Goethe

Introduction

Johann Goethe

He has one of the most mispronounced names in the history of literature, but Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (that’s “GU(R)-tuh” for the record) is easily remembered as a towering figure of the German Enlightenment. Despite his later disdain for literary Romanticism, he helped establish it as the defining artistic movement of the nineteenth century with novels such as The Sorrows of Young Werther. But as a writer, he eventually graduated from his angry-young-man phase to a more refined, restrained view of what great writing should be. The result was his most famous work—the epic, two-part Faust. With notable achievements in literature, philosophy, law, the sciences, and politics to his name, Goethe leaves behind a legacy not only of great art but also of great ideas.

Essential Facts

1. Early in his career, Goethe was part of the Sturm und Drang movement, which has been translated many different ways, including “Storm and Stress” and “Storm and Urge.” As the name implies, the movement emphasized emotion and passion in art works.
2. Faust was originally written as a “closet drama,” a long play that was supposed to be read instead of performed. Despite Goethe’s intentions, Faust continues to be produced theatrically to this day. But be careful before you buy a ticket: one recent production clocked in at 21 hours.
3. Like many artists, Goethe spent a large part of his life in another career altogether. He was trained as a lawyer and practiced periodically during his life.
4. One of Goethe’s earliest works, The Sorrows of Young Werther recounts a fruitless romantic infatuation. Though based on Goethe’s own experiences, the novel differs in one important way: his hero commits suicide at the end.
5. Like Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci before him, Goethe was interested in and wrote about nearly everything. His works fill over 130 volumes and include an unfinished treatise on acoustics as well as an attack on Isaac Newton’s theory of light.