Elective Affinities (Penguin Classics)

A wonderful and enigmatic novel, in which Goethe weaves early 19th-century changes in global ecological and imperial systems "like a red thread" together with his extended and complex comparison between chemical and intimate human interactions. The two themes come together through characters' local world-making. In the characters' varyingly cooperative and clashing development of a private modern landscape, newly discovered affinities disrupt old habits and habitats and irrevocably transform them.

Well, I put five stars to this item because it is one of the most fabulous and complex novels ever written, at least for me (I read and re-read it in the original German). BUT : Everyone intending to read it in English should choose the Oxford Classics edition rather than this one. This old translation in Penguin clearly betrays the author's intentions, it becomes clear in the very first sentence, and there's nothing left in it of Goethe's subtlety.

This is a fine novel, and Goethe is perhaps the giant in German literature. The title refers to the central metaphor of the novel, the way in which chemical compounds separate and unite themselves with each other in seemingly arbitrary but entirely predictable ways, just as the characters in this novel are. The novel subtley broaches questions about free will, and human nature. Well worth the read.

This wierd and wonderful book resides at the top of my all time favorite list. Its the story of life after the perfect wedding. Its the antidote to the American fairytale (they all lived happily ever after). Its wonderful writing, bracing and horrifying the way real life is.

Elective Affinities is a must read book for all lovers of the romantic period!!! This book is filled with wonderful insights into the human psyche, love, conflict, and their common connections with the external world, and those we share it with; it is overflowing with philosophical thoughts. I could never give this book, or Goethe, enough praise.--It is a shame the person also reviewing this book began it as a task rather than an adventure. Most of this book is, as other books written by Goethe: composed from his personal experiences, and which were once only jottings in his diary; hence, it is real, and not to be compared with a contemopary soap opera (such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice). YES, a must read. I also recommend Goethe's The Sorrow of Young Werther.