Prudery in the Publication History of Goethe's Roman Elegies

In his late thirties Wolfgang Goethe spent a year and a half in Italy. It was an experience to which he had looked forward since boyhood and one which he treasured into his old age as the high point in his existence. Like the wealth of Egypt for Joseph, the descent into Italy became characteristic for the mature poet. Coming as it did at a kind of climacteric when he gave up earlier associates and goals in favor of new ones, the Italian episode is recognized as a major turning point in Goethe's career. It also constitutes an important bench mark in the Germans' acceptance of their first great poetic genius after Luther

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