I'm not sure how well it translates to English, having read it in Dutch and German, but I'm sure there are many competant translators out there. von Goethe, published in German as Die Leiden des jungen Werthers in 1774. ", Werther was one of Goethe's few works aligned with the aesthetic, social and philosophical ideals that pervaded the German proto-Romantic movement known as Sturm und Drang, before he and Friedrich von Schiller moved into Weimar Classicism. It appears, on the surface, that Goethe is reprimanding those who have the same perspective on life as Werther by murdering him at the end of the novel. The Sorrows of Young Werther, novel by J.W. The novel is the story of a sensitive, artistic young man who demonstrates the fatal effects of a predilection… I expected to be disappointed with an overwrought melodrama and mushy lyricism. It was the first novel of the Sturm und Drang movement. For anyone who has suffered from that unrequited love that burns like a fever will be able to relate uncannily well with this book. Romanticism often defies the logical and endorses the pursuance of the opposite in just the same way Werther did. Although he wrote Werther at the age of 24, it was all for which some of his visitors in his old age knew him. He is not tolerated and asked to leave since he is not a nobleman. I had no thought of reading this novel until I came across a pair of characters called Goethe and Lotte in Christine Brooke-Rose’s. As stated earlier, this book endorses the issue of sentimentality very clearly through Werther. It's definately a masterpiece of its age, but I can't count how many times throughout the book I wanted to shake Werther by the arm or better so, slap him it the face. In the 2015 game, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt's Blood and Wine Expansion Pack, there is a treasure hunt called "The Suffering of Young Francois", where a man named François seeks help from a witch to make a woman named Charlotte, who is engaged with Albert, fall in love with him. A book like this has a different impact when you read it at twenty compared to sixty-something! ... Charlotte's life was despaired of. It is his heart that Werther listens to, and his heart that he feels he must sacrifice. It's only upon finishing that you realise how Goethe has managed to completely draw you into the concerns and beliefs of one character in such an extraordinary way. However, it's a perfect psychological portrait! Goethe is one of the latter ones, I knew he was important but it did not attract me at all. So, without further ado, I present to you: The Tweets of Young Werther. To his spirit and character you cannot refuse your admiration and love: to his fate you will not deny your tears. February 8th 2005 It's only upon finishing that you realise how Goethe has managed to completely draw you into the concerns and belie. Werther falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing beforehand that she is engaged to a man named Albert, eleven years her senior.[4]. And the fact that the book caused a lot of people to commit suicide doesn't help at all. I would not be mistaken if I think that many of us would have just eschewed this book by just seeing the first few words of the title. From reading Holmes’ “Age of Wonder” and Wulf’s “The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World”, I got some apprecia. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. Menu. Written in 1774 when Goethe was 24, it was essentially the world’s first best seller. The Novel of Werther sub ita sreaming. So, I don't remember much of it, except the crying. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this, Goethe’s semi-autobiographical tale of a young man’s unrequited love that ends in his suicide. This argument was continued in his collection of short and critical poems, the Xenien, and his play Faust. His sorrow eventually becomes so unsupportable that he is forced to leave Wahlheim for Weimar, where he makes the acquaintance of Fräulein von B. Though the events of this story can be considered as unfortunate for our Werther, but it can be accepted that Werther is not a weak one, at least not in common sense. I decided on The Sorrows of Young Werther as the introduction with the writer because it was short and in prose. High school: Maths and lovesickness. The novel was published anonymously, and Goethe distanced himself from it in his later years,[2] regretting the fame it had brought him and the consequent attention to his own youthful love of Charlotte Buff, then already engaged to Johann Christian Kestner. Sorrow is one of the emotions which every great man cannot escape in their lives, as Dostoevsky says. A Autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. I was surprised that it was so readable although the subject wasn’t too pleasing, hint the Sorrows from the title, and the epistolary format is not usually exciting. The funeral is not attended by any clergy, or by Albert or Charlotte. Yet, even this praise proves insufficient: no words, it seems, are good enough to describe the woman. Guarda! Werther hesitates to call her an angel, as that’s what all men call their beloveds, and such a common word simply isn’t adequate to Lotte. I finished the book yesterda, I heeded the warnings and picked up this read because its description alluded relevancy to some of my recent experiences. 959. It's packed with beautiful descriptions of his surroundings and the countryside. Well, I didn't expect to be blown away reading this classic novel by Goethe.. After a long time, I closed a book with tearful eyes.. Most of The Sorrows of Young Werther, a story about unrequited love, is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a sensitive and passionate temperament, to … Written in diary form, it tells the tale of an unhappy, passionate young man hopelessly in love with Charlotte, the wife of a friend - a man who he alternately admires and detests. During the past 3 years I’ve started to read more classic writers that I missed when I was younger. already married). The novel is the story of a sensitive, artistic young man who demonstrates the fatal effects of a predilection for Even before that incident, Werther had hinted at the idea that one member of the love triangle – Charlotte, Albert or Werther himself – had to die to resolve the situation. A book like this has a different impact when you read it at twenty compared to s. I sure remember this from university days. That means most of them because I thought that dead writer= bad writer, with the exception of Russian authors. One of these, Friedrich Nicolai, decided to create a satirical piece with a happy ending, entitled Die Freuden des jungen Werthers ("The Joys of Young Werther"), in which Albert, having realized what Werther is up to, loaded chicken's blood into the pistol, thereby foiling Werther's suicide, and happily concedes Charlotte to him. I finished the book yesterday, and, frankly, I've enjoyed the book tremendously. It breaks my heart to speak ill of a book written by Goethe; but when one thinks of the countless men and women who have read this book throughout the years, weeping tears of compassion for Werther and men of his elk, it no longer comes as a surprise how misogyny and domestic violence still haunts our women to this day. The Novel of Werther. It's hard now to recreate the mental world of Europe when this book came out in 1774 – partly because it did so much to point up a new kind of mental world, one dominated by wild emotion and individualism (not to say self-indulgence). However, it's a perfect psychological portrait! I plead mitigating circumstances. The Sorrows of Young Werther (German: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I picked this up with some trepidation, assuming that it would be full of stolid German angst and that I would give up after a couple of pages. The text proper opens with a letter from Werther to someone he refers to as his “dear friend” (later, this character is revealed to be Wilhelm). Werther mentions Leonore, a young woman with whose emotions he has recently toyed. After some initial difficulties, Werther sheds his passionate youthful side and reintegrates himself into society as a respectable citizen.[12]. Written in 1774 when Goethe was 24, it was essentially the world’s first best seller. SORROW: the very word instigates a sense of a confused horror in us. Some of these authors I was eager to read, some less. And thou, good soul, who sufferest the same distress as he endured once, draw comfort from his sorrows; and let this little book be thy friend, if, owing to fortune or through thine own fault, thou canst not find a de The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the literary texts interwoven in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The Novel of Werther (1938) 1 of 2. The subject matter, especially coming from an author in the late-1700s, is treated fairly and compassionately, and the delivery, though somewhat conventional, has its unique traits. The work is semi-autobiographical - in 1772, two years before the novel was published, Goethe had passed through a similar tempestuous period, when he lost his heart to Charlotte Buff, who was at that time engaged to his friend Johann Christian Kestner. These would later become Romantic tropes, but here they are more embryonic. But in English it remains a book more famous than read. Hello, Sign in. According to Professor Corbally, in Lecture 3 of Romanticism, “It’s a perfect book of adolescent emotions, and the book was the product of the sort of love lost, hopelessness, melodrama that sends many teens into bouts of depression knowing that they alone have experienced the tragedy of love lost so very deeply”. Though the events of this story can be considered as unfortunate for our Werther, but it can be. Welcome back. :). Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”, “I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing.”, Ελληνο-γερμανικό Βραβείο Μετάφρασης for Στέλλα Νικολούδη (1998), Are you still alive, after reading the book? This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. I know that the times were different, but still they should know better. I decided on The Sorrows of Young Werther as the introduction with the writer because it was short and in prose. Energetic Light Spirals; the novel of werther Werther's mother, who goes unnamed throughout the novel, never directly corresponds with her son. Goethe had changed his views of literature radically by then, even denouncing the Romantic movement as "everything that is sick. by Modern Library. Sorrow brings a state of helplessness from which the unfortunate weak ones cannot free themselves. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. As he commented to his secretary in 1821, "It must be bad, if not everybody was to have a time in his life, when he felt as though Werther had been written exclusively for him." The small novel totally exceed. From Wikipedia, I learn how he wrote this while a young lawyer and how its popularity helped spawn the Romantic movement as a counter to the excess rationalism of the Enlightenment. The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary, specifically a collection of letters, penned by prolific German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I loved it. It's beautiful writing of the highest order (even in translation) and a perfect example of how obsession can ultimately lead to personal emptiness. She, out of pity for her friend and respect for her husband, decides that Werther must not visit her so frequently. Every day becomes a torturing reminder that Charlotte will never be able to requite his love. "Pattern Of Death: Copycat Suicides Among Youths", "In Aspenite's debut novel, a Goethe hero lost at sea,", William Makepeace Thackeray's poem "Sorrows of Werther", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther&oldid=1022613930, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with German-language sources (de), Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Goethe, aged 24 at the time, finished Werther in five-and-a-half weeks of intensive writing in January–March 1774. Some of these authors I was eager to read, some less. 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' became an important part of the 'Sturm und Drang movement, and greatly influenced later 'Romanticism'. Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. In fact, it apparently led to some of the first known copycat suicides in Europe. Start by marking “The Sorrows of Young Werther” as Want to Read: Error rating book. No doubt there were shimmers of brilliance in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774); however, for such a short book, it took me a long time to complete it. Thackeray wrote this very glib verse synopsis of the tale: It’s taken me well over a year to get through the saga of Young Werther’s love for his Lotte even though it’s quite a short little book. It was one of the most important novels in the Sturm und Drang period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic movement. [11] Nonetheless, this aspect of "Werther Fever" was watched with concern by the authorities – both the novel and the Werther clothing style were banned in Leipzig in 1775; the novel was also banned in Denmark and Italy. 1 of 2. He visits her one final time, and they are both overcome with emotion after he recites to her a passage of his own translation of Ossian. Often the book was found at the scene of the suicide. The Werther effect was the term coined by the sociologist David Phillips in 1974 to define the imitative effect of suicidal behavior. The sorrows young Werther experienced … Werther's mother provides financial support for her son, and their estrangement is never fully explained. [1] The book's publication instantly placed the author among the foremost international literary celebrities, and was among the best known of his works. When François learns of this, he hangs himself. The small novel totally exceeded my expectations and I gulped it in almost one go. I loved it. Try The film was made by Nero Film, a company run by German exiles who had left following the Nazi rise to power. That means most of them because I thought that dead writer= bad writer, with the exception of Russian authors. Werther and Lotte, from the “The Sorrows of Young Werther”. [1][2], Most of The Sorrows of Young Werther, a story about unrequited love, is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a sensitive and passionate temperament, to his friend Wilhelm. Refresh and try again. He suffers great embarrassment when he forgetfully visits a friend and unexpectedly has to face there the weekly gathering of the entire aristocratic set. Unfortunately the ending is such that it inspired many people to use it like a template for their own lives when faced with a similar situation. What drew me to it, along with favorable reviews by GR friends, is my curiosity and ignorance of Goethe as an important figure in cultural history. The Novel of Werther ; Where to watch JustWatch. Sorrow brings a state of helplessness from which the unfortunate weak ones cannot free themselves. ", Granted and truth be told, the general thematics, as well as the writing, the stylistics of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's, I sure remember this from university days. von Goethe, published in German as Die Leiden des jungen Werthers in 1774. At one level, it's not difficult to relate to Werther and the pain he experiences (he is in love with a woman who is unavailable, i.e. Instead, Werther describes her as a soul possessed of equal parts goodness, tranquility, and vitality. The book ends with an intimation that Charlotte may die of a broken heart: "I shall say nothing of...Charlotte's grief. Yet, Goethe substantially reworked the book for the 1787 edition[2] and acknowledged the great personal and emotional influence that The Sorrows of Young Werther could exert on forlorn young lovers who discovered it. It fits rather perfectly in it's depiction of when certain literature was identified as being subversive which mirrors the reality of how the Nazis treated almost all … The book's publication instantly place… First published in 1774, it reappeared as a revised edition in 1787. [7][8] Items of merchandising such as prints, decorated Meissen porcelain and even a perfume were produced. The Sorrows of Young Werther (German: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Werther isn't an entirely sympathetic character (he has the odd Kevin the Teenager moment) but you are entirely drawn into his world and feel the same responses as him very keenly. This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. What I got was a nice balance of emotional engagement in Werther’s growing love for Charlotte and universal wisdom in his analytic portrayal of his obsessed condition in letters to his friend, Wilhelm. This French historical drama film based on the 1774 novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Goethe. Werther then shoots himself in the head, but does not die until twelve hours later. This use of nature is explored in the beginning of the novel where Werther is filled with joy and enjoys seeing nature as art. Napoleon Bonaparte considered it one of the great works of European literature, having written a Goethe-inspired soliloquy in his youth and carried Werther with him on his campaigning to Egypt. Nevertheless, I love Goethe's style, and I think I'll be looking into more of his works. The work is. (considering the 'Werther Effect'), See all 8 questions about The Sorrows of Young Werther…, The Sorrows of Young Werther - NO spoilers, Summer Reading: The Hottest New Books of the Season. I loved the story, I could relate to many of his thoughts about unrequited love and its tragic consequences, and feeling like it was the end of the world because I wasn't with that special someone and, well. This French historical drama film based on the 1774 novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Goethe. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe was the chief proponent of a movement in German … Werther isn't an entirely sympathetic character (he has the odd Kevin the Teenager moment) but you are entirely drawn into his world and feel the same responses as him very keenly. Goethe, published February 8th 2005 by modern Library emotions which every great man can not free.... 6 ], the book yesterday, and with its dark quixotic themes, reappeared... Want to read: Error rating book Werther spends the next few months a... 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