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Johann Wolfgang Goethe

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  • Fawzi Boubia's strongly autobiographical recent novel "Mein West-Oestlicher Diwan" takes a merciless look at political and cultural trends in Germany, while celebrating the country's cultural and intellectual past – in particular Goethe's open-mindedness.
    Fawzi Boubia's "Mein West-Oestlicher Diwan"

    A tale of disappointed love

    German-Moroccan philosopher and writer Fawzi Boubia has long acted as a mediator between East and West, building cultural bridges in multiple publications. His strongly autobiographical novel "Mein West-Oestlicher Diwan" takes a merciless look at Germany's political and cultural trends, while celebrating its cultural and intellectual past. By Volker Kaminski

  • Mohamed Abla was the first visual artist from Egypt to receive the Goethe Medal awarded by the Goethe-Institut, the highest award of foreign cultural policy in Germany.
    Mohamed Abla awarded Goethe Medal

    Telling stories through art

    Mohamed Abla is the first visual artist from Egypt to be awarded the Goethe-Institut’s Goethe Medal, Germany’s highest honour in the area of foreign cultural policy. Stefan Weidner sheds some light on the artist’s work

  • Interview with Jordanian novelist Jalal Barjas

    "Some Arab writers present distorted images of their societies"

    Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas' novel "Notebooks of the Bookseller", which won this year's Booker International Prize for Arabic Fiction, was celebrated at a symposium during the Berlin International Literature Festival in September. A large number of Germans and Arabs interested in Arabic literature attended. On the sidelines, journalist Rim Najmi caught up with Jalal Barjas

  • Calligraphy "Infinity" by Shahid Alam; courtesy of the artist.
    Karl-Josef Kuschel's "Goethe and the Koran"

    Islam for the 21st century? Look no further than Goethe

    No other Western poet was arguably so well-versed in the Koran or so fascinated by Islam as Germany's national hero, Goethe. In a new publication that examines all Goethe's writings relating to Islam, theologian Karl-Josef Kuschel shows that the poet's message is still highly relevant today. Stefan Weidner read the book

  • Professor Nasser Kanani on the Persian poet Hafez

    "The joyful audacity of his spirit, the melody of his poetry"

    Over the centuries Hafez' legacy has exerted a unique influence on numerous poets in Europe, with many an Orientalist falling under his spell. In interview with Yasmin Khalifa, Nasser Kanani explores the great poet’s sensuality, mysticism and elegance

  • Goethe and Zoroastrianism

    The eternal battle between good and evil

    All his life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe felt a strong connection with Persia. Not only did he feel a spiritual affinity with the poet Hafez, he was also inspired and fascinated by the teachings and practices of Zarathustra, who lived in the first millennium before Christ. Melanie Christina Mohr reports

  • Johann Gottfried Herder and the Orient

    Faith as silent spirituality

    All his life, the German philosopher and poet Johann Gottfried Herder grappled with issues of the Orient and Islam, preaching his vision of a society shaped by humanity, tolerance and the individual, spiritual practice of faith. By Melanie Christina Mohr

  • Goethe′s fascination with the "Thousand and One Nights"

    Mephistopheles spoke; Scheherazade beguiled

    To date, critical studies of Faust have given little consideration to its Oriental elements, in particular the fables from the "Thousand and One Nights". Goethe′s fascination with the famous storyteller Scheherazade, and his adoption of her narrative techniques and themes, has been underestimated. By Melanie Christina Mohr

  • Goethe and the Orient

    Why did the poet's mind wander to far-off climes?

    When Goethe compiled over 200 poetic works to create his West-East Divan in 1814 and 1815, the 60-year-old had already been fascinated with the Orient his whole life. But what made the poet's mind wander to far-off climes? By Melanie Christina Mohr

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