Goethe and his Encounter with Voltaire in Moments of Islamic and Orientalist Discourse

Abstract

Goethe’s views on the Orient and Islam constitute a very interesting phenomenon in the context of the Western society of 18th and 19th centuries. While Goethe also was part of the anticlericalism established with the Enlightenment, other than Voltaire, rather than exerting any criticism to religion in itself, he tries to track and recognize the common roots and values of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Especially in his poetical work West-östlicher Divan (West-eastern Divan), and through his concept of Weltliteratur, he shows a completely different imagology of the Orient compared to the Western society of his time.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n3p547