Critical reaction to Goeths̕ West-östlicher Divan through 1905

Although Goedeke's Grundriβ lists well over 100 items from the nineteenth century which pertain to Goethe's Westöstlicher Divan, twentieth-century scholars have generally claimed that their predecessors neglected the work and did not like it. A second widely held view is that anything of importance from nineteenth-century criticism was subsumed in Konrad Burdach's Divan editions or his articles. This study tests those beliefs by reviewing the literature on the Divan up to Burdach's commentary in the Jubiläums-Ausgabe of 1905. The material is arranged chronologically with a bibliographic entry and a synopsis for each major item listed. A short section in Chapter I treats the reactions of those of Goethe's friends who were intimately involved in the genesis of the Divan, otherwise the focus is on the development of informed public attitudes towards the work. The seven chapters of text reflect changing phases and/or high points in early scholarship. A final, eighth chapter concludes that the nineteenth-century contributions to Divan scholarship have been undervalued and that the earlier commentaries of Gustav von Loeper and Heinrich Düntzer deserve equal billing with Burdach's work.

There are two appendices. The first responds to a serious need for detailed bibliographies on individual poems by Goethe. It catalogues references to all the Divan poems in the works discussed in the text. The second appendix collates material on the first Divan book from the seven commentaries covered in the study. It indicates which ideas were repeated or disputed in later commentaries and provides a close look at the interrelationships between the commentaries.