Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was an exceptionally prolific and versatile writer. As a student, he composed pastoral plays in the style of the waning Rococo. With Gotz von Berlichingen, a drama conceived in the spirit of Shakespeare, he joined the avant-garde ‘Storm and Stress’ authors. At 25 he wrote the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, eliciting fervent responses among those who rejected the traditions of the Enlightenment. In his tragedyFaust, which evolved over a 60-year period, he created a prototype of the Romantic hero. A scientist active in various fields, including botany and the theory of colors, he pondered aspects of evolution well before Darwin. He also developed a concept of ‘world literature’, based on his studies of literary theory, and his lyric poetry has been translated into many languages. Peter Boerner, an acclaimed Goethe scholar, has written the definitive short biography.