Selected Works of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: Introduction by Nicholas Boyle

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Book Overview

A stunning hardcover edition of Goethe's four major works, together with a selection of his finest letters and poems.

One of the towering figures of world literature, Goethe has never held quite as prominent a place in the English-speaking world as he deserves. This collection shows that he is not only one of the very greatest European writers: he is also accessible, entertaining, and contemporary.

The Sorrows of Young Werther is a story of self-destructive love that made its author a celebrity overnight at the age of twenty-five. Its exploration of the conflicts between ideas and feelings, between circumstance and desire, continues in his controversial novel probing the institution of marriage, Elective Affinities. The cosmic drama of Faust goes far beyond the realism of the novels in a poetic exploration of good and evil, while Italian Journey, written in the author's old age, recalls his youth in Italy and the impact of Mediterranean culture on a young northerner.

Translators include W. H. Auden, Louise Bogan, David Constantine, Barker Fairley, and Elizabeth Mayer.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a jacket. Everyman's Library Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375410449
• ISBN13: 9780375410444
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Everyman's Library
• Length: 1248 Pages
• Weight: 2.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 4.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book

If you like Von Goethe's work, but you aren't making him your life's study, this is pretty much all inclusive, and looks beautiful.

A useful introduction

I picked up a copy of this book at the local library when I recently become interested in Goethe, and as an introduction to his life and work I found it really useful. The book's Introduction is written by Goethe's biographer (who has currently published two volumes of a planned three volume biography) and it helps establish the context of Goethe's life and legacy. Of all the texts, I found 'The Italian Journey' to be amazing as well as some the selections from Goethe's letters.I find Goethe to be a fascinating figure and as an excellent writer, he was able to articulate the dynamism and the changing societal forces of the times he lived through - having been born into the era of wigs and knee breeches, he died in the 1830s wearing pants in a Europe revolutionized by Napoleon. Anyone seeking to understand the differences between the 18th Century and the 19th, or even the 20th and the 21st Centuries could gain some valuable insight from reading Goethe's works.

great volume

I found the reader who didn't like the editing to be well reasoned, but I found the volume as a whole great. I would have liked more letters. The poems are great, and then you have Italian Journey, perhaps Goethe's most underrated book but Thoreau's favorite, which is how I got into Goethe in the first place, along with Werther and a novella and elective affinities. It's a pretty looking volume, too (I know I know). As far as the introduction, I agree it's a bit too blah blah we love Goethe. I read a book by a guy named Strich the other day called Goethe and World Literature, written just after WW2, with great praise for Goethe and a sense of relevance as a potential unifier of Europe. As far as Goethe's writings, I honestly don't get the whole big thing about Werther. A bitchy boy in love kills himself oh woe. Italian Journey is amazing. It's nice to get a little stoned and read that book for hours.