SOURCE: Waldstein, Edith. “Goethe and Beyond: Bettine von Arnim's Correspondence with a Child and Günderode.”¹ In In the Shadow of Olympus: German Women Writers Around 1800, edited by Katherine R. Goodman and Edith Waldstein, pp. 95-113. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

In the following essay, Waldstein examines Goethe's Correspondence with a Child and Günderode, claiming that the difficulty critics have had classifying Arnim's work is due to the experimental nature of her writing.

Bettine von Arnim first met Goethe in April 1807 in Weimar. From her own recollection of this occasion, one cannot infer much more than naive adoration on the part of the 22-year-old. In a letter to Achim von Arnim, dated July 13, 1807, she writes: “… in Weimar a single wish of mine was granted, the four hours that I spent there, I looked into Goethe's face, who looked back at me in such a friendly...