Goethe, an Idealized Classical World, and Italy

Goethe traveled to Italy in the late 1780's, and published a book about the trip, Italienische Reise, 30 years later. The following is based on that book -- to be more precise, the 1976 Insel Teschenbuch Verlag edition of the Italiensiche Reise, it 175, with 40 drawings Goethe made during the trip, and an afterword by Christoph Michel.

Like many other Germans in the 18th century, the young Goethe loved Italy without ever having been there. What they loved above all was the art, architecture and literature that had come from the Classical world, as well as the Italian Renaissance, which, like them, had been in love with antiquity. Like all lovers, they idealized the object of their love -- I do not mean that as a negative comment, not in the slightest.

Kant is famous for never having traveled far from his home in Koenigsburg. Goethe traveled a bit more, but for 57 years, from 1775 until his death in 1832, he was an employee of the city-state of Weimar, and was expected to stay in the city for the most part. He held still there, while people traveled from near and far to visit him. In his older days, he received his visitors, very much like a prince. In 1786, at age 37, he slipped away and traveled to Italy, apparently because he was afraid that if he had asked permission for the trip, he wouldn't have gotten it -- was that true? Or did Goethe slip away, in the middle of the night, all alone, to make this already dramatic excursion even more dramatic?

He wanted to read Tacitus in the city of Rome. He wanted to inspect the remains of buildings designed by the ancient architect Vitruvius, and the Renaissance buildings made in northern Italy by the Renaissance architect Palladio, who for Goethe resurrected the spirit of Vitruvius. He wanted to find in Italy an earthly paradise where people's spirits were more wisely and joyfully oriented than in Germany. And he says in the Italienische Reise that he found this paradise. The title page just before the first chapter carries the subtitle "Auch ich in Arkadien!" which is German for "et in arcadia ego," which is Latin for "Also me in  Paradise!"

Goethe's interests were wide-ranging, to say the least. Besides literature, philosophy and the arts, he became quite learned in natural sciences including botany and geology. His interest in these last two are on display in the Italienische Reise. Frankly, I understand almost nothing of Goethe's scientific remarks, apart from a few witticisms, such as when he says that a certain region's soil is rich in the ideal ingredients for smooth roads, which is very fortunate, because the region is very ugly, and one wants to be away from it as soon as possible.

From my point of view, the most dramatic parts of the book to do with geology are those in which Goethe makes daily trips from Naples to the lip of the then-active Vesuvius -- not because I understand any of Goethe's geological remarks about the volcano and its lava, but because he daily, and very enthusiastically, exposed himself to such danger, the very thought of which horrifies me. Goethe's friend Herder seems to have had a similar horror of such behavior, accompanying Goethe only on his first walk up the side of the volcano, and on that day returning to the city earlier than Goethe.

Goethe mentions Pliny the Elder once in the book, but not anything about the manner of Pliny's death.

Goethe's loving examination of Italy went from the figurative heights of its intellectual and artistic achievements, quite literally down into the soil. For him, it was perfectly natural to include an inspection of the plants and the soil of any place in which he found himself, as natural as it was to treat the people he found in Italy as the cousins of Caesar and Vergil.

As with any truly great book, it would be senseless to try to condense the Italienische Reise: it is already condensed. There are no superfluous words in it. Goethe travels south as far as Sicily, and then returns home to Weimar. Everywhere he goes, he is received and celebrated as the author of Werther. All through the trip, he works on Torquato Tasso. He meets many of his German friends. The Prince of Weimar has, of course, forgiven him for having sneaked away in the night like a thief. He spends more time in Rome than in any other place. He observes peasants, princes, artists, bishops, visits museums, theatres, operas, palaces, ruins and one huge and very active volcano. He learns a great deal. A reader of his book will learn a great deal -- although, I wonder whether there has ever been a reader who has understood everything Goethe wrote.