The Silence of Goethe

Josef Pieper was a philosopher, not a literary critic, which makes his approach to Goethe unique, reflective and , well, philosophical. I believe Goethe himself would have appreciated it. While reading extensively in Goethe's collected letters, Pieper discovered something he had not expected. Goethe was an inveterate letter writer, who corresponded with a wide range of people, seemingly inexhaustible in his curiosity and with abundant ideas to share. However, Pieper was surprised to find at the heart of this apparently gregarious man a core of reticence, hence the title of his book. Pieper builds a kind of moral philosophy based on his Goethe discovery. He argues that Goethe's reticence or silence helped him to overcome the "sterility of everyday talk" and nurture within a sense of hope which was not polluted by the "deafening talk" of the world. He specifically mentions the marketplace with its deluge of advertising. What surprised me in his argument was his connection between such futile talk and the hopelessness which plagues so many people's minds and hearts. The very act of remaining silent, he argues, serves as a "kind of training in hope." Philosophy as Pieper presents it is not simply ideas on paper or abstract ideas to prove an intellectual point. It is a summons to live a richer, more fulfilling life, informed by moral purpose. It resembles the startling closing line of Rilke's "Archaic Bust of Apollo": "You must change your life." I plan to explore this nexus of silence and hope in my own life. This is what Pieper promises us if we heed his words: "This listening silence means a stillness, which, liked a breath, has penetrated into the inmost chamber of one's own soul." And he quotes Goethe who discovered the "great happiness in quietude." This volume includes Pieper's resonant thirty- page essay and excerpts fromGoethe's letters, with a separate index for the essay and the letters.

occidente!Virginia H

excellent