Description: This volume brings an interdisciplinary approach to one of the most famous novels in the German canon, but one which remains neglected in English-language scholarship: Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Contributors explore broad philosophical questions as they are developed in Goethe's literary text, bringing new insight to both literary studies and philosophy. Their essays treat individuality, development, and authority; aesthetic formation and narrative (and human) contingency; gender, sexuality, and marriage; power, institutions, and control as philosophical problems addressed by Goethe's novel.
Review Quotes: "The volume is accessible despite what may be treated as dense subject matter, and it executes very well what the editors promise in the introduction. Each contribution reflects in different ways, implicitly or explicitly, on the tension between the particularity of Wilhelm himself and the universal lessons, concepts, and practices this particularity offers. The volume makes for an excellent contribution to the disciplines of philosophy and literary studies, with MÃ1/4ller Sievers' contribution expanding its reach to media studies, and would also be a very useful accompaniment to courses on Goethe and German literature." -- Tanvi Solanki, Yonsei University, German Studies Review