New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-10-09
BOYESEN'S ESSAYS.
FEW POINTS IN THE CRITICISM of
GOETHE.
ESSAYS on GERMAN LITERAL, mnr Sc iSncr's
Uorth Boycscn. PIP. 3oo' '"'i
Sons.

|
| . Women" describes himself as a
aa;aI ad,oc,ter for the great German poet
| mr.. oor On bo his attitude toward all the
,,rito-s whose works he discusses in this vol
| ,o Jto aims 10 interest readers who are more
| = loco Ignorant of what German writers nave
| dore and he takes the two most obvious me'h-
| ode for the nurrose-the recital Of personal ana
literary bitory. and animadversions upon othcr
! intcrpreters. whose opinions may have ahec'e"
| tho minds of those whom he seeks TO interest
| J.; III. tbouc In the case of Goethe. and less
| notably in the case of Others. his criticism Is
directed against the critics, and SO. as a rule, re-
| ve,Is the main figure only by DETECTED llSh''
| Most of his illusions TO other critics. worthy or
| unworthy. are genial enough, but in the ioi-
| lowing passage the emphasis OF the language
seems rather heavier than the thought requires
If the second part of Faust fails to convey
any meaning to the ordinary omniscicnt critic
of the daily parcrs il is generally supposed that
| tho second part of Faust stands thereby con-
| dcmncd That Goethe has opened new realm
of Thought 10 which even college degree II
| not necessarily passport. that he has in talist
cXpounded a deep philosophy of life ior the
comprehension of which more than ordinary
largeness of vision and grasp of intellect are
rcanircd, is scarcely dreamed of by the herd OF
shallow nimblr-witted critics who pat him
| kindly on the shoulder and compare him blandIy
with Byron, Colcridge and Wordsworth II Is
dinicult to imagine any critic, or grolS
of critics brackctng Byron, Cocridgc ana WoriS-
worth together, let alone with Goethe. But Ill the
ease of the frst-namcd Goethcs own almost un-
qualified admiration will certainly affect the views
Of men as long as Faust continues to be read
! COMPARISONS between men Of little genius ar"
easy and natural. Comparisons between men of
great genius are never anything but misleading.
Gorthc's name is often linked with that Of Shakes
rcare hut aside from common humanity thcr"
is practically no material in their works for
parallol To attcmpt 70 decide which OF the two
WAS the greater poet is literary effort about
on par with the editorial answer 10 the kind
Of correspondence that Ecgins: Sir Please
decide the following wager Again. the opinion
of newspaper critics is credited with too much
potency as affecting the general views of IN"
public The man would be- unfit 10 write for
a newspaper who supposed that the views h"
| expressed were final. even shallow enough
TO corgratnlaic himself that somebody else might
| he persuaded 10 think 50. II has not been the
shallow critics. but those who thought them
scvrS deep. who INDUCED in what has been called
hottom-scraping analysis tina, have hindcrcd the
appreciation of Gocthc's genius. II one will Just
ponder for time uron the allcg)ries of the
! Middle AGES upon the endless and futile efforts
Of centuries 20 turn everything on earth and over
| the earth and under IL into a symbol 10 finish
| every narrative with more or less eiltyIng
moral. 10 multiply the meanings of the most
! trivial litcmturc-he will have forced upon him
a sense Of the rcvulsion which vast numbers OF
! people experience AZ the sight or hearing of any
| thing that savors even remotely Of such com
position. They are in the sam" the
patient who has been fell on chicsen-hroth through
a siege Of od-fashonc1 aguc, and can never
! aftcrward look At a chicken without disgust
| 80 strenuous an advocate Of tho doctrine Of he
rcdity az Professor Roycscn is will easily see
how the DISCUS, Of such literature generated
in the minds Of men would become an element
nscparnbc from the thought Of their de-
scoTdants
Professor Boycsrn alludcs TO the difficulty which
| Cariylc had 10 meet In the effort To inspire his
! En4lish constituency with a love for Gocthe-a
| particular Objection being that The poet had not
shown in his autobiography the reserve character
| stlc Of a gcntlcman-and adds: oh. how we'll
We know II. that stupid. stolid. contemptuous,
| purblind British supcrcousnrsS. which will rccog
MIC nothing as good admirable. unless il be- ar
| ravcd in British garb. unless il conform 10 John
| Bulls narrow Phllistine ideal This is vivid.
| hat is il quit" iu.t? When il comes 70 national
differences, or differences Of race. are all apt
virtues of ores own kin wthcu; mourning the
blame Of dcprcciating some other persons relatives
Speaking roughly. without attempting to 90 into
| minute details. there were TWO cIu>cs which would
| have DELAYED the proper estimate Of Goethe IN
| England even il no others had been at work. One
Of these the speculative arrogance of German
Interpretation and the other was the delightfully."-
human but provoking ohstnacy of the English
man. with his beg pardon when he means 10
doubt and his Impressive beg your pardon
| long drawn out when he means fiat denial sgd
ncy Smiths picture OF IIalam at dinner, his
mouth full of cabbage and contradiction, is ton
picturesque a description of the British attitude
TO be forgotten. Az might have been expected
| the more the German and English p1rtisans Of
Goethe cxcr,cd themselves TO spread his fame, the
stronger was the front presented by the opposl-
ton. Professor Boyescn points ont how impcr-
feet even Carylcs Interpretation was how We
hcmently. for instance, he went wrong the sub
cct of the great phgan's relation 20 Christianity.
There was in these impertcctions plenty OF mate
rial behind which the spirit of contradiction could
cntrcnch itself But after all, that which hap
pcncd TO Goethe had happened before in the ca9,
of almost every man Of eminent genius. II there
was anything exceptional in his case compared
with other great poets il was the case with which
| he won his place in the world. II might be inter
cstng 10 inquire how much the magic Of his won
dcrfnl stature and good looks had to DO with the
rapidly of his conqucsts
While it il plain that Carlyl" did nnconscionsy
or Intentionally modify the aspect Of Gocthc's re-
lcion the notion that he misintcrprct"d the mat
fer because of his own ingaincd Christianity is
certainly open to question The two men were
wide IA the poles asundcr in the emotional express
sion of belief, but formally they would both come
undcr the category of dcists. To calm, imprr
turbablc giant like Goethe the mere order of III,
universe was sufficient TO proclaim the Deity. To
CARLYLE who looked at all things from the point
Of view of his own personal discomfort, the uni
). a Sunromc Infcllirnncn ,vnull be