Synopses & Reviews
Containing the letters and diaries that Goethe wrote during his journey to Italy at age thirty-seven, Italian Journey reveals his tremendous range of interests. His writings cover literature, art history and his own struggle to be a painter, various sciences and political events, personal encounters, and the Italian landscape. "In Rome," Goethe wrote, "I first found myself, for the first time I achieved inner harmony...." For Goethe the writer, this temporal and spiritual journey was at the root of his development from Sturm und Drang to classicism, a decisive point in his life and the history of German literature.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION AND THE COMMENTARY 8
PART ONE: AUGUST 1786-FEBRUARY 1787 11
From Carlsbad to the Brenner 13
From the Brenner to Verona 24
Verona to Venice 37
Venice 56
Ferrara to Rome 84
Rome 101
PART TWO: FEBRUARY-JUNE 1787 145
Naples 147
Sicily 185
Naples 255
PART THREE: THE SECOND SOJOURN IN ROME: JUNE 1787-
APRIL 1788 275
June 277
Tischbein to Goethe 282
Papal Tapestries 286
July 290
Intruding Meditations on Nature 300
August 305
September 314
October 329
November 346
December 356
Moritz as an Etymologist 369
Filippo Neri, the Humorous Saint 371
January 381
Induction into the Arcadian Society 385
The Roman Carnival 390
February 415
March 423
On the Creative Imitation of Beauty 431
April 437
NOTES 449
Part One 449
Part Two 459
Part Three 466
INDEX 481