Queer Economic Dissidence and Victorian Literature by Meg Dobbins (review)

Abstract

biblical figures such as Jacob and Jonah, and eventually even ventriloquizes Jesus to paradoxically teach his readers a philosophy of paganism and pantheism. Considering the fact that Goethe’s Italian Journey is commonly hailed as the precursor of Wagner’s and Nietzsche’s radical aestheticism, it is surprising to see that Goethe makes ample use of biblical patterns and at one point, around Easter, is not even loath to see himself transfigured like Christ who is not recognized by his disciples at Emmaus. By the end of this slim volume, the reader is at a loss to find a reliable answer to the question of what induces an author to re-publish essays on Goethe and Dickens in German with a small, marginalized sub-publisher in Baden-Baden. Despite the tendency of some of the essays to be rather long-winded, they are refreshingly knowledgeable and thought-provoking, and thus it might have been more sensible if the author had taken the time to re-arrange the book, to put some effort into editorial updating and to have shaped it into an English publication for the benefit of a wider international audience. Dickens’s hitherto neglected German side thus remains a topic that is still waiting for a wider platform.