What do we need to research in more depth?
Goethe’s Italian Journey covers a lot of ground. Not only literally in terms of the miles he travels from Carlsbad to Rome but also metaphorically in terms of his frequent references to geology, culture, and history, to name a few.
In order to build our web application, we need to research some of these topics so that we can write and talk about them in an informed manner and help other readers to understand the text’s larger context.
But how are we going to decide what to research? The google spreadsheet where we list locations and enter information according to pre-determined categories is one way to organize our research process. Another step will be to develop a set of research questions that will help us to look for books and articles with more information.
By Tuesday we will need at least two research questions by group. These questions need to strike a balance between breadth and specificity. It would not help to be too specific and ask, for instance, why Goethe wore a white overcoat on his travels. However, it might be interesting to ask: “What were the general conditions for long-distance traveling at the time of Goethe?” Based on the question, we can then develop search categories and keywords such as “coach traveling,” “post carriages in Europe,” “travel in 18th century Europe,” etc.
Your group’s research question may but does not have to be related to the topic your group has researched so far. It will be helpful, though, to read through the entries in the location spreadsheet to refresh your memories of the text.
Each group should post their research questions as a reply to this post. Simply write your group name and then the two research questions. If possible, include a few keywords that you think we will need when researching the question!
Our two questions are:
What about the Frenchman’s culture makes them so agitated?
What kind of buildings get the special stamp/sticker that allows them to be preserved?
One of our questions is:
Who was involved in the ex-pat scene in Rome at this time and what other pieces of art (plays, literature, visual etc) came out of it?
Part 2 of First Question:
How do these works relate to the Italian Journey?
How does location and diet reflect a population’s culture, appearance, and characteristics?
How does one’s interaction and immersion into a culture/population differ with the language and communication means that are in place?
Group Name: Himalaya
Question 1: As he is traveling, how is he and the people of that time traveling from place to place and what the time frames were for traveling?
Question 2: With his passion for traveling, how does he find himself struggling through a mid-life crisis and how does it redefine him?
Group Name: Fanny
While in Rome, Goethe states that the city is “threatened with a great artistic loss” as the King of Naples has requested a certain statue be brought to his palace. How much authority did royals and nobles have to do something like this? How common was it? What impact did it have on artistic culture and society as a whole?
1) What are the most significant stemming points that link German and Italian cultures?
2) How did Goethe’s travels affect his later writings (playwrights, etc) ?