The Place of the East and Hafez's Divan in Goethe's Thought

This is an essay or article about Western intellectual attitudes toward Eastern culture and literature from the Enlightenment through Romanticism. It traces how initial Western skepticism gave way to deeper appreciation as thinkers recognized the richness of Eastern culture. During the Romantic period, Eastern literature became a major source of inspiration for Western writers and philosophers. The text discusses Herder as a pioneer of this intellectual movement in German literature and his significant influence on Goethe's thinking about the East, followed by other German writers who embraced this cultural reorientation.