You only find true love once. When Werther dances with the beautiful Lotte, it seems as though he is in paradise. It is a joy, however, that can only ever be short-lived. Engaged to another man, she tolerates Werther's adoration and encourages his friendship. She can never return his love. Broken-he[...]

Editorial censorship has long obscured Goethe's Roman Elegies, which were inspired by Goethe's sexual liberation in Italy and his love for the woman he took as his unofficial wife on his return to Germany. They are here presented as Goethe boldly conceived them, together with the long-supressed narr[...]

Poet and natural philosopher, critic and raconteur, Goethe was the most commanding literary presence of his time. This text organizes the many details of Goethe's career in print. Director of the German publishing company Suhrkamp Verlag, Siegfried Unseld brings a singular perspective to this biogra[...]

The Metamorphosis of Plants, published in 1790, was Goethe's first major attempt to describe what he called in a letter to a friend "the truth about the how of the organism." Inspired by the diversity of flora he found on a journey to Italy, Goethe sought a unity of form in diverse structures. He ca[...]

German poet, dramatist, novelist, translator, scientist, and musician, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) was the last universal genius of the West and a master of world literature, the author of The Sorrows of Young Werther, Wilhelm Meister, and Faust. Nowhere else can one encounter a more pene[...]

Published in concert with the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth, this selection of great works from the German writer includes The Sorrows of Young Werther and Faust, among others.[...]

This edition includes both part I and II of the drama. It represents a significant departure from its predecessor in terms of supporting apparatus and the "Interpretative Notes" have been expanded. "Contexts" includes five new selections by Goethe on the composition of the novel. "Criticism" include[...]

"The Sorrows of Young Werther" brings to life an idyllic German village where a youth on vacation meets and falls for lovely Charlotte. The tragedy unfolds in the letters Werther writes to his friend about Charlotte's charms, even after he realizes his love will remain unrequited. "Reflections on We[...]

This is a concise survey and criticism of Goethe?s work, for the general reader and the student. It is intended as a useful first book from which the reader can proceed to more specialised studies. Here Goethe?s work is seen as a whole, and from the point of view of literary criticism. The first cha[...]

Goethe's masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust""has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental Faust, an audacious man boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experi[...]