The Life and Works of Goethe
With Sketches of His Age and Contemporaries from Published and Unpublished Sources

A two-volume biography of Goethe, originally published 1855, describing his personal life and his literary and scientific work.

George Henry Lewes (Author)

9781108027625, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 February 2011

408 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.52 kg

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was one of Germany's greatest intellectuals. He exerted enormous influence in many fields, through works ranging from literature, linguistics and philosophy to the theory of colours and the biological sciences. Goethe's poetry and plays inspired music and opera as well as later writers, and his thought influenced philosophers including Nietzsche and Jung. Darwin himself referred to Goethe's botanical studies. The British philosopher and literary critic G. H. Lewes (1817–1878) carried out research for this hugely successful two-volume biography during a trip to Berlin and Weimar in 1854. First published in 1855, and reissued here in the second, 1858 edition, it draws on personal letters and recollections provided by Goethe's closest friends, family and colleagues to construct a portrait of this polymath, and assess how his personal relationships shaped his legacy to the world. Volume 1 focuses on Goethe's early life until 1779.

Preface
Book I. The Child is Father to the Man. 1749–1765: 1. Parentage
2. The precocious child
3. Early experiences
4. Various studies
5. The child is father to the man
Book II. Student Days. 1765–1771: 1. The Leipzig student
2. Mental characteristics
3. Art studies
4. Return home
5. Strasburg
6. Herder and Frederika
Book III. Sturm und Drang. 1771–1775: 1. Dr. Goethe's return
2. Götz van Berlichingen
3. Wetzlar
4. Preparations of Werther
5. Werther
6. Survey of German literature
7. Clavigo
8. The literary lion
9. Lili
Book IV. The Genialisch Period in Weimar. 1775–1779: 1. Weimar in the eighteenth century
2. The notabilities of Weimar
3. The first wild weeks at Weimar
4. The Frau von Stein
5. The Gartenhaus
6. Private theatricals
7. Many-coloured threads
8. The real philanthropist.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]