Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Books

Goethe's Italian journey came after ten hard years administering and working at Weimar. In these years his literary output contracted. The trip to Italy was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, a dream inspired in part by his own father's earlier journey and love of Italy. In Italy Goethe found yet another side of his multifaceted self . He opened to the world and the light and to sensuous reality. His connection with Nature is a fundamental theme of his poetry and in Italy he found a Nature which seemed imbued with organic form and Art , and an Art imbued with Nature. In a sense leaving home enabled him to come home to a central side of himself.
Goethe was a writer- scientist- artist whose central theme was his own inner development. This development took a dramatic turn for the good, and these journals of his Italian trip are a central part of ' the great confession' which was his work.

Those who love Goethe or love Italy or love traveling might have come across The Italian Journey, Goethe's late-in-life rendering of his experience "fleeing" Weimar and hopeless love to fulfill a lifelong dream of being in Italy. I can't say staying in Italy or visiting Italy or studying Italy because Goethe's quest was so much more profound and fundamental; in Italy Goethe hoped to BE. This diary and these letters, however, are Goethe's immediate impressions, un-editted and not reconsidered. These are his immediate considerations and his emotions expressed in the diary he wrote for Frau von Stein, the woman he loved more or less hopelessly for several years. I love both books, but this one, unlike Italian Journey, is not neatly refined and carved and considered from a mature viewpoint; this is full of the urgency and passion and longing that propelled Goethe across the Brenner and up the slopes of Vesuvius. It's just GREAT.

A wonderful little book maybe to accompany the far more developed one by Henri Bortoft, "The Wholeness of Nature". It takes many excerpts from Goethe's approach to science and includes some of his major essays in the area. If you want a starter in this subject buy it if you want real understanding in depth get Bortoft's book.

The book considers many aspects such plant metamorphosis, colour theory, the concept of the archetype and even some of Goethe's own thoughts on the philosophy of science. There are even pieces which I've seen nowhere else such as the eras of science, merely pointed out but not elaborated upon. In this way the book grabs your attention and doesn't let go, it was my second introduction after Bortoft's having been recommended by him and it is well worth it.

A wonderful little book maybe to accompany the far more developed one by Henri Bortoft, "The Wholeness of Nature". It takes many excerpts from Goethe's approach to science and includes some of his major essays in the area. If you want a starter in this subject buy it if you want real understanding in depth get Bortoft's book.

The book considers many aspects such plant metamorphosis, colour theory, the concept of the archetype and even some of Goethe's own thoughts on the philosophy of science. There are even pieces which I've seen nowhere else such as the eras of science, merely pointed out but not elaborated upon. In this way the book grabs your attention and doesn't let go, it was my second introduction after Bortoft's having been recommended by him and it is well worth it.

I can fall into line with the writer of the "product description" who did most wonderful. One exeption: instead of refering to a European spirit, Goethe's works at this time are to be related to the 'Klassik' period, strongly based on the resumption of the ancient Greek, Roman and renaissance ideas of humanity.
I follow as well the given further recommendations of other plays, stressing esp. - e.g. - Gerhard Hauptmann, and adding, e.g., Friedrich Schiller, "Intrigue and Love", and Bertold Brecht, "The Good Person of Szechwan"!
(Pls. don't imply to my comment I'd be focused too much on German drama and literature: I strongly appreciate as well e.g. plays of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee, just to name some American writers.)

Daniel Albright is an extraordinarily perceptive critical thinker. All of his studies are a delight to read, offering deep and thought-provoking insight into music, literature, and their intersections. His book on Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette and La Damnation de Faust, in two independant sections, is very well organized and allows the reader to understand a great deal about the works even if he or she is not intimately familiar with the texts or even with the music. He begins each section with a brief exegesis of the literary work (Shakespeare's or Goethe's), uses a few pages to explain Berlioz's exposure to the literature and possible inspirations for choosing to write semi-operas on the subjects, and then concludes with a hermeneutic approach to each semi-opera, relating it to other works in the composer's oevre and other various artistic entities.

The book is not difficult to read, but always use a dictionary when confronting Albright. He manages to find the most obscure but also the most perfect words for the context. I am consistently impressed by his vocabulary (highlights include "quaquaverse," "deliquescing," "conation," "palimpsest," and chiaroscuro!") His prose is beautifully constructed, and he manages the challenges of using a narrative structure to explain deep and broad subjects quite well.

Five stars!

This is a book that will bring pleasure to polyglots and be a treasure trove of ideas for translators, linguists, and philosophers. Makkai's thesis is that poetry written in languages other than the original must be a creative reinterpretration, not merely a translation, analogous to a musical theme and variations. He calls this "anasemic writing" and in a series of clever,informal and often highly amusing hypothetical Platonic-type dialogues between himself, a 20th-century scholar, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (to whom the book is dedicated and whose poem "Ein Gleiches" and its ninety-six versions in eight different languages are used as examples), he explores the great 18th-century writer's theories of world literature. Following the dialogues is a more technical analysis of anasemic writing, a discussion of modern linguistics and its relation to literary translation, and more multilingual poetry, along with some really beautiful illustrations. Too bad this book is out of print!

This collection should get SIX stars. Having sampled one of Audio Connoisseur's other recordings, and being hugely impressed, I went out and purchased this one. I had always wanted to know a little about German literature, assuming that a nation that can build fabulous cars could also produce a few good authors. Before I say anything about the stories, let me just tell you that the narrator, Charlton Griffin, is probably the greatest reader now living. I say that in all honesty. Never have I encountered recorded literature in which ALL the characters, including women and children, have been performed with such utter believability and astonishing acumen. You will shake your head in disbelief that only one person is performing all these voices. I differ with the above AudioFile reviewer who castigates Griffin for his pacing. The pacing is perfect, almost stately. In the appropriate places it has a dreamlike quality. The stories are a very good cross section of German literature over a period of 150 years, beginning with Goethe and ending with Lampe. Every single one of these little masterpieces has a jewel-like quality and a sparkling intelligence behind them. I approached this subject with mild trepidation and came away astonished at the variety and depth of German writers. My favorites in this volume were the stories by Mann, von Hofmannsthal and Schnitzler. Not content with merely great stories, Audio Connoisseur has tastefully added music and sound effects...but only in perfectly suitable places and without distraction. They seem to fit in organically, as though a film were rolling in your head. If you are an educator, this would be an indispensable teaching tool. My admiration for Audio Connoisseur knows no bounds at this point. May they continue this level of quality forever.

Eckerman is dutiful and respectful. And he asks the great man questions about his art and his view of the world. Goethe is usually very interesting , and gives information and insight which can be gotten nowhere else. In one exhange he for instance explains why his works cannot be ' popular' but are suited for readers are a certain special kind of mind and heart. In another he utters these well known words about his life and art.
"I have ever been esteemed one of Fortune's chiefest favourites; nor will I complain or find fault with the course my life has taken. Yet, truly, there has been nothing but toil and care; and I may say that, in all my seventy-five years, I have never had a month of genuine comfort. It has been the perpetual rolling of a stone, which I have always had to raise anew. My annals will render clear what I now say. The claims upon my activity, both from within and without, were too numerous.
My real happiness was my poetic meditation and production. But how was this disturbed, limited and hindered by my external position! Had I been able to abstain more from public business, and to live more in solitude, I should have been happier, and should have accomplished more as a poet."
This is a vital source book for understanding one of the world's great geniuses.

Although this was one of Goethe's earliest works, it is quite possibly his greatest. It allows the reader to experience the ups and downs of the irrational main character as he falls blindly and passionately in love with a married woman. Werther is the most passionate character ever created in literature, becoming possessed by nature, love, and himself. Although he sees his own destruction coming, he can and will do nothing to stop it. The first book is mostly autobiographical, based on Goethe's love for Charlotte Buff. Book two is a mor ebiographical account of one of Goethe's acquaintances. The story is truly captivating and emotionally draining. The language, in the English and even more so in the German, is powerful and fits perfectly to the overall mood of the story. There is beautiful imagery and the role of nature is carefully portrayed. This book should be read by all.

Anyone who loves the Works of Goethe needs not go any further to have an enlighten gleamer into his brillant gifts to mankind as brought to life by the master himself George Henry Lewes.

Faust is an epic poem penned by the incomparable Goethe. He, the German Shakespeare, writes brilliantly of the universal scheme including God, Satan, and all manner of other creatures. At the center, however, is the good Dr. Faust. Faust is the subject of a bet between God and Mephistopheles. The story is thus set and Faust and Mephistopheles take to the world on a journey which leads the doctor into lewd affairs, titanic conflicts, and, eventually, introspection and self-discovery. It is a tale which any can relate to and through Faust's journey the reader discovers much about himself. This is an excellent poem rivalling anything written by Shakespeare or even Dante.