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The genealogy of dwarfs: reproduction and romantic mythology in Goethe’s New Melusine

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Abstract

Goethe’s studies of natural form have occupied generations of scholars and the discussion on the relationship between Goethe’s thought and evolutionary theory has never ceased since Haeckel’s claims in the late nineteenth century. In scholarship which has aimed to address the question of change in Goethe’s concept of nature, the focus has been primarily on his scientific writings. Aiming for a comprehensive understanding of Goethe’s thought on reproduction, this article sets out to contribute to the ongoing debate by focusing on his literary text The New Melusine, a story centred on a dwarf figure. Examining texts by naturalists such as Buffon, Humboldt, and Darwin, the article demonstrates how Goethe, in the speculative framework of a literary text, explores patterns of transformation by means of sexual reproduction which did not make it into his better known scientific writings on plant morphology and comparative anatomy. I argue that the Melusine story becomes for Goethe a space to consider a new understanding of reproduction, its transformative power, and biopolitical possibilities, while at the same time providing an opportunity to reflect critically on its consequences for the individual.

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Notes

  1. Throughout this article, I use the term “dwarf” to refer to people who often call themselves today “Little People.” I use this term (along with Little People) following eighteenth-century practice. My use of the term is not meant to justify it.

  2. For a more detailed discussion of the topics in the following section see Lehleiter (2016).

  3. Goethe speaks of “brothers”: “Ähnlichkeit des vollkommensten Geschöpfes [der Mensch] mit unvollkommeneren Brüdern” [Similarity of the most perfect creature with less perfect brothers] (FA I/24: 268). Translation mine. All references in this article to the Frankfurter edition of Goethe’s works are given as “FA” followed by volume and page number.

  4. The German original reads: “Die Möglichkeit der Verwandlung des Menschen in Vögel und Gewild, welche sich der dichterischen Einbildungskraft gezeigt hatte, wurde, durch geistreiche Naturforscher, nach endlicher Betrachtung der einzelnen Teile auch dem Verstande dargestellt” (FA I/24: 268). Translation mine.

  5. Goethe reports in Poetry and Truth that he first told the Melusine story during his Strassburg years in the context of a visit in Sessenheim (Goethe 2000, 9: 446). According to his diary, the text was then dictated in 1807 and completed in its final written form in 1812. The first publication in two parts appeared in Taschenbuch für Damen (Pocketbook for Ladies) (1817, 1819) and the story was eventually incorporated in the Journeyman Years (1821, 1829) (see the comment in Goethe 2000, 8: 650).

  6. Renata Schellenberg (2017) noted already the “biological” subtext in Goethe’s Melusine and pointed out that “The Melusine narrative is a project that would benefit from such an analysis, as it illustrates some of Goethe’s key scientific points, reflecting principles found in his unorthodox methodology of science” (p. 310).

  7. The German original reads: “Wir wissen[,] daß alle sehr große[n] Tiere zugleich unförmlich sind, daß nämlich entweder die Masse über die Form zu herrschen scheint, oder daß das Maß der Glieder gegen einander kein glückliches Verhältnis habe” (FA I/24: 250). Translation mine.

  8. The original German reads: “Selbst am Menschen will man behaupten, daß übermäßig großen Individuen etwas an Geiste abgehe, daß kleine hingegen ihn lebhafter zeigen” (FA I/24: 250-251). Translation mine.

  9. The original German reads: “Die Klassen, Gattungen, Arten und Individuen verhalten sich wie die Fälle zum Gesetz; sie sind darin enthalten, aber sie enthalten und geben es nicht” (FA, 1/24: 270). Translation mine.

  10. The original German reads: “Hier sind die Schranken der tierischen Natur, in welchen sich die bildende Kraft auf die wunderbarste und beinahe auf die willkürlichste Weise zu bewegen scheint, ohne daß sie im mindesten fähig wäre den Kreis zu durchbrechen oder ihn zu überspringen. Der Bildungstrieb ist hier in einem zwar beschränkten, aber doch wohl eingerichteten Reiche zum Beherrscher gesetzt. Die Rubriken seines Etats, in welche sein Aufwand zu verteilen ist, sind ihm vorgeschrieben, was er auf jedes wenden will, steht ihm, bis auf einen gewissen Grad, frei. Will er der einen mehr zuwenden, so ist er nicht ganz gehindert, allein er ist genötigt an einer andern sogleich etwas fehlen zu lassen; und so kann die Natur sich niemals verschulden, oder wohl gar bankrutt werden” (FA I/24: 233-234).

  11. Both Canguilhem (2008) and Reill (2005) have connected this romantic adherence to hierarchical, lawful development to the political context after the French Revolution. See also Vienne on this matter (2014, pp. 54–55).

  12. Goethe observes: “So wird man die Wirkung des Klimas, der Berghöhe, der Wärme und Kälte, nebst den Wirkungen des Wassers und der gemeinen Luft, auch zur Bildung der Säugetiere sehr mächtig finden” [Hence, one will find the impact of climate, mountain height, of heat and cold, next to the effects of water and common air, on the formation of mammals very powerful] (FA I/24: 236). Translation mine.

  13. Buffon takes a monogenetic approach to the question of race and explains modification by means of accidental influences: “il n’y a eu originairement qu’une seule espèce d’hommes, qui s’étant multipliée & répandu sur toute la surface de la terre, a subi différens changemens par l’influence du climat” [Originally, there was only one race of man which, having multiplied and spread over the entire surface of the earth, was subject to various changes under the influence of climate] (1749–1789). Translation mine. All quotes in this paper that refer to Buffon’s work in the French original are given in parenthesis with volume and page number.

  14. The original German reads: “Das Märchen mit dem Weibchen im Kasten lacht mich manchmal auch wieder an, es will aber noch nicht recht reif werden” (Goethe 2000, 8: 519). Translation mine.

  15. For a discussion of other “Melusine” figures in Goethe’s oeuvre see Jane Brown 2016, pp. 10–13.

  16. We find a very similar creation myth of dwarfs in a late medieval manuscript and then in the Book of Heroes first published around the same time probably by Johann Prüss. Hie fahet an der helden buoch [about 1479] (http://tudigit.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/show/inc-iii-27/0001). I thank Florian Müller for first pointing me to this source, On Goethe’s familiarity with the book of heroes in the context of the Melusine see Haustein (1989, pp. 1–4).

  17. The original German version reads: “Daraus kannst du nun ersehen, mein Freund, daß wir von dem ältesten Geschlecht der Welt sind, welches uns zwar zur Ehre gereicht, doch aber auch großen Nachteil mit sich führt. Da nämlich auf der Welt nichts ewig bestehen kann, sondern alles, was einmal groß gewesen, klein werden und abnehmen muß, so sind auch wir in dem Falle, daß wir seit Erschaffung der Welt immer abnehmen und kleiner werden, vor allen andern aber die königliche Familie, welche wegen ihres reinen Blutes diesem Schicksal am ersten unterworfen ist. Deshalb haben unsere weisen Meister schon vor vielen Jahren den Ausweg erdacht, daß von Zeit zu Zeit eine Prinzessin aus dem königlichen Hause heraus ins Land gesendet werde, um sich mit einem ehrsamen Ritter zu vermählen, damit das Zwergengeschlecht wieder aufgefrischt und vom gänzlichen Verfall gerettet sei” (Goethe 2000, 8: 368).

  18. The German original reads: “Der Mensch ist gewohnt die Dinge nur in der Maße zu schätzen als sie ihm nützlich sind, und da er […] sich für das Letzte der Schöpfung halten muß; warum sollte er auch nicht denken daß er ihr letzter Endzweck sei. […] Wie sehr aber ein Naturforscher […] Ursache habe sich von dieser Vorstellungsart zu entfernen, können wir an dem bloßen Beispiel der Botanik sehen. Der Botanik als Wissenschaft, sind die buntesten und gefülltesten Blumen, die eßbarsten und schönsten Früchte nicht mehr […] als ein verachtetes Unkraut in natürlichen Zustande, als eine trockne unbrauchbare Samenkapsel” (FA I/24: 210–211). Translation mine.

  19. By using the term “blood,” the dwarf princess relies on an old concept in which it was “accepted that the property of living organisms by which offspring receive the nature of their parents or ancestors must be associated […] with an animal’s blood […]. The idea rested on the assumption of blood being transformed into semen (seed), the basis of new life” (Wood 2007, pp. 229–230).

  20. Buffon’s idea was that the prototype and most perfect form of a species is “dispersed through all parts of the earth” (Buffon 1792 V:129) so that mixing was necessary to avoid degeneration. In Goethe’s Melusine such prototype seems not assumed any longer. Perfection is something neither dispersed nor yet reached.

  21. The following section on the Caucasian context follows Figal (2014).

  22. One traveler through Georgia remarked “You shall meet here in this Country with Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Turks, Persians, Indians, Tartars, Juscovites and Europeans; and the Armenians are so numerous, that they exceed the Georgians” (quoted in Figal 2014, p. 174).

  23. Figal comments: “It was not the European per se but the people of the Caucasus who were identified in the eighteenth century as the source—a hybrid hereditary one—of the newly racialized European present” (Figal 2014, p. 174).

  24. Travelers to the Caucasus region compared the beauty of Georgian women to that of angels and stated the irresistible desire evoked by them. One traveler states: “I have seen those that have had Angels Faces; Nature having bestow’d upon the Women of that Country Graces and Features, which are no other where to be seen: So that ‘tis impossible to behold ‘em without falling in Love” (Chardin, quoted in Figal 2014, p. 166). While such enthusiasm certainly fits genre conventions, it is noteworthy that in Goethe’s tale Melusine elicits similar reactions from the narrator: “When she came toward me, so lovely and even lovelier than yesterday, I was seized with desire and reckless boldness; I rushed to her and caught her in my arms. ‘Angelic, irresistible being!’ I exclaimed, ‘Forgive me, but I cannot help myself.’ With incredible agility she escaped from my embrace, and I was not even able to plant a kiss on her cheek” (Goethe 1989, p. 344). (“Als sie mir so schön und schöner als gestern entgegenkam, regte sich auf einmal in mir Neigung, Schalkheit und Verwegenheit; ich stürzte auf sie zu und faßte sie in meine Arme. ‘Englisches, unwiderstehliches Wesen!’ rief ich aus: ‘verzeih, aber es ist unmöglich!’ Mit unglaublicher Gewandtheit entzog sie sich meinen Armen, und ich hatte ihr nicht einmal einen Kuß auf die Wange drücken können” Goethe 2000, 8: 355–356).

  25. The original French version reads “Plus robustes, plus sains que vous, nous nous sommes apperçus au premier coup d’oeil que vous nous surpassiez en intelligence, et sur le champ nous vous avons destiné quelques unes de nos femmes et de nos filles le plus belles à recueiilir la semence d’une race meilleure que la nôtre. C’est un essay que nous avons tenté et qui pourra nous réussir. Nous avons tiré de toi et des tiens le seul parti que nous en pouvions tirer, et crois que tout sauvages que nous sommes, nous savons aussi calculer” (Diderot 1935, p. 173). English version in text as quoted in Lettow 2015, p. 129.

  26. Buffon even compared domestication to tyranny “Si l’on ajoute à ces causes naturelles d’altération dans les animaux libres, celle de l’empire de l’homme sur ceux qu’il a réduits en servitude, on sera surpris de voir jusqu’à quel point la tyrannie peut dégrader, défigurer la Nature” [If one adds to these natural causes of change in the wild animals those of the empire of man on those which are reduced to servitude, one will be surprised to see to which point the tyranny can degrade and disfigure nature 1749–1789] (XIV: 317). Translation mine.

  27. Nussbaum argues that the dwarf occupied a liminal position between primitive past and over-cultivation (2003).

  28. We have little information about people of small stature in antiquity. However, it is of interest in our context that in Egyptian mythology the dwarf god Bes was a deity of protection (in particular from snakes) and a deity of reproduction. Bes’ image often adorned wedding beds and amulets. This custom and belief was active until Roman times (Dasen 2013).

  29. In contrast to humans of tall size (“giants”) which were often considered out of proportion, “show dwarfs were routinely advertised as admirably proportioned” and considered to live an existence “more refined and elegant by virtue of its miniaturization” than norm sized humans (Ritvo 1997, pp. 152–153). See also Goethe’s comments on size quoted above.

  30. One contemporary observer states about the encounter with a little person: “It was like looking at an exquisite object of virtu, or one of those miracles of mechanism of which we read as having been exhibited throughout Europe” (quoted in Benedict 2006, p. 84). Boruwlaski—also named “Joujou” by his benefactors—relates in his memoirs that it was painful for him to be treated like a mechanical object: “Those, however, would be much mistaken, who should imagine that, seduced by the repeated kindness bestowed on me […], I did not sometimes labour under painful feelings, or that I could always be unconscious of being […] only looked upon by others as a doll, a little more perfect, it is true, and better organized than they commonly are, but, however, only as an animated toy” (Boruwlaski 1788, pp. 29-31). In the discussion of dwarfs in the Histoire Naturelle, Boruwlaski implicitly (“Gentilhomme Polonais”) and Bébé explicitly are mentioned as historical examples (Buffon, 1749–1789 XXXIII: 400). Much as in Boruwlaski’s own account, Buffon places dwarf populations uncomfortably between ape, human, and machine: “ces demi-hommes qui habitent les hautes montagnes de l’intérieur dans la grande île de Madagascar […]. Otez-leur la parole ou donnez-là aux singes grands & petits, ce seroit le passage insensible de l’espèce humaine à la gent quadrupède” [these half-humans that live in the high mountains in the interior of the big island of Madagascar… Take language away from them or give it to big and small apes, this would be the imperceptible passage from the human race to the race of quadrupeds] (Buffon, 1749–1789 XXXIII: 506). After describing the proximity to apes, Buffon reports that some individuals sometimes “[…] ne s’éleve[r] qu’à la taille des poupées ou des marionnettes” [don’t reach higher than to the size of dolls or marionettes] (Buffon, 1749–1789 XXXIII: 510). Translation mine.

  31. The effects of dwarfs on pregnant women were also considered and recorded in Boruwlaski’s memoirs: “Being 1 day with the new married couple, she [Countess Humieska] artfully took an opportunity of introducing the dangers pregnant women are exposed to, and after having instanced many accidents which some ladies of her acquaintance had experienced, stooped towards the Count, and asked him, loud enough to be heard, whether he did not fear some danger for his lady from my [Boruwlaski] continually being under her eyes, and if that would not affect the child she was big with” (Boruwlaski 1788, pp. 15–17).

  32. It is likely that sheep with the same dwarf mutation which the Ancon exhibits occurred already well before the eighteenth century. Gidney reports of archeological evidence from the UK which dates back to the early modern period (Gidney 2007).

  33. Humboldt uses the example of the Ancon in the context of his discussions of race differences. He highlights that populations tend to write mythology about the origin which suits their need for recognition. He writes: “If history had been written by black nations, they would have maintained what even Europeans have recently advanced, that man was originally black, or of a very tawny colour; and that mankind have become white in some races, from the effect of civilization and progressive debilitation, as animals, in a state of domestication, pass from dark to lighter colours” (Humboldt 1852, p. 342).

  34. “Nature’s end [Zweck] in the cohabitation of the sexes is Fortpflanzung, that is, the preservation of the species (Erhaltung der Art). Hence one may not, at least, act contrary to that end” (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, as quoted in Holland 2014, p. 100n17).

  35. Even Fichte, who acknowledges sexual reproduction, has difficulties to think beyond the autonomous unit: “Should it be possible, then the race needed yet another organic existence, beyond that of race; at the same time it needed to exist as race, in order to be able to reproduce. This was only possible by distributing that force which forms the race [among two halves], basically by ripping it into two absolutely codependent halves, which only in their unification make a reproducing whole. […] Only individuals united, and to the extent that they can be united, are race, and form [it].” (“Sollte sie möglich seyn, so musste die Gattung noch eine andere organische Existenz haben, ausser der als Gattung; doch aber auch als Gattung da seyn, um sich fortpflanzen zu können. Dies war nur dadurch möglich, dass die die Gattung bildende Kraft vertheilt, gleichsam in zwei absolut zusammengehörende, und nur in ihrer Vereinigung ein sich fortpflanzendes Ganzes ausmachende Hälfte zerrisen würde. […] Die Individuen, vereinigt, und inwiefern sie vereinigt werden können, sind erst, und bilden erst die Gattung” Grundlage des Naturrechts, as quoted in Holland 2014, p. 101n19).

  36. Blumenbach did assume male and female “liquors.” However, in contrast to Buffon, as Vienne has shown, “[i]t was only later [after the two generative materials had combined], when the Bildungstrieb took effect, that hitherto unformed matter began to take form” (2014, p. 50). The difficulty to think sexual reproduction in terms of its effect on formation and in particular species formulation permeates naturephilosophical thinking and climaxes in Oken’s essay Die Zeugung (1805) where the idea of the existence of a female semen is rejected and generation is relegated entirely to the self-generating male (cf. Vienne 2014, p. 52).

  37. This combination of a wealth of variation in form and lawfulness is nicely captured in Schelling’s formulation of “a dynamical preformation” (First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature, quoted in Bernasconi 2014, p. 249).

  38. The complex back and forth between literary texts and scientific inquiry (and the necessity for attention to their definition in specific historical contexts) is further highlighted when we consider Melissa Ridley Elmes’ suggestion that Goethe drew on alchemical thought in his conception of Melusine (p. 101). Interestingly, Paracelsus groups Melusine with other supernatural figures, among them “pygmies” in a treatise entitled On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies and Salamanders. Already Paracelsus addresses the question of how these figures are related to each other and to the human being: “We consider them to be man, although not from Adam, but other creatures, apart from man and all other animals, in spite of the fact that they come among us and children are born from them, although not of their own kind, but of our kind” (quoted in Elmes 2017, p. 97).

  39. The original German reads: “Ich fand in mir einen Maßstab voriger Größe, welches mich unruhig und unglücklich machte. Nun begriff ich zum erstenmal, was die Philosophen unter ihren Ideen verstehen möchten, wodurch die Menschen so gequält sein sollen. Ich hatte ein Ideal von mir selbst und erschien mir manchmal im Traum wie ein Riese. Genug, die Frau, der Ring, die Zwergenfigur, so viele andere Bande machten mich ganz und gar unglücklich, daß ich auf meine Befreiung im Ernst zu denken begann” (Goethe 2000, 8: 375). Translation mine.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the organizers Susanne Lettow and Gregory Rupik for the wonderful atmosphere and engaging discussions at the Conceiving Reproduction workshop. A special thanks goes to Susanne, as well as to Florence Vienne and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. This article draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 430-2017-01213).

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Lehleiter, C. The genealogy of dwarfs: reproduction and romantic mythology in Goethe’s New Melusine. HPLS 43, 9 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-020-00358-3

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