The avoidance of divorce in Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften

TY - JOUR

T1 - The avoidance of divorce in Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften

AU - Leydecker, Karl

PY - 2011/10

Y1 - 2011/10

N2 - Starting from Walter Benjamin's insight into the importance of marital dissolution in Die Wahlverwandtschaften, this article argues that the work is one in which divorce is an omnipresent narrative possibility that Goethe's novel is fascinated by, but ultimately shies away from. The compulsive discussion, and avoidance, of divorce in the novel is examined in the context of the legal, ideological, and social framework in place at the time it appeared. The article concludes by demonstrating the central role that Die Wahlverwandtschaften played in debates about divorce reform in the 1840s and again at the end of the nineteenth century.

AB - Starting from Walter Benjamin's insight into the importance of marital dissolution in Die Wahlverwandtschaften, this article argues that the work is one in which divorce is an omnipresent narrative possibility that Goethe's novel is fascinated by, but ultimately shies away from. The compulsive discussion, and avoidance, of divorce in the novel is examined in the context of the legal, ideological, and social framework in place at the time it appeared. The article concludes by demonstrating the central role that Die Wahlverwandtschaften played in debates about divorce reform in the 1840s and again at the end of the nineteenth century.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/80054842193

M3 - Article

SN - 0026-7937

VL - 106

SP - 1054

EP - 1072

JO - Modern Language Review

JF - Modern Language Review

IS - 4

ER -