Original German cover page to Goethe's 1809 novella Die Wahlverwandtschaften (The Affinities).

In famous publications, Elective Affinities is an October 1809 scientific novella by German polymath Johann von Goethe, in which the characters, considered as chemical species, interact through passions are governed by the reaction laws of “elective” or chemical affinity. [1] The central plot of the book is centered on a double elective affinity, through which the four main characters Eduard, Charlotte, Captain, and Ottilie go through as the novella proceeds.

Goethe's Elective Affinities is considered as the founding book of human chemistry. [2] Goethe's theory of human elective affinities, stimulated may writers in the years to follow. One such person was German sociologist Max Weber, who had begun reading Goethe at the age of 14, later constructing a theory of social human elective affinities. [3] English science historian Jeremy Adler did his 1969 PhD dissertation on the theoretical basis of Goethe's novella, in terms of what chemists and affinity reaction each chapter was based on. [4]

Production
The first mention of Elective Affinities by Goethe occurred on 11 April 1808 in a diary entry. The end of July of that year he had completed a version with 18 chapters. This, however, remained untouched until April of next year. On October 1809, he finally the whole novel, in two parts with 18 chapters, shortly before printing.

Advertisement
On March 23, 1810 Goethe put an advertisement for his novella in the Morning Paper for the Educated Professional stating the following: [6]

“It seems as if the author’s continued natural studies have caused him to use this unusual title. He may have noticed that in the natural sciences one often uses ethical parables in order to bring closer what is quite distant from the circle of human knowledge; and so he also probably wanted, in a moral case, to bring a chemical figure of speech back to its spiritual origins, especially since there is only one nature overall, and also since throughout the realm of cheerful freedom of reason the traces of sad, passionate necessity irresistibly pull themselves and may only be erased by a higher hand, and perhaps even then not in this life.”

Another shorter translation of this advertisement reads: [7]

“It seems that his continued work in physics made the author choose this strange title. He may have noticed that often in natural science ethical similes are used to bring something nearer that is remote from the region of human knowledge, and so, presumably, he may have wanted to trace the parlance of a chemical simile back to its spiritual origin, all the more so since there is after all just one nature.”

The principle characters in Goethe’s Elective Affinities (Eduard, Charlotte, Captain, and Ottilie) original drawing by Heinrich Dahling, engraved by Heinrich Schmidt for the 1811 German edition. [8]

Title etymology
The name of the book is derived from the the Latin translation of Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman's 1775 textbook A Dissertation on Elective Attractions, where the German Die Wahlverwandtschaften literally means "The Elective Affinities". [5] German historian Jeremy Adler notes that Goethe mentions both Bergman and French chemist Claude Berthollet in connection with his studies on affinity. Specifically, in a conversation with his friend Riemer on 24 July 1809, Goethe specifically names Bergman as a source for his for the idea of “elective affinity”, using the early German translation of that term, namely “Wahlverwandtschaft”, which became an inspiration for his novel. [4]

Mittler
American chemist Ronald Hoffmann argues that the character Mittler, “the mediator”, whose central point was to never enter any house where there was not a dispute to settle or difficulties to put right, was the role model for a catalyst or human catalyst. [8] In Goethe’s mind, however, Mittler more likely was modeled on the theory of “mediating affinity”, a species or substance the brings about an action in or between two other chemical species. [2]

Reception
In an 1827 conversation Johann Eckermann, Goethe discusses a letter from Solger to Tieck in which kind words about the Wahlverwandtschaften (Elective Affinities) were spoken on the fine nature of the Architect’s character. Goethe comments on this letter that:

“These remarks were written as early as 1809. I should then have been much cheered to hear so kind a word about the Wahlverwandtschaften; for at that time, and afterwards, not many pleasant remarks were vouchsafed be about that novel.”

We may conclude from these remarks that Goethe’s novella / chemical theory presentation found a cold reception and likely rejection for many people, which of course was due to the fact that the logic of the book was many centuries ahead of its time.

Reproductions
Since its publication, Goethe's 1809 novella has been the stimulus for several reproductions:

● The 1993 oil-on-canvas painting (Elective Affinities) by Belgian surrealist artist by René Magritteis themed on Goethe's Elective Affinities.
● The 1962 film Jules et Jim by director Francois Truffaut was filmed while reading Elective Affinities.
● The 1993 play Arcadia by British playwright Tom Stoppard is a modern re-write of Elective Affinities, juxtaposed between the years 1809 and 1989.
● The 1996 film Le affinità elettive by Paolo Taviani is the French-Italian version of the book.

See also
● Goethe’s human chemistry

Commemorative video on the 200th anniversary (October 2009) of the publication of Goethe's Elective Affinities.

References
1. (a) Goethe, Johann. (1809). Elective Affinities. Penguin Classics.
(b) Smith, P.D. (2000). “Elective Affinity: a Tale of Two Cultures”, Prometheus, 46-65.
2. (a) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
(b) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume Two), (preview), (ch. 10: "Goethe's Affinities", pgs. 371-422). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
3. Herbert, Richard, H. (1978). 'Max Weber's Elective Affinities: Sociology within the Bounds of Pure Reason', American Journal of Sociology, 84, 366-85.
4. Adler, Jeremy. (1990). "Goethe's use of chemical theory in his Elective Affinities" (ch. 18, pgs. 263-79) in Romanticism and the Sciences - edited by Andrew Cunningham and Nicholas Jardine, New York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Tantillo, Astrida, O. (2001). Goethe’s Elective Affinities and the Critics (pg. xvii). New York: Camden House.
6. (a) Anonymous. (1810). “Franzosisches Urtheil uver Goethes Wahlverwandtshaften” (Morgenblatt fur gebildete Stande). No. 71. Tubingen. Mar 23.
(b) Hartl, Heinz. (1983). Die Wahlverwandtschaften: Eine Dokumentation der Wirkung von Goethes Roman 1808-1832 (pgs. 146-50). Weinheim: Acta humaniora.
7. Kompridis, Nokolas. (2006). Philosophical Romanticism (pg. 246). Routledge.
8. Hoffmann, Ronald. (1995). The Same and Not the Same (Goethe, pgs. 58, 88-89, 179-80, 256). Cambridge University Press.
9. Goethe, Johann, Eckermann, Johann P, Moorhead, J.K. (1998). Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann (Elective Affinities, pgs. 12, 44, 158-59, 217, 435). Da Capo Press.

External links
● Elective Affinities – Wikipedia.
● 200th Anniversary Elective Affinities T-Shirt – Zazzle.com.