World on a Shelf: Submissions of Weltliteratur in Goethe’s Private Library — A Quantitative Approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT In his writings on world literature, Goethe highlights direct ‘intellectual commerce’ between living authors while also emphasizing indirect exchange through intermediaries such as translators. This paper investigates whether book submissions to Goethe mirror these complementary modes on a material level. In our study, we map submissions in foreign literature and German literature in translation across time and space. We also attempt to determine the roles of the submitters with regard to the volumes sent. In practice, we demonstrate that the ‘intellectual commerce’ Goethe appreciated was mostly a domestic, indirect affair — a surprising result that raises questions with respect to the international reach of Goethe’s actual world literary practices.