Literary waterscapes

Water representation in the Italian Journey, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Abstract

The recognition of water as a vital attribute, a cultural asset, and an artistic theme permeates cultures and the very trajectory of humanity’s fixation and development. In recent years, water has become one of the resources with the greatest recreational, heritage, and tourist value, a movement that is related to a sensitive interpretation driven by the Grand Tour, which started in the 17th century and practiced by great names in the arts, such as Goethe. The intense aesthetic representation of water is part of the legacy of Grand Tour and, although widespread in the arts, studies are limited from the perspective of the waterscape, whose research focus approaches literature and tourism. The research explored this gap, and asked: how are the aquatic landscapes presented in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Grand Tour literary work Italian Journey? It aimed to analyze the aquatic landscapes – waterscape – in the literary work Italian Journey, by Goethe. The topoanalytical method was applied, from the analysis of space through eight pertinent topics of observation in the literature of prose and verse. It was found that the Goethian waterscape is connotatively positive and associates the waters of Italy with vivacity, joy, luminosity, and fluidity. Lake and sea trips are moments full of emotion. The gondolas, the immensity of the blue sea, and the greenish reflections of the maritime water, the rivers, the lagoons, the beaches, and the canals articulate the Italian aquatic landscape narrated by the poet.