Goethe’s symbols demand a culturally inherited mode of thinking.

Evidence

The reader is of course familiar with symbolism everywhere in the modern novel; but in general the symbolism is built into the work, like a sheet of instructions supplied inside the box along with the puzzle pieces. Here we feel the burden of guilt laid upon us as readers, in our lack of what strikes us almost as a culturally inherited mode of thinking, accessible only to those who are that culture’s members; and no doubt the Goethean system does project itself in some such way, in its claim to universality. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 148

Categorization

• XREF: Juxtaposes modern built-in symbolism against Goethe’s externally-encoded allegory — a Formalist distinction relevant to Benjamin’s allegory/symbol split. — connects to: Original thought can also inherit a prior heritage; Thought requires active engagement with a modifying cultural environment to be real — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1254

Broader Connections

• Original thought can also inherit a prior heritage #expands (0.78)
• Thought requires active engagement with a modifying cultural environment to be real #expands (0.73) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1254