Аннотация:The sensitive reasoner: classical traits in Werther’s view of nature
Abstract: The aim of the present article is to explore the controversial human-nature
relationships in Goethe’s first novel. Mainly I will focus on the apparent gap between
Werther’s (pre-)romantic demands and his classical, quite conventional connection with
nature. This ideological discrepancy pervades Sentimentalist-era thinking. One the one
hand, Werther is longing for a sensual and emotional merging with nature, for a close and
equal relationship with it. Meanwhile his view of nature remains predominantly classical,
i.e. anthropo- and logocentric, metaphysical and mechanical in its essence. In particular,
he does not perceive nature immediately, because his view is distorted by literary patterns.
Werther’s sensory experiences are limited to visual impressions, other senses are not active.
That is common in classical tradition, but distinctly different from romantic synaesthesia.
Notably, the narrator avoids extended landscape depictions: he mostly substitutes them
either with accounts about his own mental and emotional state or with a sort of stage
directions and topographical plans. As for his ideological attitudes towards nature, Werther
postures himself as a consumer (traveller, painter) enjoing the beauties of the landscape,
or as philosophizer indulging in retrospections and in broad generalisations in rural
environment, or, finally, as a mild, caring mentor who educates “naïve” and unpretentional
creatures. All this attitudes imply a detached and superior point of view, that impedes the
intended merging with nature.
Key words: Goethe, Werther, sentimentalism, nature, classical tradition