Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years
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Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, or the Renunciants (orig. German Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, oder Die Entsagenden),[1] is the fourth novel by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the sequel to the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre), published in 1795. Though initially conceived during the 1790's, the first edition did not appear until 1821, and the second edition—differing substantially from the first—in 1829.
The novel was greeted by mixed reviews in the 1820's, and did not gain full critical attention until the mid-20th Century. Consisting largely of discrete short stories and novellas woven together with elements of the epistolary novel, lengthy sections of aphorisms, and several interspersed poems, the structure of this novel challenged the novel form as commonly practiced at the time of its publication.
A major theme running through the various parts of the novel is that of "Entsagung," translatable as "renunciation." The most famous section of the novel is probably the episode in which the protagonist and his son Felix visit the "Pedagogical Province."
[edit] Contents of the 1829 version of the novel
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First Book
Chapter One: opens with "The Flight to Egypt," closes with a letter from Wilhelm to Natalie
Chapter Two: consists of the stories "Saint Joseph the Second," "The Visitation," and "The Lily Stem"
Chapter Three: opens with a letter from Wilhelm to Natalie; continues with narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapter Four: narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapter Five: continued narration, then the story "The Wandering Madwoman"
Chapter Six: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes; chapter closes with an exchange of letters between Lenardo, the Aunt, Juliette, Hersilie, Wilhelm, and Natalie
Chapter Seven: narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapters Eight and Nine: the novella "Who Is the Traitor?"
Chapter Ten: narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapter Eleven: the story "The Nut-Brown Girl," and further narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapter Twelve: further narration of Wilhelm's travels
Second Book
Chapters One and Two: arrival of Wilhelm and son Felix at the Pedagogical Province
Chapters Three, Four, and Five: novella "The Man of Fifty Years"
Chapter Six: letter from Wilhelm to Lenardo, and from Wilhelm to the Abbé
Chapter Seven: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes; letters from Lenardo to Wilhelm, and from the Abbé to Wilhelm; closes with an "Interruption" by the narrator
Chapters Eight and Nine: continued narration of Wilhelm's travels; Chapter Eight contains the poem "To invent, to resolve..."
Chapter Ten: letter from Hersilie to Wilhelm
Chapter Eleven: letter from Wilhelm to Natalie
"Observations in the Minset of the Wanderer: Art, Ethics, Nature": collection of 177 aphorisms
The poem "Legacy"
Third Book
Chapter One: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes
Chapter Two: letter from Hersilie to Wilhelm; includes illustration of the key (the only visual element incorporated into any of Goethe's literary works)
Chapters Three and Four: further narration of Wilhelm's travels
Chapter Five: four entries from Lenardo's journal
Chapter Six: contains the story "The New Melusine"
Chapter Seven: letter from Hersilie to Wilhelm
Chapter Eight: contains the story "The Dangerous Bet"
Chapter Nine: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes
Chapter Ten: contains the story "Not Too Far"
Chapter Eleven and Twelve: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes
Chapter Thirteen: three further entries from Lenardo's journal
Chapter Fourteen: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes
Chapter Fifteen: characterization of Makarie
Chapter Sixteen: narration of Wilhelm's travels resumes
Chapter Seventeen: letter from Hersilie to Wilhelm
Chapter Eighteen: close of narration
"From Makarie's Archive": collection of 182 aphorisms
Untitled poem: "In the austere charnelhouse..." (often referred to as "Upon Viewing Schiller's Skull," though this title is not from Goethe himself)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Sometimes translated, less accurately, as "Wilhelm Meister's Travels
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