GOETHE AND THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

activity in a. fra.nkly English wa.y; of revising the estima.tes of the ma.n a.nd his work which are, more or less, traditiona.l a.mongst us; of presenting the facts in the new light which the labours of Germa.n schola.rs ha.ve brought to bea.r on them; a.nd, a.bove 8011, of bringing into prominence these a.spects of the poet's work a.nd teaching which ha.ve still significa.nce for us at the beginning of the twentieth century. Beyond the more obvious sources to which every writer on Goethe is indebted, I would especia.11y mention here Prof. Christoph Schrempf's Goethes Lehensanschauung in ihrer geschichaichen Entwicklung, Stuttga.rt, 1905-7, one of the most suggestive of recent books on Goethe; a.nd that indispensable summary of Goethe's ripest thought, Prof. Otto Ha.rna.ck's Goethe in der Epoche 8einer VoUendung, of which a. second edition a.ppeared in 1901.