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Ottilie and Symbolic Representation in Die Wahlverwandtschaften
Author(s) -
Gelley Alexander
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1987.tb00575.x
Subject(s) - symbol (formal) , renunciation , representation (politics) , iconicity , the symbolic , epistemology , philosophy , linguistics , sociology , aesthetics , literature , psychology , art , psychoanalysis , law , politics , political science
Goethe's pithy formulation of the idea behind Die Wahlverwandtschaften –“sociale Verhältnisse und die Conflicte derselben symbolisch gefaßt darzustellen” ‐ points in two opposing directions. If one places the emphasis on “sociale Verhältnisse” one could view the work as a novel of manners, of “worldliness,” focussed on a particular segment of late eighteenth‐century aristocratic society. But this model serves a negative function and leads us to examine the other part of Goethe's pronouncement, what is meant by symbolisch. In this work symbolic representation is to be conceived not so much in terms of the iconicity or translucence of objects or figures than as a process of reduplication and seriation that brings into play contrasting yet mutually interacting elements. Ottilie's deployment in the course of the novel represents an implicit but unmistakable condemnation of the social world so meticulously delineated at the start. What she enacts as retreat from the world, renunciation, and death at the level of the plot may be viewed meta‐poetically as the withdrawal of personality from the requirements of social specification and its reinscription as symbol.