由於全球化的潮流影響，歌德的「世界文學」概念再度受到重視，並且普遍認為是個恰當的術語，用來描述全球化時代之下的文學。然而，近年來相關的討論，大部分都著重在政治與經濟社會面向，較忽略原本歌德的「世界文學」概念中非常核心的文藝與美學上的問題。因此，本文將藉由對《西東詩集》這部歌德晚年重要文學作品的探討，試圖勾勒出原本歌德在「世界文學」概念中，所要透露出的美學與詩學上的意涵。而以《西東詩集》為研究文本，不只因為它超越地理疆界，融合歐洲與中東的文學與文化傳統，體裁上詩體與散文體並存，同時也隱含對「世界文學」概念中，相當關鍵的翻譯與詩學上的反思。另外本文也將以班雅明的翻譯理論為基礎，論證《西東詩集》裡的詩學理論中，將文學視為具有關聯性與翻譯性的基本特質，而此基本特質同樣也出現在歌德對翻譯與世界文學的思考上。
Due to the emergence of the globalized world, much attention has been paid to Goethe's concept of world literature, which can be considered an appropriate term to describe literature in the age of globalization. However, many current discussions are so dominated by the political and socialeconomic issues that the literary-aesthetic dimension, which plays an important role in Goethe's considerations, is to some extent neglected. To describe the literary-aesthetic significance in Goethe's concept of world literature, the present paper suggests an indirect approach by exploring his ＂West-East Divan＂ which consists not only of poetic cycles, but also of notes and essays discussing the literature and culture in both Orient and Occident as well as the problems of translation and poetics. In addition, with Walter Benjamin's theory of translation, the present paper argues that translation and world literature shares the poetic concept considered in ＂West-East Divan＂, which assumes that poetry or literature is essentially relational and translational.
