Literature and Trust: Notes on Analytical Tools

Abstract

Trust has a prominent role in the consolidation of self, of world apprehension and of human interactions. When literary texts represent interactions between subject and world, trust underlies motivations, actions and the transformations of meaning that emerge from such interactions. Parting from this perspective, this article aims to discuss the concept of trust in three spheres: individual, sociocultural and existential. To illustrate the argumentation, the article draws on three plays by Goethe: Torquato Tasso, Egmont and Iphigenia in Tauris. The introduction briefly outlines the place of trust in the discourse of Modernity. In the sections that follow, we seek to discuss each of the spheres and their representation in literary texts. The article concludes that trust as an analytical tool transcends national literary discourse, functioning as an instrument to identify new layers of meaning.

Keywords: Trust; Goethe; Torquato Tasso; Egmont; Iphigenia in Tauris