Goethe and the Ginkgo

"In 1815, Goethe gave symbolic expression to his intense relationship with Marianne Willemer, a recently married woman thirty-five years his junior. He gave her a leaf from a ginkgo tree, explaining that, like its deeply cleft yet still whole leaf, he was "single yet twofold." Although it is not known if their relationship was ever consummated, they did exchange love poetry, and Goethe published several of Marianne's poems in his West-East Divan without crediting her authorship." "In this little book, Goethe scholar Siegfried Unseld considers what this episode means to our estimation of a writer many consider nearly godlike in stature. Unseld begins by exploring the botanical and medical lore of the ginkgo, including the use of its nut as an aphrodisiac and anti-aging serum. He then delves into Goethe's writings for the light they shed on his relationship with Marianne. Unseld reveals Goethe as a great yet human being, subject, as any other man, to the vagaries of passion."--Jacket.

First sentence: In September 1815, Goethe gave a very dear friend of his a leaf from a ginkgo tree as a symbol of his loving affection: this leaf "from the East . . . lets us savor a secret meaning."

Year

2003

Language

English

Publisher

University Of Chicago Press

Editions

1

Pages

72

ISBN

9780226841946

Data source: Wikidata