Chapter 4 - Arboreal Imagery of the South in German Literature: On the Example of J.W. von Goethe

Even if Goethe’s work comes from a time before the emergence of a wide- spread sense of environmental awareness, for a plurality of reasons, his work represents a cornerstone for the German ecocritical debate. In particular, this essay investigates how Goethe’s perception of the arboreal meridian nature and understanding of atmospheric light in southern Europe has marked his con- ception of nature. Furthermore, Goethe’s participation in the scientific debate of a key moment in Europe’s cultural history, namely, that period when the spe- cialization of the sciences occurred, is a very interesting issue today because it makes us rethink what “modernity” really is in relation to the environment and what the role of literature can be in the climate change debate.