Paternity and Bildung in Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrtahre

ELISAABETH KRIMMERUniversity of California, Davis

Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe:Paternity and Bildung in Goethe's

Wilhelm Meisters Lehrtahre

I will tell you truly, stranger: in fact, my mother saysI am his [Odysseus'] son, but I for my part do not know,

for no one yet has known his father on his own.Homer, The Odyssey, 1.214-16

That thou art my son I have partly thy mother's word,partly my own opinion.

Shakespeare, Henry IVPart I, Act II, Scene 4

Das Wort Vater ist ein groBes Wort, das gr&bte im Staate; wernicht Vater ist, verdient auch den Namen Bulrger nicht, und, um

freigebig zu seyn, nur halb den Namen Mensch.'Theodor von Hippel, "'ber die Ehe, '4

Anxieties about paternity and patrilineal descent have haunted the Europeancultural imagination from Homer to Shakespeare. Although such thematic lon-gevity suggests metahistorical validity, hopes and doubts regarding fatherhoodunderwent drastic historical changes. In this article, I argue that the concept of pa-ternity was greatly affected by the societal, economic, and political changes of thelate eighteenth century. More precisely, it is my daim that the radical redefinitionof gender, itself closely connected to political and social changes of the time, gaverise to new and acute uncertainties relating to fatherhood. The newgendermodel,frequently referred to as "gendered character' (Geschlechtscharakter) or 'two-sexmodel,' placed a strong emphasis on the normative authority of the body. Suchreliance on the 'construct-substantiating' power of the body (Scarry 140) servedto legitimize the disenfranchisement of women, while at the same time detractingfrom a man's daims to paternity: since there was no bodily evidence for paternity,the normative authority of the body could be relied upon to strengthen gender hi-erarchies, but it could not confirm the tie between father and child.

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THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

In order to trace the origin of the late-eighteenth-century patrilineal panic, Iwill present a reading of Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-96). I believethat the epochal impact of this workis connected to its artfulrepositioning of gen-der and fatherhood. But Goethe's text, though particularly apt to exemplify thestress on paternity, is not the only cultural artifact of the era marked by thesechanges. Anxieties about fatherhood also surface in the exploration of adoptiveparenting, as it is discussed in Lessing's Nathan der Weise (1770, see Calhoon 11)and Kleist'sDerFindling (1810), in the obsession of male writers with the motif ofinfanticide, prominent in a plethora of Sturm undDrang dramas, and in fantasies ofmen who give birth without any female assistance, as it is parodied in Goethe'sFaust II (1832) when Wagner relies on his scientific skills to create the Homun-culus.,

Around 1800, anxieties about patrilineal descent were not only particularlyacute but also particularly threatening. Unambiguous paternity was consideredcrucial for the existence of the entire social system, not only because it guaranteedthe transmission of property from generation to generation, but also because theeighteenth century believed in a concatenation of fatherhood, personal growth,and social harmony. The analogy between paternal and civic responsibilities, as ex-pressed by von Hippel in the introductory quote, was believed to be of such para-mount importance that it entered legal codification. The Declaration of Rights ofYear III, for example, contains the statement that 'no man is a good citizen unlesshe be a good son, good father, good brother, good friend, good husband" (qtd. inMartin 35). One might wonder whether this heightened concern with the relationbetween fatherhood and social stability was actualized by one of the most mo-mentous symbolic patricides in modern history, namely the execution of LouisXVI in 1793. Since social hierarchies were no longer supported by transcendentaltruth claims and since paternity could not take recourse to biological evidence, theposition of the father had become shaky. Efforts to fill the gap are numerous. Dur-ing the drafting of the Napoleonic Code, for example, First Consul Bonaparte him-self declared that it is now 'the law that makes fathers' (Martin 35). Where thelaw fell short, literature came to its aid.

InJohannWolfgangvon Goethe's novel WilhelhnMeistersLehrjahre, the founda-tional text of the genre of Bildungsroman, the bond between paternity and socialstability is particularly strong. Surprisingly, the reception history of WilhelnMeister has paid little attention to the many ways in which the text struggles toremedy ambiguities of patrilineal descent. 2 Rather, scholars have, for the mostpart, discussed the question of Bildung only to conclude that by the end of thenovel the protagonist exhibits no signs of growth or maturation of any kind. Onemight therefore wonder whether the focus on Bildung has served to obscure anddisplace the troubling question of paternity. In order to reintroduce paternity intothe discussion of the Bildungsroman,3 the following section discusses the paradig-matic changes that led to the crisis of paternity and the countermeasures as theyare laid out in Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.

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I

The second half of the eighteenth century was characterized by far-reachingcultural, social, and philosophical paradigm shifts. The normative authority oftheology was replaced by that of philosophy and science, and the unity of theganzesHaus, i.e., the combination of family home and workshop, was dissolved ascapitalism gradually became the dominant mode of production. The endeavors ofthe bourgeoisie to establish itself as a political force were accompanied by a com-plete restructuring of the public and private spheres. Interlaced with these changeswas a radical reinterpretation of the meaning and implications of the category ofgender. It is necessary to describe this re-conceptualization of genderin depth sinceit had a profound effect on the social validity of claims to paternity.

In German literary criticism, the emerging concept of gender is generally cap-tured with the term Geschlechtscharakter. According to Becker-Cantarino, the con-cept of gendered characteris based on the claim that women possess ucertain psy-chological and moral qualitieswhich are said to correspond to their biological dis-position' (a(Sozial)geschichte' 247; see also Duden 23). In other words, the bodyprescribes how social and moral tasks are to be distributed between the genders(Honegger IX). In order to achieve the desired ideological effect, the concept ofGeschlechtscharakter requires a two-step process. First, a cluster of character traits,such as passivity, emotionality, and lack of independence is conceived of as a coher-ent ensemble. The second step, then, defines these traits as inherently female byclaiming that they are direct emanations of woman's nature. Dotzler notesdiscerningly that this two-step process constitutes an astute attempt to shift 'thesubjection of woman from the outside to the inside' (352).

The new association between body and gender was made possible by a redefi-nition of the gendered body itself. In his study of gender constructs from theGreeks to Freud, Thomas Laqueur postulates the existence of two different modelsof gender identity, the earlier one-sex model, and the later two-sex model. In theone-sex model, the difference between male and female is interpreted as one of de-gree, not of kind. Men and women were not considered to be essentially different.Rather, the female body was seen as a less perfect, but substantially isomorphicversion of the male body.4 In the pre-Enlightenment one-sex model, the physiolog-ical boundary between the genders was thought to be permeable, but the socialstratification associated with femininity and masculinity was decidedly rigid. So-cial categories themselves, along with their respective tasks and cultural roles,were considered God-given and hence natural and immutable.

Laqueur claims that in the eighteenth century the one-sex model was aban-doned in favor of a binary structure that defined the two genders as discrete and in-commensurable. The two-sex model was born. This change was not broughtabout by an increase in anatomical or physiological knowledge, but by epistemo-logical, and political developments. In the Age of Enlightenment, references totranscendental and traditional systems of order could no longer provide sufficient

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legitimation for social inequalities. As political thinkers began to question themetaphysical foundations of societalhierarchies, the subjectionofwoman tomancould no longer be justified as divinely ordained. However, when women at-tempted to act on the promise inherent in Enlightenment thought and demandedthat theuniversal claimforfreedomand equalitybeextended tothefemalegender,their efforts were foreclosed by the new concept of Geschlechtscharakter. Women'sbodies now became the primary anchors of woman's underprivileged position.With biology bolstering the new gender order, women were relegated to house andhome while the newly created public sphere became the domain of men.5

It is evident that the new emphasis on the (female) body solidified traditionalgender hierarchies. It is not quite as evident that, in putting out one social fire, theheightened importance given to the bodykindled another blaze: while the norma-tive authority of the body served to shore up gender hierarchies, it did nothing toconfirm the tie between father and child. After all, with respect to the body, apatersemper incertus est" [the father is always uncertain]. Thus, in the eighteenth cen-tury, paternity operated in a void. It could no longer rely on transcendental truthclaims to legitimize social systems of order, and it could not yet take recourse to to-day's scientific methods to prove paternity, such as genetic testing. The resultingstress on patrilineal legitimization is visible in many texts of the late eighteenthand early nineteenth centuries. It is my claim that, in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre,the panacea applied to heal, or at least ease, this wound is homosocial bonding,that is, highly cathected relationships between men that are triangulated throughwomen and fueled by unacknowledged homoerotic desires.

Goethe's novel constitutes an extraordinarily prescient attempt to come toterms with the repercussions of the new body-gender axis. The novel aboundswith cross-dressed characters whose ambiguous gender identity bears testimonyto the fact that Goethe was acutely aware of the gender revolution of the late eigh-teenth century. The proliferation of gender benders in his text is a symptom of theongoing discursive struggle over gender definitions. After all, the cross-dresser ispositioned at the intersection of two competing concepts of gender: gender as anessence that is inherent to bodies and gender as social construct constitutedthrough the reiteration of performative acts (Butler VIII). Wilhelm Meisters Lehr-jahre is unambiguous in its propagation of the new model of Geschlechtscharakter.Indeed, the novel conjures up the specter of the masculinized woman only to af-firm that such masculinization did not take place. The stark contrast between thestereotypically female character traits of Goethe's fictitious cross-dressers andtheir incongruous male attire illustrates that, in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, thebody is defined as the primary site of a person's gender identity. 6 However, whilethis emphasis on the bodysettles the question of gender, it leaves wide open that ofpaternity: the social authority of the body guarantees that women will always bewomen, but it can in no way substantiate a man's claim to fatherhood. The fol-lowing section traces how Goethe's novel first delineates and then proposes tosolve the problem of patrilineal descent.

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II

Numerous literary critics have expressed doubts or flatly denied that WilhelmMeister, Goethe's callow protagonist, actually achieves anyBildung or maturity atall (Steinecke 104, Eigler 108; Jacobs 82; Kontje 13). Curiously, although the natureand success of Wilhelm's personal development is very much in question, there islittle scholarly uncertainty regarding Wiflhelm's fatherhood. This is surprisingsince Goethe's novel seizes every opportunity to obfuscate and ironize the prob-lem of paternal descent. In the end, Wi^lhelm comes to accept the social obligationsof paternity, but it is far from certain that he is Felix's biological father.

The first book of Goethe's novel introduces us to a youthful Wilhelm who isabout to shed the shackles of his bourgeois home and devotes a,l his waking hoursto his new-found love, the actress Mariane. Readers learn indirectly that the lovers'burgeoning relationship has already been consummated when WVIhelm inquiresof his beloved 'ob er sich denn nicht Vater glauben durfe" (44). Tellingly, the indi-rect and convoluted syntax of Wilhelm's question already indicates the protago-nist's embattled position toward his own fatherhood. The use of the subjunctivemode coupled with the carefu,ly phrased lglauben" instead of the straightforwardasein" expresses distance and uncertainty. With respect to his progeny, the malehero is placed in a position of dependency: he has no choice but to rely on the narra-tive of the prospective mother. Since fatherhood is mediated through textualityand femininity, Mariane's refusal to provide the required narrative does not help toalleviate the hero's uncertainty. Instead of confirming Wi\lhelm's hopes, Marianeanswers his question with a sigh and a kiss (44). Her evasion is due to the fact that,unbeknownst to Wilhelm, the actress has already rejected him as suitable fathermaterial. Mariane's conversation withher servant Barbara reveals that she consid-ers Wilhelm, who possesses plenty of heart but not enough cash (46), unqualifiedto provide for a family. Although toward the end of Wilhel!nAeistersLehrjahre thehero's pathwill be crowned byhis fatherhood, in the beginningWilhelmis rejectedas financially insufficient.

In keeping with its initial ambiguity, the novel continues to undermnine the as-sumption that Wilhelm is indeed the father of Mariane's child. Although theTower Society confirms Wilhelm's claim to Felix, readers have every reason todoubt his paternity. References to WlAhelm's uson' are often accompanied withthe qualifier awahrscheinlich' (116). In looks and temper, Felix does not resembleWilhelm at all. The child is lively and blond (261) while Wilhelm is dark and pen-sive (316). Moreover, the list of Felix's potential progenitors rivals that of DonGiovanni's conquests. At first, Wilhelm is led to believe that Felix is Lothario's son,but he soon learns that this assumption is erroneous. Later, when Barbara deliversa letter from Mariane, Wilhelm comes to realize that he himself might be Felix's fa-ther. But the letter containing the longed-for confirmation is somewhat suspect it-self since it is embedded in a narrative that points to yet another father candidate.Shortly before she met Wilhelm, Mariane was involved with Norberg, Wilhelm's

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wealthy rival for her affection (492). Interestingly, contemporary law providesthat Mariane have her pick between Wilhelm and Norberg, since whoever had in-tercourse with an unmarried woman 210 to 285 days before the birth of a childqualifies as father. A possible defense through exceptio plurium concubentium, inter-course with several partners, is expressly forbidden (Harms-Ziegler 334). In fact,Mariane would be within her full legal rights if she sought payment from both fa-ther candidates (Harms-Ziegler 337). Significantly, Norberg himself not only be-lieves that he is the father of Mariane's child (494) but is, at least initially, veryproud of his fatherhood and sends money for Felix's support. In fact, Barbara doesnot contact Wilhelm until this first source has dried up. It is only after Norberg'swild lifestyle has exhausted his financial resources that Barbara chooses to informWilhelm of his fatherhood (502-03).

Moreover, Felix is not the only child whose patrilineal descent is less than cer-tain. Nor is he the only child to claim WElhelm as his father. Friedrich admits freelythat the child that Philine expects and that he chose to accept as his own mightquite possibly be Wilhelm's offspring. He informs Wilhelm that the mysteriousvisitor who surprised him in his bedroom after the infamous Hamlet performanceand with whom WVlhelm spent the night was none other than Philine. Friedrich'sattitude towards his own questionable fatherhood is rather stoical: 'Vaterschaftberuht uberhaupt nur auf der Oberzeugung; ich bin uberzeugt, und also bin ichVater" (575).

Given these conflicting pieces of information and what appears to be a con-scious narrative subversion of Wilhelm's claim to fatherhood, the Tower Society'sstatutory confirmation of his paternity comes as a surprise. Its confidence andterse solemnityare oddlyincongruous andhardlyeffectual in dispellingthe uneaseand doubt amassed throughout the course of the previous narrative. In the absenceof satisfactory altematives, the Abbe's oath and his appeal to all that is holy musttake the place of actual evidence. In addition, the insufficiency of this laconic decla-ration is underlined by the contrasting narrative clarifying Therese's descent.Therese's life, too, is impeded by confusion about who her true parents are. The de-sired union between her and Lothario is believed to be impossible because at sometime in his past Lothario had been involved with Therese's supposed mother. Hav-ing failed in Felix's case, the Tower Society now succeeds in providing unquestion-able proof that Therese is the product of an affair between her father and a servantgirl. Her amother' agreed to adopt her in order to conceal her own childlessness.Therese's true parentage is clarified through a lengthy report. Contrasting withthe Abbe's terse oath regarding Wilhelm's fatherhood are the detailed testimoniesof numerous witnesses including physicians and biological and adoptive mothers.Clearly, Therese's story teaches us that, although maternity, too, may be subject toobfuscation, any uncertainty as to who is a child's mother is the product of con-scious deceptions and intrigues. A careful examination of the circumstances mustneeds bring forth the truth. Incidentally, this fact also found expression in contem-porary legislation that acted on the principle that 'no child can be its mother's

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'Kebskind'" [illegitimate child] (cf. Harms-Ziegler 329).7 Doubts regarding pater-nity, on the other hand, are of an existential nature. If the Tower Society fails toprovide anycorroboratingevidence inFelix's case, it is not forlackof trying. Infact,oaths and solemn assurances guaranteed by a society of men are the only possiblesolution. Since biological mothers are considered untrustworthy at best and sincefatherhood cannot be based on biological proof, fathers-to-be must rely on homo-social bonding. But oaths, although they can alleviate doubts, cannot eradicatethem completely. A margin of error remains.

At this juncture, a paradox arises. Although Goethe's novel confirms that pa-ternity will always be a matter of opinion, it also emphasizes the paramount im-portance of accepting one's paternal obligations. It is not accidental that the termi-nation of Wilhelm's apprenticeship and his initiation into the Tower Society coin-cide with the confirmation of his own fatherhood. While accepting one's paternalresponsibilities signals maturity, to be unaware of one's true parentage is one of themain sources of- unhappiness arid misery in Wilheln Meisters Lehrjahre (cf. Saine138). Therese is not the only character who suffers because of erroneous informa-tion about a parent. The Harper and Mignon, the two characters who elude the re-medial intervention of the Tower Society, also trace their il-begotten destiny tomisinformation about a child's descent. Sperata, the beloved and sister of theharper and Mignon's mother, was kept in ignorance about who her parents reallywere. Her biological fatherhad sired herin his old age and, fearing the ridicule of hisneighbors, had sent his pregnant wife to the countryside to conceal the birth of hisdaughter. The baby was then given to a friend who agreed to raise her as his ownchild. Not knowing her true descent, Sperata fell in love with her own brother.Clearly, the lessonhere is that great unhappiness and suffering arise from a father'sunwillingness to accept his paternal responsibilities. But sure knowledge of one'spatrilineal descent does far more than prevent incest. Goethe's novel suggests thatthe recognition of paternal duties stems the tide of societal chaos and anarchy it-self. Indeed, in WilhelmMeistersLehrjahre, citizenship and fatherhood are well-nighidentical since Wilhelm had nimit dem Gefuhl des Vaters ... auch alle Tugendeneines Burgers erworbenl (517). Given this close association of paternity and civicvirtue, it is hardly surprising that fatherlessness also carries in its wake the inabilityto gainBildung. An analysis of Mignon's story suggests that patrilineal clarityis theprecondition for acculturation itself Mignon, whose grandfather failed to ac-knowledge his paternityand whose own father, the harper, cannot fulfill his pater-nal function, is desperately seeking to remedy her familial lack. She implores Wl-helm to become her father: 'Mein Vaterl rief sie, du willst mich nicht verlassenlWilist meinVater seinl Ich bin dein Kind' (149). But in spite of her efforts, Mignonnever succeeds in securing a father nor does she learn how to read or write. Her ex-clusion from the symbolic systems of culture-Mignon's ability to express herselfin German is extremely limited (cf. 99,271, 602)-is related to her exclusion fromfamilial systems of meaning.8 It is only through her death that Mignon, now anenbalmed object, can be integrated into the sphere of Bildung.

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The funerary rites that follow Mignon's demise are designed to undo thethreat to patrilinearity that arose through her incestuous birth. Mignon's deathsignals the elimination of incest and the consolidation of the cultural order. In V1-lence atnd the Sacred, Ren6 Girard points to a need to rethink the relation betweenkinship systems and biological data. According to Girard, the concept of biologicalkinship-not thefact of biological kinship-cannot exist outside culture: 'it is notsufficient to say that kinship systems, even the most complex and artificial ofthem, take biological kinship 'into account'; such systems are responsible for thediscovery of biological kinship, and their existence conditions all understanding ofit' (227). Kinship systems, and their concomitant rules and prohibitions Uare es-sential to the ordering of biological data' (226). Girard's clairn is based on the as-sumption that 'in the state of natural prorniscuity the connection between thesexual act and the birth of children (or even, perhaps, the very idea of conception)would go unrecognized. Only through the establishment of incest prohibitionscould man hope to obtain the quasi-experimental conditions necessary to the rec-ognition of the reproductive process' (226). Thus, it is incest prohibitions that giverise not only to patrilinearity but to culture itself.9

Interestingly, Mignon's embalmed body is designated as an 'Opfer" (592), aterm that denotes both victim and sacrifice. Should we then assume that Goethe'snovel depicts a connection between sacrifice and paternity?10 I believe the answeris no. Rather, likeIphigenie, W7lheltnMeistersLehrjahre replays the sacrificial scenarioin order to reject it as insufficient for his own time.

A connection between sacrifice and paternity has been suggested by the exten-sive research of theologian Nancy Jay. Jay's investigation of a wide array of cul-tures, ranging fromAshanti and Hawaiian tribes to the biblical patriarchs and an-cient Greece, reveals that there is an uaffinity between sacrificing and reckoninglines of descent from father to son' (XI). Jay believes not only that 'clan ties were aconsequence of sacrificing together" (XIII) but also that ambiguous patrilineal de-scent can be remedied through sacrifice (XV).11 Among the examples that Jay citesis Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac. Another example is the Harper's attempt tosacrifice Felixin a disturbing eruption of violence clearly inspired by its Biblical pre-decessor:12

Durch viele Fragen erfuhr endlich Wilhelm, daB der Harfenspieler, als sie in dasGewblbe gekommen, ihr [Mignon] das Licht aus der Hand gerissen und das Strohsogleich angezulndet habe. Darauf habe er den Felix niedergesetzt, mit wunderli-chen Gebarden die Hande auf des Kindes Kopf gelegt und ein Messer gezogen, alswenn er ihn opfern wolle. Sie sei zugesprungen und habe ihm das Messer aus derHand gerissen. (344)

Just like Abraham is prevented from sacrificing Isaac, the Harper is preventedfrom sacrificing Felix. And where Abraham chooses a ram as surrogate victim,Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre offers up Mignon. Or does it? Does Goethe's novelindeed sacrifice Mignon, who is a son but not quite a son, in order to break the

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circle of violence that sets father against son and son against father?13 I believethat such a reading ignores the ambiguity of Mignon's death and the novel'scontempt for violence. After all, Wilhelm's union with Therese may havebrought on Mignon's death, but this hardly qualifies as killing. Moreover, theTower Society does indeed enact Mignon's obsequies with great solemnity,but Wielm's fatherhood has been confirmed long before these sacrificialrites are set in motion. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre quotes the Biblical traditionof sacrifice, but it does not reenact the killing of a surrogate victim nor does itrely on sacrifice to confirm Wilhelm's paternity. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre ref-erences the authority of the living body to buttress the gender hierarchy, but itrefuses to rely on the escape route of the dead body to shore up Wilhelm'sclaims to paternity. In Goethe's novel, women are creatures of the body, butfathers most decidedly are not.

InWilhelmMeistersLehrjahre, homosocial bondingis accompanied bythe disap-pearance of biological mothers (cf. Becker-Cantarino, "Bekenntnisse" 83; 'Patriar-chy' 51). Thus, with Wilhelm's fatherhood firmly guaranteed by theTower Soci-ety, the task that remains is to find a newmother. While WilhelmMeistersLehrjahrestarts out with Mariane's rejection of Wilhelm as a father, it ends with Mariane'sdeath and the reinstatement of Wilhelm into fatherhood. Intriguingly, the emptyplace of the biological mothers is filled by a woman who is herself defined as avoid.14 For Schlaffer, Natalie is the 'embodiment of rolelessness' (88). Her desire tocater to the needs of her fellow humans and to alleviate all suffering is so strongthat Dick sees in her the 'idealization of instrumental servitude" (13), a 'self-sacri-ficing, female eunuch who has neither a will nor any wishes of her own' (123).Natalie's brother Friedrich proclaims that 'du heiratest nicht eher, als bis einmalirgendwo eine Braut fehlt, und du gibst dich alsdann, nach deiner gewohntenGutherzigkeit, auch als Supplement irgendeinerExistenzhin" (582). In addition tothis rolelessness and selflessness, Natalie is also the epitome of shapelessness andfacelessness, as evidenced in Wilhelm's vision where she dissolves into nothing-ness as soon as she takes off her uncle's overcoat: 'Er sah das umhiillende Kleid vonihren Schultern fallen, ihr Gesicht, ihre Gestalt glarnzend verschwinden" (243, seealso 303 and 247). Wilhelm himself emphasizes that his experience with Nataliewould be indistinguishable from a dream if it were not for the overcoat that testi-fies to the reality of her being. Indeed, the passing on of her uncle's overcoat, whichinspires in Wilhelm 'das lebhafteste Verlangen ... sich damit zu bekleiden" (244),appears to be Natalie's true mission. Through the gift of the coat Natalie estab-lishes a bond between Wilhelm and her uncle. Significantly, this uncle is the verysame person who acquired the art collection of Wilhelm's grandfather. Throughhis union with Natalie, who is now the mistress of this collection, Wilhelm is rein-stated into his inheritance. As such, Natalie presents anideal vessel for the transferof wealth and property precisely because she has no claim to biological mother-hood herself.15

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Through her own emptiness, Natalie is ideally suited to guarantee the func-tioning of the male genealogy as well as of the symbolic order. Natalie herself hasno appreciation for art and is excluded from all symbolic systems to such an extentthat she does not even participate in monetary circulation but distributes naturalgoods. Paradoxically, it is precisely this exclusion that enables her to function as anintermediary who reintegrates Wilhelm into the male family alliance (Schlechta69). It is Natalie who, in Wilhelm's dream, leads Felix to his father, and it is alsothrough Natalie that Wihelm is connected to her brother Lothario and thus, ulti-mately, to the Tower Society. Given these relationships and the peculiarly passion-less nature of Wilhelm and Natalie's bond, one might claim that in WIlhelmMeistersLehrjahre heterosexuality is anothing but an alibi for the frictionless relationship ofman with himself, for the relationships among men" 16 (see also Schlechta 69;Tobin, Warm Brothers 112). Natalie is the missing link that completes WilhelmMeister's homosocial economy:

The women, animals endowed with language like men, guarantee the possibilityof the usage and circulation of the symbolic without taking part in it. It is thenon-accessibility, for them, of the symbolic that establishes the societal order.They can only realize their function to relate men to each other, to set up a con-nection between them, by renouncing their own right to speaking, and, beyondthat, to their animality.17

Even though Irigaray's insight pertains to the entirety of Goethe's fictional so-ciety, the relationship among men that is considered most important in Wil-helmi Meisters Lehrjahre is that of father and son. Natalie's identification withthe bride in the prominently featured portrait of the sick prince highlights thisaspect. In the beginning, Wilhelm is identified with the sick son. By the end ofthe novel, however, Friedrich's interpretation of the portrait designates Wil-helm as father, whose connection to his son is brought about by Natalie (621).Whether Natalie establishes a connection between Wilhelm and his grandfa-ther, Wilhelm and his son, orWilhelm and Lothario, Natalie's facelessness andher asexuality are essential for the function that she fulfills within Goethe'snovel. Consequently, in Wilheln Meisters Wanderjahre, where Wilhelm's inte-gration into the male alliance is already established, Natalie's role is reducedeven further. She becomes a 'correspondence bride' (MacLeod 423). Far fromtransgressing against traditional gender roles, the cross-dresser Natalie marksa void. It is her emptiness that upholds the symbolic system.

The homosocial nature of Goethe's fictional society also serves to explain a fur-ther puzzle: why is it that all male protagonists in Goethe's novel fall for womenwho at first wear men's clothing? Whether it be Jarno's passion for the baronesseinherhunting outfit, Lothario's interest in the cross-dressed Therese, orWilhelm'slove for three gender-benders, the little officer Mariane, Natalie inher uncle's over-coat, and Therese, who wears the clothing of a hunter when Wilhelm first meetsher-the relationship with a woman always originates in the desire for the

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cross-dresser. And yet, Goethe's female cross-dressers are portrayed as truly femi-nine creatures in spite of their dashing masculine exterior. Mariane, the Offi-zierchen, for example, wears a uniform whose foremost effect consists of heighten-ing her erotic appeal. Initially, readers might be inclined to think that her uniformendowed the actress with courage and determnination. Clothed in her martial gar-ment, Mariane had refused to do the will of the panderBarbara,-who wanted to sether up with the rich suitor Norberg. But Mariane's rebellion proves highly ineffec-tive. Barbara's mocking speech about the empowering effect of Mariane's uniformis delivered in the spirit of ridicule and preceded by the loud laughter of the oldcrone (10). Rather than assuming the authority that her uniform represents,Mariane's military costume serves to highlight her helplessness. She becomes an'Offizierchen" (9). Moreover, Goethe's novel not only portrays Mariane's fall butalso gives reasons for it. Barbara prevails because Mariane's material needs makeher vulnerable to seduction. Mariane's innate 'feminine' weakness, which isequatedvwithherinabilityto transcend material needs-more an unwillingness tostarve than a craving for luxury items-is stronger than her momentary bravery,which remains as alien to her nature as her outfit is to her body.

In contrast to Mariane, whose masculinity is but a surface phenomenon,Therese is introduced as a 'wahreAmazone," different from those others who areaartige Hermaphroditen" (454). Therese takes on many jobs that are traditionallyassigned to men. She is knowledgeable in finance and economy and occupiesherself with agriculture, forestry, and orcharding. In carrying out her administra-tive duties, Therese rides through the country in men's dothing. One might betempted to assume that, for Therese, men's clothing is the true expression of herinner 'masculine' being. However, a closer inspection of Therese's responsibilitiesreveals that Goethe does not propose a role reversal but rather expands the realm offemale activity to encompass not only the kitchen and pantry but the entirehousehold. Therese, who is in charge of maintaining cleanliness and order, neverloses sight ofwoman's true goal.18All her knowledge and work are subordinated toone overridingpurpose, adaS manauf jedeWeise fiirdas GluckderMannerund derHaushaltung sorge" (474). It is only when Lothario expresses his conviction thatoverseeing a household is the most honorable occupation for a woman thatThereserecognizes inhimhersoulmate. Therese might more justlybe called a truehousewife than a true Amazon. Her cross-dressing does not destabilize the genderdichotomy; rather, it is a symptom that speaks of the underlying homosocialstructure of Goethe's male alliance. Wilhelm's initial choice ofTherese as his futurewife would appear to have been inspired less byTherese's personal charm than bythe fact that Therese had already been chosen by Lothario. If we assume withSedgwick that the boundary between identification and desire is slippery (106),thenwantingwhatLothariowants isneverfarawayfromwantingLothario (con-versely, Wilhelm's desire for the Count's wife occasions an uncanny resemblanceof Wilhelm and the Count). Ultimately, however, marriage to Lothario's sisterproves preferable to the less tangible bond via the former lover Therese. Tellingly,

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the marital transaction between Lothario and Wilhelm via Natalie is accompaniedby a real estate deal that solidifies the newly formed male alliance (cf. Sedgwick129).19 In WilhelmMeistersLehrjahre, fatherhood is the cornerstone of the social or-der, and marriage is the foundation of the economic order (cf. Lvi-Strauss 38).

The fact that the cross-dressers in WilhelmMeisters Lehrjahre are intermediariesrather than partners in their own right also provides an explanation for the singu-larly passionless nature of most relationships in this novel. In fact, if there is anypassion or desire in this novel-that is, passion not associated with madness anddesire not accompanied by disgust-it is tied to the figure of Mignon. If we takeinto consideration that, in the eighteenth century, the term "mignon" denotedmale homosexual prostitute or favorite (Tobin, Warm Brothers 42, 110), we mightbe tempted to conclude that, in addition to signifying incest, Mignon also embod-ies homoerotic desire.20Within this context, Mignon's death might be understoodas a form of exorcism. Significantly, however, her enbalmed body is placed in thehal of the past, the core of theTowerSociety: Mignon, though dead, is still the cen-ter of this male alliance.21 If one accepts this premise, then Goethe's claim thatMignon-who in a diary entry of September, 1786, is still referred to with a mas-culine pronoun ("dem Mignon)-is the reason why the entire work was writtenacquires a different meaning.22 The desire for a "mignon" that can neither be ac-knowledged nor abandoned informs the entire structure of WilhelmtMeistersLehr-jahre and helps to explain the proliferation of cross-dressed characters. It is pre-cisely because Mignon holds an irresistible attraction for Wilhelm that the desirefor her must give way to a different form of relationship in which, as Irigarayclaims, homoeroticism, 'prevalent everywhere, but prohibited as a practice [. ..] isplayed out via the bodies of women." 23 Seen in this light, homosocialityin WilhelnMeisters Lehrjahre is a sublimated form of homosexuality in which the desire forothermen is symbolicallymediated through the female body, as exemplified in themale characters' relationships with Therese and Natalie. Significantly, Mignondies as Wilhelm embraces Therese. But it is crucial in this context that Mignon isdefined as a being that has no access to symbolic systems of meaning. Mignon can-not exist in the realm of culture and neither can passion or desire. Her burial marksthe transition from desire to renunciation. Mignon is no surrogate victim; rathertheloss that sherepresentsisrealand painful. InWilhelmMeistersLehrjahre, thehis-tory of civilization is indeed 'the history of the introversion of sacrifice. In otherwords: the history of renunciation' (Horkheimer/Adorno 62).24 It signals the endof a desire that respects neither gender boundaries nor societal rules.

Bildung in Wilheleln Meisters Lehrjahre is not to be defined as the moral and psy-chological development of an individual, but as an ongoing process of renunciationthat is crowned by the successful integration into a society of men whose homo-social bond guarantees patrilineal descent and hence societal order. Following thisline of interpretation goes some way to explaining the conspicuous and often-noted absence of maturation in WElhelm. In Goethe's novel, maturity does notmanifest itself through progressive personal growth but through the momentous

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decision to accept one's place in the line of fathers. Note that when Wilhelm ac-cepts his paternal obligations for Felix, he also sees the apparition of his deceasedfather sanctioning his son's development '(cf. 3ecker-Cantarino, "Bekenntnisse'84-85; "Patriarchy" 50) .25

Clearly, Goethe's novel relies on homosocial bonding to guarantee paternityand social stability. But it does more than that. Its pervasive sense of irony, notedbynumerous critics (Swales 29; Jantz 104), is connected to its honest acknowledg-ment of the unsatisfactory nature of the textual assurances and social rituals thatmust stand in for biological certainty (cf. Boyle 376). Though Goethe's novel is un-ambiguous in its propagation of the misogynistic model of Geschlechtscharakter, itis also marked by the profound insight that our most fundamental ties are not giftsof nature but the products of a process of social construction.26 Its self-consciousirony derives from a sense of distance. Goethe is not only acutely aware that fa-therhood is not naturally given but socially created, he is also convinced that it isthis social reality that counts. A man may not be his son's 'genitor,; but he mustaccept his responsibility as 'pater" if societal order is to be maintained. But even asWilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre affirms the necessity of unambiguous patrilinearity, italso paints an atmosphere of absurdity and disenchantment resulting from theknowledge of its constructedness. Thus, Jarno informs Wilhelm that the TowerSociety is but a relic "von einem jugendlichen Unternehmen, bei dem es anfangsden meisten Eingeweihten groBer Ernst war, und uiber das nun alle gelegentlichnurlacheln' (564). Similarly, Friedrich tells Wilhelm thathis sonwillbe a useful cit-izen if he does not die from laughing immediately after his birth (575), whilePhiline, fully aware of the complications of paternal descent, pronounces that itwould be much nicer if one could shake children off the trees (211).

We might wonder then why Goethe, in spite of his ironic distance, could not letgo of the close association between fatherhood and social harmony. I believe theanswer to this question lies in the political context in which Wilhelm MeistersLehrjahre was written. During the 1790s, a symbolic patricide of great magnitude,the execution of the French king, had left deep wounds in the collective psyche.27 Itis hardly surprising that Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre contains a plethora of imagesand motifs that revolve around the death of fathers. One might mentionHamlet, adrama whose plot is set in motion by the murder of a father, or the Harper who isconvinced that Felix will kill him, or, in a somewhat mitigated form, the unex-plained and sudden death of WAihelm's own father. But although history left itsimprint, Goethe's novel is engaged in' a project of re-writing history. In WilhelmMeisters Lehrjahre, the Tower Society, Goethe's very own band of brothers, is dedi-cated not to the murder, but to the confirmation of fathers. Goethe's Tower Soci-ety works together to uphold the institution of fatherhood in the absence of tran-scendental systems of legitimation and in spite of the lack of biological proof

But nowadays we have biological proof In a recent edition, the Germanweekly Die Zeit featured an artide entitled "Papa-Paranoia im Labor." The articlediscussed the mushrooming increase in companies that offer genetic testing de-

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signed to determine the paternity of a child. It would appear that our gene-savvyage has finally found the answer; that now scientific clarity has taken the place ofGoethe's homosocial society and that W?lhelmMeistersLehrjahre isnowredundant.Well, not quite. Following closely upon the heels of the first article, Die Zeit printedyet another feature about fatherhood. This one, entitled "Nicht ohne meinenPapa' and authored by Christine Brinck, begins with the question 'Wer brauchtVater? Sie gebaren nicht, sie stillen nicht, sie wickeln selten. Sind sie uberhaupt zuetwas gut?" The answer to this question is a resolute 'yes' because, and here weenter familiar territory, there is a very strong connection between fatherlessnessand social anarchy. As the article informs us in bold print: "Drei von vier Mordernund zwei von drei Vergewaltigern sind ohne Vater aufgewachsen.' In this article,the absence of fathers is the fault of feminists who are convinced that 'Vater sindTater.' In the fantasylife of this author, women have metamorphosed into femaleWagners who dream of finally being able to do without the anonymous donors ofsperm on whom they had to relyin the past. Whereas in WilhelmMeistersLehrjahrefatherhood is ontologically problematic, in today's genetic age women are toblame. But there is even more to be said for Goethe. In WilhelmMeisters Lehrjahre,thereis a strongsense thatfatherhood, economics, and politics areinterdependent.In "Nicht ohne meinen Papa,' economic and political considerations have van-ished completely, and their disappearance has left the individual psyche bare.Clearly, genetic testing does not even begin to address the most fundamental ques-tions about fatherhood. Goethe's text, on the other hand, expresses an awarenessof the insufficiency of biology (at least with respect to paternity) and the inelucta-bility of social construction. Moreover, although Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre pre-sents homosocial bonds as the only way to prevent anarchy, it also depicts emo-tional loss as inextricably linked with this form of social stability. An analysis ofWilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre shows how very different we are from the eighteenthcentury, and how very little we have moved.

Notes

1"Mephisto (leiser): Was gibt es denn?/ Wagner (leiser): Es wird ein Menschgemacht./ Mephisto: Ein Mensch? Und welch verliebtes Paar/ Habt Ihr ins Rauchlocheingeschlossen? /Wagner: Behulte Gott! wie sonst das Zeugen Mode war,/Erklarenwirfulr eitel Possen./ Der zarte Punkt, aus dem das Leben sprang,/ Die holde Kraft, die ausdem Innern drang,/ Und nahm und gab, bestimmt, sich selbst zu zeichnen,/ ErstNachstes, dann sich Fremdes anzueignen,/ Die ist von ihrer Wulrde nun entsetzt;/Wenn sich das Tier noch weiter dran ergetzt,/ So muB der Mensch mit seinen groSenGaben/Doch kunftighohem, hbhern Ursprunghaben" (II. 6834-47). For an insightfuland innovative discussion of this, see Hart 74.

2Among the scholars who paid attention to the issue of paternityis Mark Redfield.3Interestingly, Boyle claims that the writing of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre was in-

formed by Goethe's sadness about the loss of his own illegitimate children: 'the last

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two books, books 7 and 8 ... were the pearl that grew round the death of Carl, as the re-visions of books 1 and 5 had been his response to the death of Caroline' (304).

4The existing anatomical differences were thought to have been caused by the lackof heat in women, which had resulted in 'the retention, inside, of structures that in themale are visible without [...] In this world the vagina is imagined as an interior penis,the labia as foreskin, the uterus as scrotum, and the ovaries as testicles' (Laqueur 4). Insum, woman is man turned outside in. According to the one-sex model, it was abso-lutely conceivable for a woman to turn into a man (cf. Laqueur 123). There are a nuhi-ber of stories of women who sprouted a penis; for example, that of the shepherdessMaria Gamier, later Germain Gamier (cf. Orgel 20). One day Marie was chasing aftersome pigs when she jumped over a ditch. The heat, generated by the strenuous exer-tion, propelled her internal vagina/penis outside, and Marie became a man.

5The work of Swiss sociologist Claudia Honegger has affirmed Laqueur's thesesforthe German realm. ForHonegger, too, the second half of the eighteenthcenturywasa time of radical changes, during which the body emerged as theArchimedean point ofa discursive power struggle. Endowed with the power of 'analogical verification'(Scarry 278), the body came to be entrusted with the regulation of gender identities:"Jetzt erst fulgt sich das Geschlecht ganz in den K6rper ein und seine 'logische' Ver-teilung folgt unmittelbar den anatomischen Mafen' (Honegger 8). During the courseof the eighteenth century, the social position of women and the relation between psy-che and body had remained curiously undecided. At around 1800, however, the newtrend solidified as the formula 'The body shapes morality" gradually became the cen-tral tenet of a new anthropology (Honegger 42).

6 In this, I disagree with both MacLeod's and Tobin's otherwise superb analyses ofWillhelin Meister. For a detailed discussion of cross-dressing in Willelmti Meister seeKrimmer.

7This implied that an illegitimate child could inherit his/her mother's property,but not that of his/her father.

8It also precludes her from acquiring a gender. Unlike Natalie, the child-womanMignon is a true hybrid. The grammatical confusion which adheres to this androgy-nous being attests to the impossibility of identifying her/him with one pole of the gen-der dichotomy. Mignon is often referred to as 'creature' or "figure" (Gestalt, n 91). Attimes, the text even resorts to masculine pronouns when speaking about Mignon(591); a usage thatwas especiallypronounced in the TlheatralischeSendung, asWolff andMacLeod (401) have pointed out. When Wilhelm first perceives Mignon, he is unsurewhetherhe is dealingwith a boyor a girl. Both the surgeon and theharperare convincedthat Mignon is a boy. Mignon herself identifies with the male gender ("Ich bin einJunge, ichwillkein Madchen sein," 214) and refuses towearwomen's clothing. Even asa young child, Mignon had worn boy's clothing and climbed trees with her male com-panions (603).

9 Seealso Claude Levi-Strauss, who claims that the prohibition of incest is "the fun-damental step because of which, by which, but above all in which, the transition fromnature to culture is accomplished" (24). One might wonder whether Goethe insertedthe triangular relationship between Therese, Therese's mother and Lothario to exem-plify the arbitrariness of specific interpretations of the incest prohibition.

1 One might claim that Girard fails to see this connection because his worklacks anawareness of the gender differential inherent in procreation. Girard is right when he

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claims that patrilineal descent is inconceivable outside kinship systems, but he fails toacknowledge that kinship systems are far from sufficient when it comes to paternity.Because Girard assumes that 'the father explains nothing' (214), he, unlike Goethe,fails to realize the connection between patrilineal descent and that which concernshim most, namely sacrificial rituals and surrogate victims.

llJay also points out that sacrificial practices 'are not of significance among peoplerelatively unconcerned with inheritance of important productive property, such ashunter-gatherers, who have little durable property. Nor do they usually survive the in-troduction of a modem economy.' Rather, they are typical of "pre-industrial societieswith some degree of technological development, in which rights in durable propertyare highly valued' (34-35). Goethe's fictional society of landowners would appear tofall into the latter category.

12"And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an al-tar there, and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altarupon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay hisson. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abra-ham; and he said here am I" (Genesis 22: 9-11).

131nterestingly, the chorus pronounces its conviction that Mignon's sacrifice willmake other sacrifices unnecessary: "Dir folge kein Knabe, kein Madchen nachl" (591).Based on this statement, one might call Mignon a surrogate victim in the Girardiansense, namely a victim that can put an end to the violent circle of murder and revenge,precisely because it is not the culprit but an innocent. Tellingly, the characterwho is re-sponsible for the violence that this sacrifice is meant to contain is Mignon's father. It isthe harper who not only tries to kill Felix and who violently takes his own life, but whois obsessed with the thought of revenge: "die Rache, die mich verfolgt," 215; 'denn alleSchuld racht sich auf Erden," 139.

14Schlechta draws attention to the fact that both Therese and Natalie take care ofother people's children, but have no children of their own (48).

'5 Minden draws attention to Natalie's function as an empty vessel when he asksironically: 'Inheritance is meaningless without Natalie, but where or what is Nataliewithout the ordering principle of inheritance?" (284)

16aet l'heterosexualite n'est jusqu'a present qu'un alibi a la bonne marche desrapports del'homme a lui-meme, des rapports entre hommes" (Irigaray 168). All trans-lations from the French are mine.

17aLes femmes, animaux doues de parole comme les hommes, vont assurer lapossibilite de l'usage et de la circulation du symbolique sans y etre pour autant partieprenant. C'est le non-acces, pour elles, au symbolique qui 6tablit l'ordre social. Mettanten rapport, en relations, les hommes entre eux, les femmes ne realisent cette fonctionqu'enyabandonnant leurdroit a la parole et, d'ailleurs, a l'animalite" (Irigaray 184).

18Cf. Dick who points out that Therese's life "revolves around the tasks that bour-geois society has assigned to women' (85).

191t is of interest to note that the union between Natalie and Wilhelm also conformsto another pattern identified by Sedgwick: "the transaction by which the womanbinds herself over to the man... is presented in each of these fictions as coinciding withthe transaction by which the feudal order gives over to the bourgeois" (158).

2 0Schlaffer claims that it is imperative within the logic of the text that this desire re-main unspoken: "Die ZerstorungMignons und des Harfers beginnt daher, sobald man

272 Surnmer 2004


sie in der Turmgesellschaft, vermeintlich um sie zu heilen, zum Sprechen bewegenwill" (59).

21The fact that Mignon lives on as the secret center of the Society is also confirmedby the verbal ambiguity of the passages that describe Mignon's death: "fiel sie .. .[fir totnieder" (cf. Arnd Bohm 28).

22 In a conversation with Kanzler MOller (qtd. in Schlaffer 40). Wilhelm, on theother hand, is Goethe's 'geliebtes dramatisches Ebenbild" (qtd. in Wolff 28).

23"Partout regnante, mais interdite dans son usage, l'hom(m)o-sexualit6 se joue atravers les corps des femmes' (Irigaray 168).

24The members of the Tower Society become subjects according to a 'eingedrilltesSchema, nach welchem die Unterworfenen das ihnen angetane Unrecht sich selbernochmals antun, um es ertragen zu k6nnen' (Horkheimer/Adorno 58).

25 Consequently, on his path to Bildung Wilhelm also overcomes his infatuationwith Hamlet, a character who most notably refuses to procreate and found a family ofhis own.

26The fact that Goethe ironizes Wilhelm's blind trust in destiny (cf. Marahrens153) also appears to be connected to the emphasis on socially created as opposed tonaturally given meaning.

27Interestingly, Freud claims in Totem iund Tabu that the murder of the father led tothe introduction of incest prohibitions: 'Hatten sich die Brulder verbulndet, um denVater zu uberwfltigen, so war jeder des anderen Nebenbuhler bei den Frauen.... Somitbliebe den Bruidern, wenn sie miteinander,leben woilten, nichts ubrig, als-vielleichtnach Oberwindung schwerer Zwischenfalle-das Inzestverbot aufzurichten, mitwelchem sie alle zugleich auf die von ihnen begehrten Frauen verzichteten, um der-entwegen sie doch in erster Linie den Vater beseitigt hatten. Sie retteten so die Organi-sation, welche sie stark gemacht hatte und die auf homosexuellen Gefiihlen undBetatigungen ruhen konnte, welche sich in der Zeit der Vertreibung bei ihnen ein-gestellt haben mochten' (198).

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Paternity and Bildung in Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrtahre

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