I thought through my new novel about space and wished that I could thicken it for you."

- Goethe on December 7, 1781 from Erfurt to Charlotte von Stein

"This morning I thickened my treatise on granite, and in between I always thought of my beloved, and remembered how I longed for the apartment of my best from all the heights of these rocks that I have climbed."

- Goethe on January 18, 1784 to Charlotte von Stein

reception

  • After reading the brief essay, it appears that this fragment is the introduction to a larger text. According to Conrady (p. 549) it could perhaps have been worked for the planned and not written novel about the universe (see above).
  • Conrady (p. 930) aptly calls the little work a hymn to granite and contrasts it with the poet's observations of nature about the cloud shapes . Goethe also has the most solid and the lightest in mind when he stands on his earth in Über den Granit and the influences of heaven float around him . Then he is attuned to higher considerations of nature .

literature

source

  • Erich Trunz (ed.): Goethe's works. Hamburg edition in 14 volumes. Volume 13, pp. 253-258, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-406-08493-1

First printing

  • Goethe's works. Revised edition based on the finest sources. Berlin, Hempel, undated (1868–1879), Vol. 33–36 on natural science (S. Kalischer), quoted from the bibliography in Trunz , p. 655

Secondary literature

Web links