Title: A Pause on the Eastward Poetic Journey: Goethe’s Poetic Response to Indian Civilization

Abstract: The expansion of European colonial activities in the eighteenth century brought India into the sphere of European attention. Within this historical context, Goethe’s perspective extended eastward, and India became part of his spiritual journey to the East. The two poems Goethe composed based on Indian materials, “Der Gott und die Bajadere” and “Paria-Trilogie,” embody a fusion of Eastern and Western civilizations. Rather than simply accepting or rejecting these materials, Goethe approached Indian elements dialectically. He preserved the exotic qualities of these elements while integrating European religious elements, thus elaborating on his perspectives on human nature and society. Through this process, he sought to identify common emotional ground based on the universal aspects of humanity drawn from the distant East.

Keywords: Goethe, India, “Der Gott und die Bajadere,” “Paria-Trilogie”

Author: Yiling Duan, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Foreign Studies, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.04.006