Goethe's most novelistic novel — using the chemical concept of elective affinities (selective bonding) as a metaphor for human passion, fate, and the destruction of a marriage.
The chemical metaphor applied to human relationships: elective affinities (Wahlverwandtschaften) — the tendency of chemical compounds to exchange partners when new elements are introduced — as an image for what happens when two new people enter an established marriage. Goethe's most pessimistic work: passion overcomes reason and social order, with tragic results. The novel's form: unlike Goethe's other fiction, this is a tightly structured realist novel.
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