ABSTRACT
The defining characteristics of the Spanish Kabbalah are the uniquely feminine aspect of God-as-immanent; the emphasis on sexuality and eros; the attention given to the concept of evil; and the centrality of language. Goethe's lifelong preoccupation with the Divine Feminine in both its alchemical and kabbalistic forms is well documented. Analysis of some key passages of his Wilhelm Meister, this chapter suggests fluid simultaneity of the aesthetic discourse he employs in presenting his feminine understanding of human sentiment justifies identifying it with the kind of ecriture feminine the Kabbalah exemplifies. The fundamental discrepancy between the imaginary feminine entertained by the men on the one hand and, on the other, the reality of female experience is a rich source of irony in the novel. Like Irigaray's self-made woman, the Shekhinah's articulation of the (divine) feminine is fundamentally an exploitation of her body.
