This talk explores the idea of art as religion, and dramatic poetry as a
form of magic, in Goethe’s Faust (1808). In his greatest play, Goethe
stands witness to the crises of modernity: crises of aesthetic form and of
language. Can dramatic poetry reanimate older forms, such as tragedy,
to achive an aesthetic theodicy, a justification, in poetry, of Faust, the
quintessentially modern man? To this end, we shall see, poetry would
have to prove its power to disclose real presence, while also being
ethically truthful. These problems crystallize early on in the play with
Faust’s famous translation of the Gospel of John. What spirits guide
Faust’s translation of the Word – and which guides Goethe’s pen?
Dr. David Kretz is a Postdoctoral Associate in the
Humanities Program at Yale University. He holds a
Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Committee
on Social Thought and in Germanic Studies.
Prior to coming to the US, he studied philosophy,
literature, and the history of ideas in Paris, Berlin,
and his hometown Vienna. His works addresses how
traditions, including religious traditions, respond to
historical crises. He draws on historical concepts of
translation to re-actualize a notion of translation as
a form of response to historical loss.
This talk explores the idea of art as religion, and dramatic poetry as a
form of magic, in Goethe’s Faust (1808).
In his greatest play, Goethe
stands witness to the crises of modernity: crises of aesthetic form and of language. Can dramatic poetry reanimate older forms, such as tragedy,to achive an aesthetic theodicy, a justification, in poetry, of Faust, the quintessentially modern man?
To this end, we shall see, poetry would have to prove its power to disclose real presence, while also being ethically truthful.
These problems crystallize early on in the play with Faust’s famous translation of the Gospel of John. What spirits guide Faust’s translation of the Word – and which guides Goethe’s pen?
Zoom Room: 558 403 3057
Password: Swedenborg
Dr. David Kretz is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Humanities Program at Yale University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Committee
on Social Thought and in Germanic Studies. Prior to coming to the US, he studied philosophy, literature, and the history of ideas in Paris, Berlin,
and his hometown Vienna. His works addresses how traditions, including religious traditions, respond to
historical crises. He draws on historical concepts of translation to re-actualize a notion of translation as a form of response to historical loss.
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