In Elective Affinities Goethe conducts an experiment with the lives of people who are living badly. Charlotte and Eduard, aristocracts with little to occupy them, invite Ottilie and the Captain into their lives; against morality, good sense, and conscious volition all four are drawn into relationships as inexorably as if they were substances in a chemical equation. The novel asks whether we have free will or not; more disturbingly, it confronts its characters with the monstrous consequences of their repression of any real life in themselves. Goethe wrote Elective Affinities when he was sixty and long established as Germany's literary giant. He remained an uneasy and scandalous figure, none the less, and readers of Elective Affinities were profoundly disturbed by its penetrating study of marriage and passion. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

About the Author
David Constantine is a Fellow in German at The Queen's College, Oxford. He is a poet (published by Bloodaxe) and translator as well as being an Oxford academic.

Reviews
'as a study of marital relations and adultery it is strangely topical, with a pitiless psychological insight which is close to Laclos and the French school' Brian Fallon, Irish Times
'David Constantine has struck a readable tone that sets the novel in its time without pastiche. Thanks to the fluidity of Constantine's prose, Goethe's story succeeds .... in fascinating and moving us. Constantine has caught the crispness of Goethe's descriptive language. ' Albert Manguel, Observer
'... superbly translated' Nicholas Boyle Journal of European Studies, XXIV (1994)



Book Information
ISBN 9780199555369
Author J. W. von Goethe
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 194g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 130mm * 14mm