Panel sponsored by the Goethe Society of North America, proposed by Fritz Breithaupt (University of Indiana)
Goethe's Narrative Forms
Given Goethe’s sense of style and his many astounding insights, it is easy to forget Goethe the story-teller. Narratives are everywhere in Goethe’s work, including his poetry that is rich in implicit narratives. But what are the larger or smaller narrative patterns that emerge from his stories? What is his (implicit) theory of narrative events in Die Novelle but also his dramas? What are the specific ways the perspectives of characters make up stories in Goethe’s texts? How do suspense, doubt, ambiguity, and plurality of possible versions establish the narratives in his texts? What role does retrospection and framing play? Which affects structure the plot lines? What is the narrative interplay between the every-day life and the exceptional mental states of the characters?Please send abstracts of approx. 1 page and bio blurb to Fritz Breithaupt at fbreitha@indiana.edu by March 17.