4.2. Text “Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”

(taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/goete, abridged)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and, according to Gregory Maertz, "Germany's greatest man of letters… and the last true polymath to walk the earth."[1] Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust.[2] Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang and Romanticism). He is the author of the scientific text “Theory of Colours”. His influential ideas on plant and animal morphology and homology were extended and developed by 19th century naturalists including Charles Darwin.[3][4] He also served at length as the Privy Councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.

Goethe is the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, the Arab world, and others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major effect especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the specialized sense.

Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in Western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work on colour.

Goethe's birthplace is in Frankfurt, Germany (Grosser Hirschgraben). His father Johann Caspar and private tutors gave Goethe lessons in all the common subjects of that time, especially languages (Latin, Greek, French and English). Goethe also received lessons in dancing, riding and fencing. Johann Caspar was the type of father who, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions by what he saw as a deficiency of educational advantages, was determined that his children would have all those advantages which he had not had. Goethe had a persistent dislike of the church, characterizing its history as a "hotchpotch of mistakes and violence" (Mischmasch von Irrtum und Gewalt). His great passion was drawing. Goethe quickly became interested in literature; Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Homer were among his early favourites. He had a lively devotion to theatre as well and was greatly fascinated by puppet shows that were annually arranged in his home; a familiar theme in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.

Goethe studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768. Learning age-old judicial rules by heart was something he strongly detested. He preferred to attend the poetry lessons. Despite being based on his own ideas, his legal thesis was published uncensored. Shortly after, he was offered a career in the French government. Goethe rejected it; he did not want to commit himself, but to instead remain an "original genius".

Goethe was one of the editors of a literary periodical (published by Schlosser and Merck)

Task 5.1. Reading and University (interpretation and summary)

Our variant of interpreting the text:

Transferable skills are viewed as high-level analytic skills. The phenomenon itself includes understanding, communicative abilities, and independent thinking, and what is more it involves the capacity for critical reasoning, self-reflection and conceptual grasp, together with the ability to learn autonomously and to exercise the flexibility of mind. The notion itself helps the students to feel the significance of solid grounding of the historical, intellectual and cultural contexts while reading literature.

Transferable skills are viewed as a notion which is directly linked to experience of reading.

University professors are unanimous about its significance and about the fact that they should equip graduates with such skills. The term is also helpful for them as it indeed focuses their minds on why they teach what they teach, and what it is that students learn.

And of course the approach is fashionable enough as it is highly discussed nowadays in contemporary universities.

We can sum up that it is worth thinking about and applying in our university as well.

Task 5.2.