The Sorrows Of Young Werther With Audio Text

The Sorrows of Young Werther is a epistolary novel by J. W. von Goethe. First published in 1774, it reappeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the most important novels in the Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic movement. The book's publication instantly placed the author among the foremost international literary celebrities, and was among the best known of his works. Goethe is, by some accounts, the father of the romantic period in literature, or at least the proto-romantic Sturm und Drang period. And The Sorrows of Young Werther was its genesis. While Voltaire parodied rationalism in Candide, Goethe transcended it with the semi-autobiographical story of Werther, a young man governed more by his emotions than his reason, whose only employment is his delight in the romantic ideals of the pastoral lives he finds in the rural town of Walheim. There he also finds Charlotte, and in her an idealized but unobtainable old-world domesticity. Werther’s internal dialog about his growing obsession with Charlotte, and his inability to cope rationally with the fact that she is engaged to—and in love with—another man, form the bulk of the book in the form of a series of ever more intense letters to a friend. Werther's descent into sorrow has captivated readers for centuries, helped by Goethe’s intensely beautiful prose, enchanting imagery, and obvious reverence for nature and a dying past.

A major work of German romanticism in a translation that is acknowledged as the definitive English language version. The Vintage Classics edition also includes NOVELLA, Goethe's poetic vision of an idyllic pastoral society.

A major work of German romanticism in a translation that is acknowledged as the definitive English language version. The Vintage Classics edition also includes NOVELLA, Goethe's poetic vision of an idyllic pastoral society.

This version of the novel has been accommodated for German learners. The original German version of the story has been aligned side-by-side with the official English translation by R.D. Boylan. German is printed on the left page, and English on the right page. The parallel text version will save you from reaching for the dictionary to locate the meaning of a word. As a result, you'll have a smoother reading experience. Loosely based on Goethe's personal experiences, the novel is written mostly in the form of letters in which Werther recounts his unrequited love for a married woman. Its Sturm und Drang style makes it a perennial favorite with readers of every era.

Most of The Sorrows of Young Werther is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a sensitive and passionate temperament, to his friend Wilhelm. These give an intimate account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim (based on Garbenheim, near Wetzlar), whose peasants have enchanted him with their simple ways. There he meets Charlotte, a beautiful young girl who takes care of her siblings after the death of their mother. Werther falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing beforehand that she is engaged to a man named Albert eleven years her senior.

A new 2023 translation into modern American English of Goethe's 1809 "Die Wahlverwandtschaften". Elective Affinities is a sweeping romantic novel that explores the idea of human relationships and attraction, using the concept of chemical affinity as a metaphor. "Elective Affinities" is a Newtonian concept describing the attracting of atoms to form molecules. The novel tells the story of two couples, Eduard and Charlotte, and Ottilie and the Captain, whose lives become intertwined in unexpected ways. Goethe uses the novel to explore the nature of love and desire, and how they can be influenced by social conventions and expectations. The novel was controversial at the time for idea of free will in matters of the heart. This edition contains an Afterword by the Translator, a Timeline of Goethe’s Life & Works and a Glossary of Philosophic Terminology used by Goethe.

This “splendid biography” (Wall Street Journal) of Goethe presents his life and work as an essential touchstone for the modern age. A masterful intellectual portrait, Goethe: Life as a Work of Art is celebrated as the seminal twenty-first-century biography of the writer considered to be the Shakespeare of German literature. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), a remarkably prolific poet, playwright, novelist, and—as Rüdiger Safranksi emphasizes—a statesman and naturalist, first awakened not only a burgeoning German nation but the European continent with his electrifying novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Safranski has scoured Goethe’s entire oeuvre, relying exclusively on primary sources, including his correspondence with contemporaries, to produce a “fresh and authentic” (Economist) portrait of the avatar of the Romantic era. Skillfully blending “artistic analysis with swift, sharp renderings” of the great political and intellectual figures Goethe encountered, “[Safranski’s] portrait of the prolific genius leaves the reader with lasting awe, even envy” of a monumental legacy (The New Yorker). As Safranski ultimately shows, Goethe’s greatest creation, even in comparison to his masterpiece Faust, was his own life.

A burlesque of Richardson's "Pamela", which was generally ascribed to Fielding at the time of its appearance and held by most authorities to be by him.--Cf. W.L. Cross' "The history of Henry Fielding", v. 1, p. 23, 303-308: Notes & queries, 12th ser. v. 1, p. 24-26.

Tragic masterpiece explores mind of an artist in alternately joyful and despairing letters recounting an unhappy romance. Goethe addresses issues of love, death, and redemption in an influential portrayal of a character who struggles to reconcile his artistic sensibilities with the demands of the objective world.