Other Fiction Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: Elective Affinities, v.1 31 mar 10

[forcheville]

Elective Affinities (German: Die Wahlverwandtschaften), also translated under the title Kindred by Choice, is the third novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1809. The title is taken from a scientific term once used to describe the tendency of chemical species to combine with certain substances or species in preference to others. The novel is based on the metaphor of human passions being governed or regulated by the laws of chemical affinity, and examines whether or not the science and laws of chemistry undermine or uphold the institution of marriage, as well as other human social relations.

Goethe outlined the view that passion, marriage, conflict, and free-will are all subject to the laws of chemistry and in which the lives of human species are regulated no differently than the lives of chemical species. Opinions over the years have been split as to whether Goethe's theory was used in metaphor.

This is the c19th translation in the public domain. It was translated James Anthony Froude & R. Dillon Boylan.

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