Hafez and Goethe: Preachers of World Cult

Many efforts have been made for closeness, reconciliation andunderstanding between Eastern and Western cultures. But in modern times,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is perhaps the first person to take a major stepin this direction, opening a warm embrace of friendship to the East.Goethe’s particular interpretation of Hafez can be a major pivot for a deepintercultural dialogue between the East and the West. Goethe took animportant step in moving the West towards this common culture. Goethe'sinterpretation of Hafez paved the way to this common world culture in theEast as well. Perhaps this common culture can be called a „global culture”.This global culture must have two important elements, one from the Westand one from the East. It is evident that this culture must be the result andcombination of both culture types. „Individuality” (fardiyyat) and „unity ofbeing” (vahdat-e wojoud) are these two elements, which don’t seem to getstraight to the point. It seems that Goethe’s interpretation of Hafez is not aninterpretation far removed from Hafez’s meanings and intentions, and isdeeply correlated with ancient Iranian wisdom.

کلیدواژه ها:

Hafez ، Goethe ، Weltkultur ، Individualität ، Einheit des Seins