Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Christian Lange

Three of the German writer's short novels reflect the relationship between man and nature and the conflicts of life

The New Melusina. Novelle

The Sorrows of Young Werther

The sorrows of young Werther

“I have so much, yet my feeling for her devours it all. I have so much, yet without her all of it is nothing.”

The Sorrows of Young Werther is Goethe's most controversial and influential work. Written in epistolary form, we follow Werther, a young, passionate artist who becomes hopelessly infatuated with Lotte, a woman already engaged to another. Consumed by his unrequited love and conflicted emotions, Werther ultimately succumbs to a fatal despair.  As one of the main novels in the Sturm und Drang period, The Sorrows of Young Werther explored the themes of emotional turmoil, unrequited love, and the power of nature.

The epistolary format, while deceptively easy to follow, proves remarkably effective in conveying the immediacy and intimacy of Werther's emotional state. Goethe's prose is expressively lyrical, capturing the beauty of the natural world and the intensity of Werther's volatile emotions with such vividness. The contents of the letters are exquisitely written, despite being described as long-winded by others, and are delightful to read. 

Werther, despite his flaws, is a complex and compelling protagonist. His passionate nature, his sensitivity to beauty, and his unwavering devotion to Lotte make him both sympathetic and frustrating. He is the type of protagonist with whom you'd root for at first, and with whom you'd grow tired of towards the end. Werther is initially charming, the typical, perfect “noble and receptive hero” that everyone admires. However, as the story progresses, Werther's character turns for the worse. He becomes overbearing, excessively emotional, and so fueled by his obsession with Lotte that he negatively affects everyone around him. Lotte, his love interest, is not fully fleshed-out as a character and instead, she is seen as an unattainable icon that Werther longs for. Albert, on the other hand, is depicted as a sensible character that contrasts Werther (as intended).

I particularly love the keen observations and artistic descriptions of nature. It evokes this living painting with swirls of colors that left a great impression on me. The prose of this novel is also a key factor, as I am fond of reading narratives that make me feel I am standing in the main character's shoes. However, Werther is definitely not the main character that I would want to imagine myself for so long. His character is deeply frustrating, and I found his constant brooding and self-pity to be somewhat draining. Werther's character development, though nuanced, ultimately left me feeling quite drained after reading. Goethe masterfully crafted this character as an archetype of the Romantic hero, a symbol of yearning for the unattainable and unbridled emotions.

Rien

3.75 stars

“I have so much, yet my feeling for her devours it all. I have so much, yet without her all of it is nothing.”

The Sorrows of Young Werther is Goethe's most controversial and influential work. Written in epistolary form, we follow Werther, a young, passionate artist who becomes hopelessly infatuated with Lotte, a woman already engaged to another. Consumed by his unrequited love and conflicted emotions, Werther ultimately succumbs to a fatal despair.  As one of the main novels in the Sturm und Drang period, The Sorrows of Young Werther explored the themes of emotional turmoil, unrequited love, and the power of nature.

The epistolary format, while deceptively easy to follow, proves remarkably effective in conveying the immediacy and intimacy of Werther's emotional state. Goethe's prose is expressively lyrical, capturing the beauty of the natural world and the intensity of Werther's volatile emotions with such vividness. The contents of the letters are exquisitely written, despite being described as long-winded by others, and are delightful to read. 

Werther, despite his flaws, is a complex and compelling protagonist. His passionate nature, his sensitivity to beauty, and his unwavering devotion to Lotte make him both sympathetic and frustrating. He is the type of protagonist with whom you'd root for at first, and with whom you'd grow tired of towards the end. Werther is initially charming, the typical, perfect “noble and receptive hero” that everyone admires. However, as the story progresses, Werther's character turns for the worse. He becomes overbearing, excessively emotional, and so fueled by his obsession with Lotte that he negatively affects everyone around him. Lotte, his love interest, is not fully fleshed-out as a character and instead, she is seen as an unattainable icon that Werther longs for. Albert, on the other hand, is depicted as a sensible character that contrasts Werther (as intended).

I particularly love the keen observations and artistic descriptions of nature. It evokes this living painting with swirls of colors that left a great impression on me. The prose of this novel is also a key factor, as I am fond of reading narratives that make me feel I am standing in the main character's shoes. However, Werther is definitely not the main character that I would want to imagine myself for so long. His character is deeply frustrating, and I found his constant brooding and self-pity to be somewhat draining. Werther's character development, though nuanced, ultimately left me feeling quite drained after reading. Goethe masterfully crafted this character as an archetype of the Romantic hero, a symbol of yearning for the unattainable and unbridled emotions.

eris

Daniel Neri

sendo sincero, não achei que fosse gostar nem um pouco deste livro, mas me surpreendi!! o werther é bem dramático e tals, mas ele é muito identificável... infelizmente nossa sociedade foi moldada aos moldes do romantismo do séc. 18. é o que temos pra hj !

mas devo admitir que gostei pq fui com expectativas negativas. o livro é bem interessante e werther é carismático, mas não chega a ser um livro arrebatador ou algo do tipo...

Sarah

farah farooq

The sorrows of young Werther ; and, Novella

Lucas

Linnéa Löfström

Ja den var långtradig och repetativ men den var otroligt vackert skriven och trots att jag inte grät som en 1700 tals människa hade gjort fann jag den ”beautifully tragic”

Los Sufrimientos Del Joven Werther

Mary Garza

Lo poco que recuerdo de este libro es lo melancólico y desesperante que llega ser, no disfrute para nada esta lectura y espero que pronto olvidar que un día lo leí.

nair

Sí señor, no soy más que un viajero, un peregrino de este mundo. ¿Sois vosotros algo más?

Rjyan C Kidwell

David Constantine

Drawing on his own unhappy experiences, Goethe's account of Werther's passionate love for Lotte, who is promised to another, is one of the first great Romantic tragic novels. David Constantine's new translation captures the novel's lyric intensity, and is accompanied by an introduction and notes that illuminate Goethe's achievement.

Matilde Digonzelli

Olivera Mitić

Oh Werther, how conflicted I am about thee. 
While I did not like the actions or rather the way of life our Young Werther had, there were certainly entire scenes where the level of relatability was sky-high. The parts of the book that didn't bore me or annoy me in a way, actually touched me quite a bit. 
You get the flashback-first-love-experience and you just appreciate the extraordinary pure and chlidlike love Werther feels for Lotte. Naive and foolish thinking of course go hand in hand with such emotions, but even when you want, you can't blame Werther for it, not really. He just doesn't know better.
This book is dear to me, even considering the fact that I didn't especially like it.

Juliana Matias

The Sorrows of Young Werther is Goethe's debut novel, which he published when he was 24 years old, and it was apparently a hit. The preface to the book called it the Harry Potter of the 1700s, and even said Napoleon used to carry the book on his jacket pocket. However, it also appears to have caused a wave of suicides in Europe in the late 18th century aptly named "Werther Fever", so it was banned after that. Goethe apparently grew to hate this book as well. The press seems to think it caused this suicide wave because it made suicide "fashionable" by making readers want to emulate the situations in the book, but I am certain it was because this book just sucked out people's will to live.

So what else can I tell you about The Sorrows of Young Werther before I spoil the plot for you so you never have to read it? I made a list:

- The book is mainly told in an epistolary format, all letters from Werther mainly to the same friend, and he is a pompous, insufferable writer.

- The audiobook I have is terrible. There is some sad piano music in between the letters that makes it hard to hear the start and ending of them and the narrator who is clearly American tries to put on a terribly strong cartoon-ish German accent every once in a while and it's horrendous.

- Werther is the most unlikeable character I have ever read. Bar none.

So on to the plot, and there shall be some spoilers from now on. So you might want to leave if you plan on reading this. Which you really shouldn't.

Werther is a young man who thinks of himself as an artist and moved to the countryside to stay with his aunt(?), I think? I don't remember, it's not as if he ever mentions her again. From there he corresponds with a friend who apparently is in contact with his mother. He writes his friend almost every day to tell him about all he does in ridiculous levels of detail. He describes Nature and waxes poetic about art and painting and how nice the people on the countryside are, being careful to label every interaction with those below his station.

He eventually meets Charlotte, a young woman who is engaged to another man whom she loves deeply, and who is like a mother to her 8 siblings. Werther falls madly in love and strikes a friendship with her and basically talks of nothing else for months. He's also kind of an arsehole because he's so happy he's verbally attacking people for being in a bad mood, the hypocritical douchebag.

Plus there's this whole thing about him kissing the children, which did not age well, and prompts Charlotte to remind Werther she's engaged and put some distance between them. Werther gets hopelessly depressed, then throws a tantrum and leaves without saying goodbye to get a job and finally do something productive with his life. And he fails miserably. I mean, newsflash: about 99% of us don't like our jobs either, but we somehow still manage to go to work everyday without whinging about it constantly.

Long story short, he doesn't even last 4 months before quitting and going off with a prince who took a fancy to him. And there is this one line where he writes his mother about not needing to send him the money he required  because the prince gifted him cash which just made me extremely mad. You're an adult man - you should not be living on mummy' dime. Ugh.

Anyway, at some point while I was getting extremely annoyed and worked up he hears Charlotte has gotten married and goes back and becomes a friend of the family while not-so-secretly stalking her. He basically goes to see her and the children everyday and it's just creepy. He just feels like he's entitled to her and it's so fucking uncomfortable to read. The book tries to paint it as if she is also torn between her love for her husband and her brotherly affection for Werther, but I call bullshit on that.

At this point we're getting a narration as well as the increasingly incoherent letters. I mean, the guy has gone completely off the rails until he finally snaps and assaults her.  She cannot do anything about it because it is 1774, but she asks him not to visit until her husband is back on Christmas Eve. Werther takes this as a personal slight and basically decides to take revenge by killing himself and having her receive a letter where he basically blames her for his death on Christmas eve. Even in the letter, he revels on the sadness he expects her to feel because of his death.

Honestly, he's just an arsehole who blames everyone else for his perceived misfortunes and I just wished he had died earlier, possibly from an infant illness so I never had to hear from him to begin with.  I'm giving this 2 stars because Goethe did write beautifully, and because I enjoyed writing this review, but my enjoyment of this story was zero.

Werther (Clasicos De Siempre / Always Classics)

Daniela V.

sorrows of young Werther

Karolína Kýčková

One of the books that touched me very deeply with it's thoughts. 

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-hearted, he leaves her home in the country, trying to escape his own desire. But when he receives a letter telling him that she is finally married, his passion soon turns to destructive obsession. And as his life falls apart, Werther is haunted by one certainty: He has lost his reason for living.

The Sorrows of Young Werther is Goethe’s debut novel, which he published when he was 24 years old, and it was apparently a hit. The preface to the book called it the Harry Potter of the 1700s, and even said Napoleon used to carry the book on his jacket pocket. However, it also appears to have caused a wave of suicides in Europe in the late 18th century aptly named “Werther Fever”, so it was banned after that. Goethe apparently grew to hate this book as well. The press seems to think it caused this suicide wave because it made suicide “fashionable” by making readers want to emulate the situations in the book, but I am certain it was because this book just sucked out people’s will to live.

So what else can I tell you about The Sorrows of Young Werther before I spoil the plot for you so you never have to read it? I made a list:

- The book is mainly told in an epistolary format, all letters from Werther mainly to the same friend, and he is a pompous, insufferable writer.

- The audiobook I have is terrible. There is some sad piano music in between the letters that makes it hard to hear the start and ending of them and the narrator who is clearly American tries to put on a terribly strong cartoon-ish German accent every once in a while and it’s horrendous.

- Werther is the most unlikeable character I have ever read. Bar none.

So on to the plot, and there shall be some spoilers from now on. So you might want to leave if you plan on reading this. Which you really shouldn’t.

Werther is a young man who thinks of himself as an artist and moved to the countryside to stay with his aunt(?), I think? I don’t remember, it’s not as if he ever mentions her again. From there he corresponds with a friend who apparently is in contact with his mother. He writes his friend almost every day to tell him about all he does in ridiculous levels of detail. He describes Nature and waxes poetic about art and painting and how nice the people on the countryside are, being careful to label every interaction with those below his station.

He eventually meets Charlotte, a young woman who is engaged to another man whom she loves deeply, and who is like a mother to her 8 siblings. Werther falls madly in love and strikes a friendship with her and basically talks of nothing else for months. He’s also kind of an arsehole because he’s so happy he’s verbally attacking people for being in a bad mood, the hypocritical douchebag.

Plus there’s this whole thing about him kissing the children, which did not age well, and prompts Charlotte to remind Werther she’s engaged and put some distance between them. Werther gets hopelessly depressed, then throws a tantrum and leaves without saying goodbye to get a job and finally do something productive with his life. And he fails miserably. I mean, newsflash: about 99% of us don’t like our jobs either, but we somehow still manage to go to work everyday without whinging about it constantly.

Long story short, he doesn’t even last 4 months before quitting and going off with a prince who took a fancy to him. And there is this one line where he writes his mother about not needing to send him the money he required  because the prince gifted him cash which just made me extremely mad. You’re an adult man – you should not be living on mummy’ dime. Ugh.

Anyway, at some point while I was getting extremely annoyed and worked up he hears Charlotte has gotten married and goes back and becomes a friend of the family while not-so-secretly stalking her. He basically goes to see her and the children everyday and it’s just creepy. He just feels like he’s entitled to her and it’s so fucking uncomfortable to read. The book tries to paint it as if she is also torn between her love for her husband and her brotherly affection for Werther, but I call bullshit on that.

At this point we’re getting a narration as well as the increasingly incoherent letters. I mean, the guy has gone completely off the rails until he finally snaps and assaults her.  She cannot do anything about it because it is 1774, but she asks him not to visit until her husband is back on Christmas Eve. Werther takes this as a personal slight and basically decides to take revenge by killing himself and having her receive a letter where he basically blames her for his death on Christmas eve. Even in the letter, he revels on the sadness he expects her to feel because of his death.

Honestly, he’s just an arsehole who blames everyone else for his perceived misfortunes and I just wished he had died earlier, possibly from an infant illness so I never had to hear from him to begin with.  I’m giving this 2 stars because Goethe did write beautifully, and because I enjoyed writing this review, but my enjoyment of this story was zero.

Leiden des jungen Werthers.

Aileen Rese

anna 

Gabi🌸🌷

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Die Geschichte einer jungen Liebe – radikal, kompromißlos und leidenschaftlich bis in den Tod. Bis heute ist Goethes Werther der schönste Liebesroman der deutschen Literatur.

Die Leiden des jungen Werther

Katharina

Quando descrive la propria infelicità, quando con un gioco estenuante di anafore ci fa sprofondare in essa come in un cupo gorgo oppure ce ne svela fulmineamente l'atrocità con una frase scabra, Werther tace il fatto che la sua passione è appunto un desiderio disperato di infelicità, un desiderio di morte. L'anelito preromantico verso l'infinito svela qui il suo volto distruttivo: dinanzi a esso i valori dell'esistenza impallidiscono assumendo la consistenza spettrale dei "sogni", mostrando la patetica vanità delle "figure variopinte", con cui il recluso decora i muri della sua prigione. Paola Capriolo

The Sorrows of Young Werther The New Melusina. Novelle