Comparative Literature and Culture 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Libido, Doggerel, Heroic Verse
4 Mar 2016
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*the sorrows of young werther*: changed notions of love, of masculinity; werther committees suicide after unrequited love - led to rash of real suicides. Vulnerable masculinity: the wounded soldier, the man chasing love. Romantic period: national literatures come of age. Goethe becomes a cultural institution: intellectuals stop in weimar to see him. The national poets: dante, cervantes, shakespeare, goethe. Intellectuals went out of their way to go visit goethe when travelling. Extraordinary output + very diverse output: many genres; invented the. The faust legend - germanic story from 1480s. Man who sold his soul to the devil: Includes many types of writing: a kind of libretto: heroic verse, doggerel, intercalated poems, comedy, parody, etc. Romantic in sense that breaks conventions - goes beyond drama. Written from age 26-death: on deathbed gave copy to editor. No unities of time, many places, supernatural; mixes genre. Constantly rewriting and creating the story over time.
