The Goethe Yearbook is a publication of the Goethe Society of North America. It publishes original contributions to the understanding of Goethe and other authors of the Goethezeit. Its book review section evaluates a wide selection of publications on the period, and is important for all scholars of 18th-century literature. The eighteen articles in this volume treat a wide range of topics. The volume opens with the last work of the late Stuart Atkins, on Renaissance and Baroque elements in Faust, and proceeds to a critical appreciation of the Goethe scholarship of the late Géza von Molnár, before offering Molnár's last essay, also on Faust. A number of articles explore questions of the "Ich," the Ego, and subjectivity in the writings of Goethe and of others of his age such as Rousseau, Moritz, Fichte, and Novalis. Three articles deal with Faust, one with Götz von Berlichingen's Weislingen, one with the genealogy of the poem 'Auf dem See,' and one with Egmont. An article focuses on the women figures in Wilhelm Meister, and there is a short story titled 'Mignon' by Irmgard Elsner Hunt. Other articles explore Grillparzer's Sappho, Wilhelm Müller's Lieder der Griechen, and Karls Enkel's Dahin! Dahin! Ein Göte-Abend. There is also a Laudatio to Daniel Barenboim in addition to the customary book review section. Contributors: Stewart Atkins, Katharina Mommsen, Peter Fenves, Géza von Molnár, Fritz Breithaupt, Anthony Krupp, Elliott Schreiber, Edgar Landgraf, Horst Lange, Volker Kaiser, Rainer Nägele, Martha B. Helfer, Marion Schmaus, Brigitte Prutti, Charles A. Grair, Lorna Fitzsimmons, Irmgard Elsner Hunt. Book review editor is Martha B. Helfer.
Simon J. Richter is associate professor of German at the University of Pennsylvania.