Goethe and Arabic Literature: Reception, Interaction, and Aesthetic Transformation

Abstract

This study investigates the dynamic intellectual and aesthetic engagement between the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Arab-Islamic literary tradition by analyzing West-östlicher Divan as a paradigm of East–West cultural dialogue. It focuses on three principal dimensions: Goethe’s reception of Arabic and Islamic texts, their integration into his poetic framework, and their reciprocal influence on modern Arabic literature and thought. Adopting a comparative analytical methodology, the study juxtaposes Goethe’s Divan with selected works of classical Arabic poetry, especially those of Ibn ʿArabi, Ibn al-Fāriḍ, al-Mutanabbī, and Hafez al-Shīrāzī. The analysis draws upon frameworks of cultural intertextuality and postcolonial theory to explore Goethe’s literary construction of the “self” and the “other”. The findings reveal that Goethe’s engagement with Arabic literature was both profound and artistically transformative. Rather than a superficial appropriation, his Divan constitutes a creative synthesis of Eastern Sufi poetics and German Romanticism. This synthesis influenced prominent Arab intellectuals such as Ṭāhā Ḥusayn, Adonis, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī, reshaping Arab perceptions of the West and offering a model for transcultural literary dialogue. The West-Eastern Divan emerges as a seminal contribution to world literature and comparative aesthetics. It demonstrates that dialogue with the cultural “other” is not confined to translation or admiration but represents a collaborative aesthetic vision. Such interaction underscores literature’s potential to bridge civilizational boundaries while preserving the integrity of cultural identities.