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With Sketches of His Age and Contemporaries from Published and Unpublished Sources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)

9781108027632, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 February 2011

422 pages
21.6 x 2.4 x 14 cm, 0.53 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 2 covers the period from 1779 until Goethe's death.

Book V. Crystals. 1779–1793: 1. New birth
2. Iphigenia
3. Progress
4. Preparations for Italy
5. Italy
6. Egmont
7. Return home
8. Christiane Vulpius
9. Tasso
10. The poet as a man of science
11. The campaign in France
12. Home once again
Book VI. Friendship with Schiller. 1794–1805: 1. The Dioscuri
2. Wilhelm Meister
3. The romantic school
4. Hermann und Dorothea
5. The theatrical manager
6. Schiller's last years
7. Faust
8. The lyrical poems
Book VII. Sunset. 1805–1832: 1. The Battle of Jena
2. Bettina and Napoleon
3. Elective affinities
4. Politics and religion
5. The activity of age
6. Second part of Faust
7. The closing scenes
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]