Elective Affinities

Elective Affinities was Goethe's third novel. It depicts human relationships in a Romantic crucible, and is the sourcebook and inspiration for many literary and filmic adaptations and variations.

By : Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

00 - Introduction 01 - Part I Chapter 1 02 - Part I Chapter 2 03 - Part I Chapter 3 04 - Part I Chapter 4 05 - Part I Chapter 5 06 - Part I Chapter 6 07 - Part I Chapter 7 08 - Part I Chapter 8 09 - Part I Chapter 9 10 - Part I Chapter 10 11 - Part I Chapter 11 12 - Part I Chapter 12 13 - Part I Chapter 13 14 - Part I Chapter 14 15 - Part I Chapter 15 16 - Part I Chapter 16 17 - Part I Chapter 17 18 - Part I Chapter 18 19 - Part II Chapter 1 20 - Part II Chapter 2 21 - Part II Chapter 3 22 - Part II Chapter 4 23 - Part II Chapter 5 24 - Part II Chapter 6 25 - Part II Chapter 7 26 - Part II Chapter 8 27 - Part II Chapter 9 28 - Part II Chapter 10 29 - Part II Chapter 11 30 - Part II Chapter 12 31 - Part II Chapter 13 32 - Part II Chapter 14 33 - Part II Chapter 15 34 - Part II Chapter 16 35 - Part II Chapter 17 36 - Part II Chapter 18

The book is situated around the city of Weimar. Goethe's main characters are Eduard and Charlotte, an aristocratic couple both in their second marriage, enjoying an idyllic but semi-dull life on the grounds of their rural estate. They invite the Captain, Eduard's childhood friend, and Ottilie, the beautiful, orphaned, coming-of-age niece of Charlotte, to live with them. The decision to invite Ottilie and the Captain is described as an "experiment" and this is exactly what it is. The house and its surrounding gardens are described as "a chemical retort in which the human elements are brought together for the reader to observe the resulting reaction."