Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Special Section on Goethe and the Postclassical: Literature, Science, Art, and Philosophy, 1805–1815
- Book Reviews
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian August Vulpius. Circe: Oper mit der Musik von Pasquale Anfossi. Ed. Waltraud Maierhofer. Hannover-Laatzen: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2007. 58 pp.
- Katharina Mommsen, ed. Die Entstehung von Goethes Werken in Dokumenten. Band IV. Entstehen—Farbenlehre. Founded by Momme Mommsen. With the assistance of Peter Ludwig und Uwe Hentschel. Berlin und New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. xix + 998 pp., 12 illustrations
- Manfred Zittel. Erste Lieb' und Freundschaft: Goethes Leipziger Jahre. Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2007. 247 pp
- Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla, Leidenschaft: Goethes Weg zur Kreativität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. 266 pp
- Michael Hertl, Goethe in seiner Lebendmaske. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2008. 140pp.
- Henrik Boëtius, Marie Lousie Lauridsen, and Marie 373 Louise Lefèvre. Light, Darkness and Colours. Brooklyn, NY: Icarus Films, 2000
- Steven Ritz-Barr and Hoku Uchiyama, Faust, Classics in Miniature, 2008. DVD, www.classicsinminiature.com. Home edition: $19.90
- Carsten Rohde, Spiegeln und Schweben: Goethes autobiographisches Schreiben. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 444pp
- Werner Frick, Jochen Golz, and Edith Zehm, eds., Goethe-Jahrbuch 2005. Volume 122. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006. 570pp
- J. M. van der Laan, Seeking Meaning for Goethe's Faust. London: Continuum, 2007. 202 pp
- Lorna Fitzsimmons, ed., International Faust Studies: Adaptation, Reception, Translation. London: Continuum, 2008. ix + 299 pp
- Jill Anne Kowalik, Theology and Dehumanization: Trauma, Grief, and Pathological Mourning in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century German Thought and Literature. Ed. Gail K. Hart et al. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009. 186 pp
- Paul Bishop, Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, and Jung. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 233 pp
- Alexander Mathäs, Narcissism and Paranoia in the Age of Goethe. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2008. 255 pp
- Andreas Gailus, Passions of the Sign. Revolution and Language in Kant, Goethe, and Kleist. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 222pp
- Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science. The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. New York: Routledge, 2009. 221pp
- John A. McCarthy, Remapping Reality: Chaos and Creativity in Science and Literature. (Goethe—Nietzsche—Grass). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006. 373 pp
- Matthias Buschmeier, Poesie und Philologie in der Goethe-Zeit: Studien zum Verhältnis der Literatur mit ihrer Wissenschaft. Studien zur deutschen Literatur, Bd. 185. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008. 490 S
- Susan Bernstein, Housing Problems. Writing and Architecture in Goethe, Walpole, Freud, and Heidegger. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2008. 216pp
- Chenxi Tang, The Geographic Imagination of Modernity: Geography, Literature, and Philosophy in German Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2008. 356 pp
- Louise von Göchhausen, “Es sind vortreffl iche Italienische Sachen daselbst”: Louise von Göchhausens Tagebuch ihrer Reise mit Herzogin Anna Amalia nach Italien vom 15. August 1788 bis 18. Juni 1790. Ed. Juliane Brandsch. (Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft 72.) Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008. 520pp., 7 illustrations
- Matt Erlin, Berlin's Forgotten Future: City, History, and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 216 pp
- Jost Schillemeit, Studien zur Goethezeit. Ed. Rosemarie Schillemeit. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 620 pp
- Marjanne E. Goozé, ed., Challenging Separate Spheres—Female Bildung in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Germany. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 317pp
- Andrew Cusack, The Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature: Intellectual History and Cultural Criticism. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2008. 257 pp
- Grant Profant McAllister, Jr., Kleist's Female Leading Characters and the Subversion of Idealist Discourse. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature, vol. 75. 210 pp
John A. McCarthy, Remapping Reality: Chaos and Creativity in Science and Literature. (Goethe—Nietzsche—Grass). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006. 373 pp
from Book Reviews
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Special Section on Goethe and the Postclassical: Literature, Science, Art, and Philosophy, 1805–1815
- Book Reviews
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian August Vulpius. Circe: Oper mit der Musik von Pasquale Anfossi. Ed. Waltraud Maierhofer. Hannover-Laatzen: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2007. 58 pp.
- Katharina Mommsen, ed. Die Entstehung von Goethes Werken in Dokumenten. Band IV. Entstehen—Farbenlehre. Founded by Momme Mommsen. With the assistance of Peter Ludwig und Uwe Hentschel. Berlin und New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. xix + 998 pp., 12 illustrations
- Manfred Zittel. Erste Lieb' und Freundschaft: Goethes Leipziger Jahre. Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2007. 247 pp
- Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla, Leidenschaft: Goethes Weg zur Kreativität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. 266 pp
- Michael Hertl, Goethe in seiner Lebendmaske. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2008. 140pp.
- Henrik Boëtius, Marie Lousie Lauridsen, and Marie 373 Louise Lefèvre. Light, Darkness and Colours. Brooklyn, NY: Icarus Films, 2000
- Steven Ritz-Barr and Hoku Uchiyama, Faust, Classics in Miniature, 2008. DVD, www.classicsinminiature.com. Home edition: $19.90
- Carsten Rohde, Spiegeln und Schweben: Goethes autobiographisches Schreiben. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 444pp
- Werner Frick, Jochen Golz, and Edith Zehm, eds., Goethe-Jahrbuch 2005. Volume 122. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006. 570pp
- J. M. van der Laan, Seeking Meaning for Goethe's Faust. London: Continuum, 2007. 202 pp
- Lorna Fitzsimmons, ed., International Faust Studies: Adaptation, Reception, Translation. London: Continuum, 2008. ix + 299 pp
- Jill Anne Kowalik, Theology and Dehumanization: Trauma, Grief, and Pathological Mourning in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century German Thought and Literature. Ed. Gail K. Hart et al. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009. 186 pp
- Paul Bishop, Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, and Jung. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 233 pp
- Alexander Mathäs, Narcissism and Paranoia in the Age of Goethe. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2008. 255 pp
- Andreas Gailus, Passions of the Sign. Revolution and Language in Kant, Goethe, and Kleist. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. 222pp
- Jocelyn Holland, German Romanticism and Science. The Procreative Poetics of Goethe, Novalis, and Ritter. New York: Routledge, 2009. 221pp
- John A. McCarthy, Remapping Reality: Chaos and Creativity in Science and Literature. (Goethe—Nietzsche—Grass). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006. 373 pp
- Matthias Buschmeier, Poesie und Philologie in der Goethe-Zeit: Studien zum Verhältnis der Literatur mit ihrer Wissenschaft. Studien zur deutschen Literatur, Bd. 185. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2008. 490 S
- Susan Bernstein, Housing Problems. Writing and Architecture in Goethe, Walpole, Freud, and Heidegger. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2008. 216pp
- Chenxi Tang, The Geographic Imagination of Modernity: Geography, Literature, and Philosophy in German Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2008. 356 pp
- Louise von Göchhausen, “Es sind vortreffl iche Italienische Sachen daselbst”: Louise von Göchhausens Tagebuch ihrer Reise mit Herzogin Anna Amalia nach Italien vom 15. August 1788 bis 18. Juni 1790. Ed. Juliane Brandsch. (Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft 72.) Göttingen: Wallstein, 2008. 520pp., 7 illustrations
- Matt Erlin, Berlin's Forgotten Future: City, History, and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 216 pp
- Jost Schillemeit, Studien zur Goethezeit. Ed. Rosemarie Schillemeit. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006. 620 pp
- Marjanne E. Goozé, ed., Challenging Separate Spheres—Female Bildung in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Germany. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. 317pp
- Andrew Cusack, The Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature: Intellectual History and Cultural Criticism. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2008. 257 pp
- Grant Profant McAllister, Jr., Kleist's Female Leading Characters and the Subversion of Idealist Discourse. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature, vol. 75. 210 pp
Summary
In contrast to so much scholarly work today, McCarthy's latest book is a refreshing and welcome alternative. It also provides a model of what the academy might well seek to emulate. Eschewing already clichéd, in-vogue topics, not to mention second-rate texts as his subjects of study, McCarthy takes on major works and big questions. As a result, his new study is exceedingly ambitious, large in scope and strategically complex. John McCarthy offers an unusual conceptual framework quite different from typical disciplinary fare, but that is what makes this book especially worth reading and thinking about.
With this volume, McCarthy attempts to span the enduring divide between the natural sciences and the humanities. Or in terms long familiar to Germanists, he re-aligns and links the worlds of Natur and Geist in a new and valuable way. Not only has he brought together such seemingly disparate fields as physics and literature, he also spans the centuries of modern scientific and literary thought. McCarthy's ability to reach across and connect such expanses proves both useful and instructive. While Goethe, Nietzsche, and Grass constitute his literary focal points, his discussions also bring Cusanus, Spinoza, Leibniz, Breitinger, Wieland, and Kant into play. In similar fashion, his scientific focus extends beyond an introduction and explanation of chaos and complexity theory to include in the considerations such luminaries as Copernicus, Galileo, Poincaré, Penrose, Prigogine/Stengers, Bohm/Peat, Schrödinger, and E. O. Wilson, to name only a few. McCarthy's reach extends back to the Enlightenment and renaissance humanism through all the intervening years up into the present, making connections all along the way. His book is a work of remarkable erudition.
In the first part of the study, McCarthy so to speak establishes his scientific credentials. He may be a literary scholar, but he also knows his science and speaks knowledgeably about modern physics in particular. His expertise is not simply limited to the history of science, for he lays out the actual physics much as Brian Greene does in his books about superstring theory. This undertaking is consequently not for the faint-hearted, as it places demands on its readers and may even require them to venture into uncharted territory truly foreign to literary scholars. The rewards are worth the efforts, however.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Goethe Yearbook 17 , pp. 392 - 393Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010