| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |||||||||||
| 约翰·沃尔夫冈·冯·歌德 | |||||||||||
阅读歌德 Goethe在小说之家的作品!!! 阅读歌德 Goethe在诗海的作品!!! | |||||||||||
歌德歌德1749年8月28日出生于法兰克福镇的一个富裕的市民家庭，曾先后在莱比锡大学和斯特拉斯堡大学学习法律，也曾短时期当过律师。他年轻时曾经梦想成为画家，在绘画的同时他也开始了文学创作。但是在他看到意大利著名画家的作品时，他觉得自己无论如何努力都不可能与那些大师相提并论，于是开始专注于文学创作。1775--1786年他为改良现实社会，应聘到魏玛公国做官，但一事无成。1786年6月他前往意大利，专心研究自然科学，从事绘画和文学创作。1788年回到魏玛后任剧院监督。
歌德是德国狂飙突进运动的主将。他的作品充满了狂飙突进运动的反叛精神，在诗歌、戏剧、散文等方面都有较高的成就，主要作品有剧本《葛兹·冯·伯里欣根》、中篇小说《少年维特的烦恼》、未完成的诗剧《普罗米修斯》和诗剧《浮士德》的雏形《原浮士德》，此外还写了许多抒情诗和评论文章。
《葛兹·冯·伯里欣根》是德国第一部现实主义历史剧。葛兹原是16世纪德国的一个没落骑士，他曾一度参加农民起义， 后来背叛了农民。葛兹作为一个骑士、作为一个垂死阶级的代表，起来反对现存制度的行动，是骑士阶级对皇帝和封建领主的悲剧性的对抗。但是，在歌德的笔下，葛兹被写成一个反对封建暴政、争取自由和统一的英雄，他深切的同情人民的苦难，斥责争取权利、祸国殃民的诸侯，因而受到人民的爱戴。剧中对于当时黑暗社会的谴责，对于自由和统一的热烈向往，对于个人反抗的英雄的歌颂，都表现了狂飙突进运动的精神。在艺术上，剧中采用了莎士比亚戏剧创作的方法。
《少年维特的烦恼》是一部书信体小说。主人公维特是一个出身市民的青年，他向往自由、平等的生活，希望从事有益的实际工作 。但是，围绕他的社会却充满着等级的偏见和鄙陋的习气。保守腐败的官场，庸俗屈从的市民，趋势傲慢的贵族使他和周围的现实不断发生冲突，他自己又陷入毫无希望的爱情之中，最后走上了自杀的道路。维特与社会的冲突 , 具有反封建的意义 ，通过维特的悲剧，小说揭露和批判了当时德国社会许多不合理的现实，表达了觉醒的德国青年一代的革命情绪，因此，它一发表就引起了强烈的反响，形成了一阵维特热，而且很快就流传到欧洲各国，成为第一部发生重大国际影响的各国文学作品。作品讲述的是24岁的歌德因公去维兹拉，在出席一次舞会的途中、偶然认识了一个叫夏绿蒂的少女，一见钟情。夏绿蒂是歌德的朋友凯士特南的未婚妻，时年15岁，而凯士特南却31岁。歌德对夏绿蒂十分倾倒，便不顾一切地向她表白了爱情。这使夏绿蒂惊惶失措，她把歌德的表白告诉了未婚夫，凯士特南对此表现的无所谓。歌德知道这个情况，感到十分震惊，为了自己，也为了夏绿蒂，他立即逃回法兰克福，斩断了这不合适的情丝。几个月以后，他的另一个朋友叶尔查林，因为爱上别人的妻子，受不了社会舆论的指责自杀了。歌德知道这件事后，感触很深，使用叶尔查林作原型写了小说《少年维特之烦恼》。这部小说，使他名噪一时。
《高尔基名言》是歌德取材于古代希腊神话的一部诗剧，剧本虽然没有写完，但流传下来的片段已表达出歌德年轻时代的强烈的反封建精神。剧中的普罗米修斯否认宙斯的权利，反对宙斯的专横跋扈，并且要创造和他一样蔑视宙斯的新的人类。维特身上所缺乏的那种坚韧的性格，在这个神话人物身上得到了体现。
歌德在魏玛市的最初十年，歌德埋头事务，很少创作。到意大利后，他陆续完成了早已开始的一些作品，写出了《在陶里斯的伊菲格尼亚》和《哀格蒙特》等作品，也写了《塔索》和《浮士德》部分章节。
剧本《哀格蒙特》取材于16世纪尼德兰人民反抗西班牙的斗争历史。哀格蒙特在历史上是一个动摇不定的贵族反对派，歌德把他写成一个为民族的自由和统一而斗争的、受到人民爱戴的英雄。但是他缺乏积极的行动，主张采取温和的手段，最后被处死。剧中仍然保留着狂飙突进运动的革命情绪，但人物的反抗精神已经降低。
《在陶里斯的伊菲格尼亚》取材于希腊神话，主人公伊菲格尼亚身处异国，却能以完美的品行、博爱的胸怀感动国王，改变了那里野蛮的风俗，建立人道和公正的准则。
歌德晚年的创作极其丰富 ，重要的如自传性作品 《诗与真》、《意大利游记》、长篇小说《亲和力》和《威廉·麦斯特的漫游时代》，抒情诗集《西方和东方的合集》，逝世前不久，又完成了《浮士德》第二部。这些作品表现了歌德重视实践、肯定为人类幸福而劳动的思想，说明他思想中的积极因素比前一时期有所增长。
《浮士德》是歌德的一部代表作，他写这部巨著，前后曾用了60年之久。《浮士德》的第一部完成于1808年法军入侵的时候，第二部则完成于1831年8月31日，是时他已83岁高龄。这部不朽的诗剧。以德国民间传说为题材，以文艺复兴以来的德国和欧洲社会为背景，写一个新兴资产阶级先进知识分子不满现实，竭力探索人生意义和社会理想的生活道路。是一部现实主义和浪漫主义结合得十分完好的诗剧。
《威廉·麦斯特的漫游时代》虽然不如《威廉·麦斯特的学习时代》那样引人，然而它以探求理想的社会制度为中心，认为人们只有在为集体福利而积极劳动中才能获得人生的意义，思想比较开阔、积极。歌德晚年的许多抒情诗中闪烁着唯物主义、乐观主义思想的光芒，在当时消极浪漫主义文学风行一时的德国文坛上独放异彩。《浮士德》第二部的完成尤其突出的表现了歌德晚年思想上和艺术上的新发展。
1832年3月22日，歌德病逝。歌德是德国民族文学的最杰出的代表，他的创作把德国文学提高到全欧的先进水平，并对欧洲文学的发展作出了巨大的贡献。
英文介绍
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, Humanism, science, and painting. His most enduring work, the two-part dramatic poem Faust, is considered one of the peaks of world literature. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther and the semi-autobiographical novel Elective Affinities.
歌德名言，警句，格言，语录
· 任何人都不笨但如果你不利用你的大脑你会发觉你很笨!
· 谁是最幸福的人？乃是能感到他人的功绩、视他人之乐如自己之乐的人。
· 最大的幸福在于我们的缺点得到纠正，我们的错误得到补救。
· 能把自己生命的终点和起点联结起来的人，是最幸福的人。
· 在蠢人感到人生困难的时候，贤人看起来容易；而当蠢人感到容易的时候，贤者就感到困难。
· 人生一世不就是为了化短暂的事物为永久的吗？要做到这一步，就须懂得如何珍视这短暂和永久。
· 虽然人人都企求得很多，但所需要的却是微乎其微。因为人生是短暂的，人的命运是有限的。
· 凡不是就着泪水吃过面包的人是不懂得人生之味的人。
· 生活也好，自由也好，都要天天去赢取，这才有资格去享有它。
· 只有这样的人才配生活和自由，假如他每天为之而奋斗。
· 一个人只要宣称自己是自由的，就会同时感到他是受限制的。如果你敢于宣称自己是受限制的，你就会感到自己是自由的。
· 对别人述说自己，这是一种天性；因此，认真对待别人向你述说他自己的事，这是一种教养。
· 真正的志同道合者不可能长久地争吵；他们总会重新言好的。
· 只要你告诉我，你交的是些什么样的人，我就能说出，你是什么人。
· 友谊只能在实践中产生并在实践中得到保持。
· 知道危险而不说的人，是敌人。
· 人应该有爱好真理，一见真理就采纳它那样的心灵。
· 错误同真理的关系，就像睡梦同清醒的关系一样。一个人从错误中醒来，就会以新的力量走向真理。
· 斗争是掌握本领的学校，挫折是通向真理的桥梁。
· 对真理的热爱就体现在：知道怎样去发现和珍惜每一件事物的好处。
· 我们对于真理必须经常反复地说，因为错误也有人在反复地宣传，并且不是个别的人而是有大批的人宣传。
· 关键在于要有一颗爱真理的心灵，随时随地地碰见真理，就把它吸收进来。
· 把前人获得的零星的真理找出来进一步加以发展，就是当之无愧理应受到奖赏的功劳。
· 聪明的年轻人以为，如果承认已经被别人承认过的真理，就会使自己丧失独创性，这是极大的错误。
· 真理是一只火炬，而且是一支极大的火炬，所以当我们怀着生怕被它烧着的恐惧心情企图从它旁边走过去的时候，连眼睛也难以睁开。
· 看出错误比发现真理要容易得多；因为谬误是在明处，也是可以克服的；而真理则藏在深处，并且不是任何人都能发现它。
· 谁接受纯粹的经验并且按照它去行动，谁就有足够的真理。
· 知识的历史犹如一只伟大的复音曲，在这只曲子里依依次响起各民族的声音。
· 世界上有许多既美好又出类拔萃的事物，可是他们却各不相依。
· 我们虽可以靠父母和亲戚的庇护而成长，倚赖兄弟和好友，借交游的扶助，因爱人而得到幸福，但是无论怎样，归根结底人类还是依赖自己。
· 我的遗产多么壮丽、广阔、辽远！时间是我的财产，我的田亩是时间。
· 把时间用得节省些，我很可能把最珍贵的金刚石拿到手。
· 今天做不成的，明天也不会做好。一天也不能虚度，要下决心把可能的事情，一把抓住而紧紧抱住，有决心就不会任其逃去，而且必然要贯彻实行。
· 一个钟头有六十分钟，一天就超过了一千分钟。明白这个道理后，就知道人可作出多少贡献。
· 谁若游戏人生，他就一世无成，谁不能主宰自己，永远是一个奴隶。
· 正当利用时间！你要理解什么，不要舍近求远。
· 只要我们能善用时间,就永远不愁时间不够用。
· 要做一番伟大的事业，总得在青年时代开始。
· 事业最要紧，名誉是空言。
· 一个人无论往哪里走，无论从事什么事业，他终将回到本性指给的路上。
· 事业是一切，名号只是虚声。
· 劳动可以使我们摆脱三大灾祸：寂寞、恶习、贫困。
· 你若要为你的意义而欢喜，就必须给这个世界以意义。
· 凡是自强不息者，最终都会成功。
· 一个人不能骑两匹马，骑上这匹，就要丢掉那匹。聪明人会把凡是分散精力的要求置之度外，只专心致志地去学一门，学一门就要把它学好。
· 幻想是诗人的翅膀，假设是科学家的天梯。
· 就科学来讲，把前人获得的零星的真理找出来进一步加以发展，就是当之无愧理应受到奖赏的功劳。
· 在今天和明天之间，有一段很长的时间；趁你还有精神的时候，学习迅速地办事。
· 人不光是靠他生来就拥有一切，而是靠他从学习中所得到的一切来造就自己。
· 经验丰富的人读书用两只眼睛，一只眼睛看到纸面上的话，另一眼睛看到纸的背面。
· 谁有用脑子去思考，到头来他除了感觉之外将一无所有。
· 当一个伟大的思想作为一种福音降临这个世界时，它对于受陈规陋习羁绊的大众会成为一种冒犯，而在那些读书不少但学识不深的人看来，却是一桩蠢事。
· 并非语言本身有多么正确，有力，或者优美，而在于它所体现出来的思想的力量。
· 我们的生活就像旅行，思想是导游者，没有导游者，一切都会停止。目标会丧失，力量也会化为乌有。
· 异端是生活的诗歌，因此有异端思想是无伤于一个诗人的。
· 我们比较容易承认行为上的错误、过失和缺点，而对于思想上的错误、过失和缺点则不然。
· 就妇女在其它方面的才能来说，我倒是经常发现妇女一结婚，才能就完蛋了。
· 世上最艰难的工作是什么？思想。凡是值得思想的事情，没有不是人思考过的；我们必须做的只是试图重新加以思考而已。
· 我这一生基本上只是辛苦工作，我可以说，我活了七十五岁，没有哪一个月过的是真正舒服生活，就好像一块石头上山，石头不停地滚下来又推上去。
· 艺术家对于自然有着双重关系，他既是自然的主宰，又是自然的奴隶，他是自然的奴隶，因为他必须用人世间的材料进行工作，才能使人理解；同时他又是自然的主宰，因为他使这种人世间的材料服从他的较高的意旨，并且为这较高的意旨服务。
· 一个有真正天才能的人却在工作过程中感到最高度的快乐。
· 没有一种礼貌会在外表上叫人一眼就看出教养的不足，正确的教育在于使外表上的彬彬有礼和人的高尚的教养同时表现出来。
· 才能可以在独处中培养，品格最好还是在世界上的汹涌波涛中形成。
· 甘居下位不算美德；能往下降才是美德，承认低于我们的事物高于我们，也是一种美德。
· 慷慨，尤其是还有谦虚，就会使人赢得好感。
· 许多思想是从一定的文化修养上产生出来的，就如同幼芽是长在绿枝上一样。
· 一个人应当有良好的礼貌来突出他特有的天性。人人都喜欢出人头地，但这不应当引起别人的讨厌。
· 一个人的礼貌，就是一面照出他的肖像的镜子。
· 接受忠告，就是增进一个人自己的能力。
· 虔诚不是目的，而是手段，是通过灵魂的最纯洁的宁静而达到最高修养手段。
· 存在着一种出自内心的礼貌。它是变换了形式的爱心。由此产生出一种外部表现出来的最适宜的礼貌。
· 智慧最后的结论是：生活也好，自由也好，都要天天去赢取，这才有资格去享有它。
· 所谓真正的智慧，都是曾经被人思考过千百次；但要想使它们真正成为我们自己的，一定要经过我闪自己再三思维，直至它们在我个人经验中生根为止。
· 智慧只能在真理中发现。
· 什么是最好的政府？就是指导我们自己去治理自己的政府。
· 谁若游戏人生，他就一事无成；谁不能主宰自己，便永远是一个奴隶。
· 智者和愚人都没有害，最危险的倒是智愚参半。
· 一个杰出人物受到一伙傻瓜的赏识，是可怕的事。
· 如果一个聪明人干了一件蠢事，那就不会是一件小小的蠢事。
· 蠢人总是提出千百年前的聪明人已经回答了的问题。
· 身体对创造力至少有极大的影响。过去有过一个时期，在德国人们常把天才想象为一个矮小瘦弱的驼子。但是我宁愿看到一个身体健壮的天才。
· 十全十美是上天的尺度，而要达到十全十美的这种愿望，则是人类的尺度。
· 我不应把我的作品全归功于自己的智慧，还应归功于我以外向我提供素材的成千成万的事情和人物。
· 经验丰富的人读书用两只眼睛，一只眼睛看到纸面上的话，另一只眼睛看到纸的背面。
· 读一本好书，就是和许多高尚的人谈话。
· 决定一个人的一生，以及整个命运的，只是一瞬之间。
· 天才所要求的最先和最后的东西都是对真理的热爱。
· 如果是玫瑰，它总会开花的。
· 我们全都要从前辈和同辈学习到一些东西。就连最大的天才，如果想单凭他所特有的内在自我去对付一切，他也决不会有多大成就。
· 一个有真正大才能的人却在工作过程中感到最高度的快乐。
· 我的产业是这样美，这样广，这样宽，时间是我的财产，我的田地是时间。
· 善于利用时间的人，永远找得到充裕的时间。
· 我们对于真理必须经常反复地说，因为错误也有人在反复地宣传，并且不是有个别的人而是有大批的人宣传。
· 人们还往往把真理和错误混在一起去教人，而坚持的却是错误。
· 关键在于要有一颗爱真理的心灵，随时随地碰见真理，就把它吸收进来。
· 谁要游戏人生，他就一事无成，谁不能主宰自己，永远是一个奴隶。
· 我们为祖国服务，也不能都采用同一方式，每个人应该按照资禀，各尽所能。
· 你若要喜爱你自己的价值，你就得给世界创造价值。
· 在今天和明天之间，有一段很长的时间；趁你还有精神的时候，学习迅速办事。
Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours, he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the Privy Councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe is the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, Arabic literature, amongst others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in Western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work in optics.
Early life
Goethe's birthplace in Frankfurt, Germany (Großer Hirschgraben)Goethe's father, Johann Caspar Goethe (Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 29 July 1710 – Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 25 May 1782), lived with his family in a large house in Frankfurt am Main, then an Imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire. Goethe's mother, Catharina Elisabeth Textor (Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 19 February 1731 – Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 15 September 1808), the daughter of the Mayor of Frankfurt Johann Wolfgang Textor (Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 11 December 1693 – Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 6 February 1771) and wife (married at Wetzlar, 2 February 1726) Anna Margaretha Lindheimer (Wetzlar, 23 July 1711 – Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, 18 April 1783, a descendant of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Henry III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg), married 38-year-old Johann Caspar when she was only 17 at Frankfurt am Main on 20 August 1748. All their children, except for Goethe and his sister, Cornelia Friederike Christiana, who was born in 1750, died at an early age.
Johann Caspar and private tutors gave Goethe lessons in all the common subjects of that time, especially languages (Latin, Greek, French and English). Goethe also received lessons in dancing, riding and fencing. Johann Caspar was the type of father who, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions by what he saw as a deficiency of educational advantages, was determined that his children would have all those advantages which he had not had. Goethe had a persistent dislike of the church, characterizing its history as a "hotchpotch of mistakes and violence" (Mischmasch von Irrtum und Gewalt). His great passion was drawing. Goethe quickly became interested in literature; Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Homer were among his early favourites. He had a lively devotion to theatre as well and was greatly fascinated by puppet shows that were annually arranged in his home; a familiar theme in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
Legal career
Goethe studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768. Learning age-old judicial rules by heart was something he strongly detested. He preferred to attend the poetry lessons of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. In Leipzig, Goethe fell in love with Käthchen Schönkopf and wrote cheerful verses about her in the Rococo genre. In 1770, he anonymously released Annette, his first collection of poems. His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets vanished as he became interested in Lessing and Wieland. Already at this time, Goethe wrote a good deal, but he threw away nearly all of these works, except for the comedy Die Mitschuldigen. The restaurant Auerbachs Keller and its legend of Faust's 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller became the only real place in his closet drama Faust Part One. Because his studies did not progress, Goethe was forced to return to Frankfurt at the close of August 1768.
In Frankfurt, Goethe became severely ill. During the next year and a half which followed, because of several relapses, the relationship with his father worsened. During convalescence, Goethe was nursed by his mother and sister. Bored in bed, he wrote an impudent crime comedy. In April 1770, his father lost his patience; Goethe left Frankfurt in order to finish his studies in Strasbourg.
In Alsace, Goethe blossomed. No other landscape has he described as affectionately as the warm, wide Rhine area. In Strasbourg, Goethe met Johann Gottfried Herder, who happened to be in town on the occasion of an eye operation. The two became close friends, and crucially to Goethe's intellectual development, it was Herder who kindled his interest in Shakespeare, Ossian and in the notion of Volkspoesie (folk poetry). On a trip to the village Sesenheim, Goethe fell in love with Friederike Brion, but, after a couple of weeks, terminated the relationship. Several of his poems, like Willkommen und Abschied, Sesenheimer Lieder and Heideröslein, originate from this time.
Despite being based on his own ideas, his legal thesis was published uncensored. Shortly after, he was offered a career in the French government. Goethe rejected it; he did not want to commit himself, but to instead remain an "original genius".
At the end of August 1771, Goethe was certified as a licensee in Frankfurt. He wanted to make the jurisdiction progressively more humane. In his first cases, he proceeded too vigorously, was reprimanded and lost the position. This prematurely terminated his career as a lawyer after only a few months. At this time, Goethe was acquainted with the court of Darmstadt, where his inventiveness was praised. From this milieu came Johann Georg Schlosser (who was later to become his brother-in-law) and Johann Heinrich Merck. Goethe also pursued literary plans again; this time, his father did not have anything against it, and even helped. Goethe obtained a copy of the biography of a noble highwayman from the Peasants' War. In a couple of weeks the biography was reworked into a colourful drama. Entitled Götz von Berlichingen, the work went directly to the heart of Goethe's contemporaries.
Goethe. Painting by Luise Seidler (Weimar 1811)Goethe could not subsist on being one of the editors of a literary periodical (published by Schlosser and Merck). In May 1772 he once more began the practice of law at Wetzlar. In 1774 Goethe wrote the book which would bring him world-wide fame, The Sorrows of Young Werther. Despite the immense success of Werther, it did not bring Goethe much financial gain — copyright law at the time being essentially nonexistent. (In later years Goethe would bypass this problem by periodically authorizing "new, revised" editions of his Complete Works.)
Early years in Weimar
In 1775 Goethe was invited, on the strength of his fame as the author of The Sorrows of Young Werther, to the court of Carl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. (The Duke at the time was 18 years of age, to Goethe's 26.) Goethe thus went to live in Weimar where he remained throughout the rest of his life, and where, over the course of many years, he held a succession of offices; becoming the Duke's chief adviser.
Goethe, aside from official duties, was also a friend and confidant to the Duke, and participated fully in the activities of the court. For Goethe, his first ten years at Weimar could well be described as a garnering of a degree and range of experience which perhaps could be achieved in no other way. Goethe was ennobled in 1782 (this being indicated by the "von" in his name).
Italy
Goethe's journey to the Italian peninsula from 1786 to 1788 was of great significance in his æsthetical and philosophical development. His father had made a similar journey during his own youth, and his example was a major motivating factor for Goethe to make the trip. More importantly, however, the work of Johann Joachim Winckelmann had provoked a general renewed interest in the classical art of ancient Greece and Rome. Thus Goethe's journey had something of the nature of a pilgrimage to it. During the course of his trip Goethe met and befriended the artists Angelica Kauffmann and Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, as well as encountering such notable characters as Lady Hamilton and Alessandro Cagliostro (see Affair of the Diamond Necklace).
He also journeyed to Sicily during this time, and wrote intriguingly that "To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything." While in Sicily, Goethe encountered, for the first time genuine Greek (as opposed to Roman) architecture, and was quite startled by its relative simplicity. Winckelmann had not recognized the distinctness of the two styles.
Goethe's diaries of this period form the basis of the non-fiction Italian Journey. Italian Journey only covers the first year of Goethe's visit. The remaining year is largely undocumented, aside from the fact that he spent much of it in Venice. This "gap in the record" has been the source of much speculation over the years.
In the decades which immediately followed its publication in 1816 Italian Journey inspired countless German youths to follow Goethe's example. This is pictured, somewhat satirically, in George Elliot's Middlemarch.
Weimar
In late 1792, Goethe took part in the battle of Valmy against revolutionary France, assisting Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar during the failed invasion of France. Again during the Siege of Mainz he assisted Carl August as a military observer. His written account of these events can be found within his Complete Works.
In 1794 Friedrich Schiller wrote to Goethe offering friendship; they had previously had only a mutually wary relationship ever since first becoming acquainted in 1788. This collaborative friendship lasted until Schiller's death in 1805.
In 1806, Goethe was living in Weimar with his mistress Christiane Vulpius, the sister of Christian A. Vulpius, and their son Karl August. On October 13, Napoleon's army invaded the town. The French "spoon guards", the least-disciplined soldiers, occupied Goethe's house.
The 'spoon guards' had broken in, they had drunk wine, made a great uproar and called for the master of the house. Goethe's secretary Riemer reports: 'Although already undressed and wearing only his wide nightgown … he descended the stairs towards them and inquired what they wanted from him …. His dignified figure, commanding respect, and his spiritual mien seemed to impress even them.' But it was not to last long. Late at night they burst into his bedroom with drawn bayonets. Goethe was petrified, Christiane raised a lot of noise and even tangled with them, other people who had taken refuge in Goethe's house rushed in, and so the marauders eventually withdrew again. It was Christiane who commanded and organized the defense of the house on the Frauenplan. The barricading of the kitchen and the cellar against the wild pillaging soldiery was her work. Goethe noted in his diary: "Fires, rapine, a frightful night … Preservation of the house through steadfastness and luck." The luck was Goethe's, the steadfastness was displayed by Christiane.
– Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Ch. 5
The next day, Goethe legitimized their relationship by marrying Christiane in a quiet marriage service at the court chapel. Christiane Vulpius and Goethe produced a son, Karl August von Goethe (25 December 1789 – 28 October 1830), whose wife, Ottilie von Pogwisch (31 October 1796 – 26 October 1872), cared for the elder Goethe until his death in 1832. They had three children: Walther, Freiherr von Goethe (9 April 1818 – 15 April 1885), Wolfgang, Freiherr von Goethe (18 September 1820 – 20 January 1883) and Alma von Goethe (29 October 1827 – 29 September 1844).
Christiane Vulpius died in 1816.
Later life
By 1820, he was on amiable terms with Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. Post-1793, Goethe devoted his endeavour principally to literature.
In 1832, after a life of vast productivity, Goethe died in Weimar. He is buried in the Ducal Vault at Weimar's Historical Cemetery.
Eckermann closes his famous work, Conversations with Goethe, with this passage:
The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once again upon his earthly garment. His faithful servant, Frederick, opened for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet to harbour thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence prevented me from cutting it off. The body lay naked, only wrapped in a white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it fresh as long as possible. Frederick drew aside the sheet, and I was astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. The breast was powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere, on the whole body, was there a trace of either fat or of leanness and decay. A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture the sight caused me made me forget for a moment that the immortal spirit had left such an abode. I laid my hand on his heart - there was a deep silence - and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed tears.
– (p. 426, Da Capo Press edition, John Oxenford translation)
Works
Main article: List of works by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Literary work
"Modern Book Printing" from the Walk of Ideas in Berlin, Germany - built in 2006 to commemorate Johannes Gutenberg's invention, c. 1445, of movable printing typeThe most important of Goethe's works produced before he went to Weimar were his tragedy Götz von Berlichingen (1773), which was the first work to bring him recognition, and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which gained him enormous fame as a writer in the Sturm und Drang period which marked the early phase of Romanticism - indeed the book is often considered to be the "spark" which ignited the movement, and can arguably be called the world's first "best-seller". (For the entirety of his life this was the work with which the vast majority of Goethe's contemporaries associated him). During the years at Weimar before he met Schiller he began Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, wrote the dramas Iphigenie auf Tauris (Iphigenia in Tauris), Egmont, Torquato Tasso, and the fable Reineke Fuchs.
To the period of his friendship with Schiller belong Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years (the continuation of Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), the idyll of Hermann and Dorothea, and the Roman Elegies. In the last period, between Schiller's death, in 1805, and his own, appeared Faust Part One, Elective Affinities, the West-Eastern Divan (a collection of poems in the Persian style, influenced by the work of Hafez), his autobiographical Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (From My Life: Poetry and Truth) which covers his early life and ends with his departure for Weimar, his Italian Journey, and a series of treatises on art. His writings were immediately influential in literary and artistic circles.
Faust Part Two was only finished in the year of his death, and was published posthumously.
Scientific work
As to what I have done as a poet,… I take no pride in it… But that in my century I am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colours - of that, I say, I am not a little proud, and here I have a consciousness of a superiority to many.
– Johann Eckermann, Conversations of Goethe
Although his literary work has attracted the greatest amount of interest, Goethe was also keenly involved in studies of natural science. He wrote several works on plant morphology, and colour theory.
With his focus on morphology he influenced Darwin. His studies led him to independently discover the human intermaxillary bone in 1784, which Broussonet (1779) and Vicq d'Azyr (1780) had (using different methods) identified several years earlier. While not the only one in his time to question the prevailing view that this bone did not exist in humans, Goethe, who believed ancient anatomists had known about this bone, was the first to prove its peculiarity to all mammals.
Light spectrum, from Theory of Colours – Goethe observed that with a prism, colour arises at the edges, and the spectrum occurs where these coloured edges overlapDuring his Italian journey, Goethe formulated a theory of plant metamorphosis in which the archetypal form of the plant is to be found in the leaf - he writes, "from top to bottom a plant is all leaf, united so inseparably with the future bud that one cannot be imagined without the other.".
In 1810, Goethe published his Theory of Colours, which he considered his most important work. In it, he (contentiously) characterized colour as arising from the dynamic interplay of darkness and light. After being translated into English by Charles Eastlake in 1840, this theory became widely adopted by the art world, most notably J. M. W. Turner (Bockemuhl, 1991). It also inspired the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, to write his Remarks on Colour. Goethe was vehemently opposed to Newton's analytic treatment of colour, engaging instead in compiling a comprehensive description of a wide variety of colour phenomena. Although Goethe cannot necessarily be criticized for the accuracy and extent of his observations, scientists in general have found little use for his theory because not much can be predicted by means of it. Goethe was, however, the first to systematically study the physiological effects of colour, and his observations on the effect of opposed colors led him to a symmetric arrangement of his colour wheel, 'for the colours diametrically opposed to each other… are those which reciprocally evoke each other in the eye. (Goethe, Theory of Colours, 1810 ). In this, he anticipated Ewald Hering's opponent color theory (1872).
Goethe outlines his method in the essay, The experiment as mediator between subject and object (1772). In the Kurschner edition of Goethe's works, the science editor, Rudolf Steiner, presents Goethe's approach to science as phenomenological. Steiner elaborated on this in the books The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception and Goethe's World View, in which he emphasizes the need of the perceiving organ of intuition in order to grasp Goethe's biological archetype (i.e. The Typus).
Key works
Statues of Goethe and Schiller, WeimarThe short epistolary novel, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, or The Sorrows of Young Werther, published in 1774, recounts an unhappy romantic infatuation that ends in suicide. Goethe admitted that he "shot his hero to save himself": a reference to Goethe's own near-suicidal obsession with a young woman during this period, an obsession he quelled through the writing process. The novel remains in print in dozens of languages and its influence is undeniable; its central hero, an obsessive figure driven to despair and destruction by his unrequited love for the young Lotte, has become a pervasive literary archetype. The fact that Werther ends with the protagonist's suicide and funeral — a funeral which "no clergyman attended" — made the book deeply controversial upon its (anonymous) publication, for on the face of it, it appeared to condone and glorify suicide. Suicide was considered sinful by Christian doctrine: suicides were denied Christian burial with the bodies often mistreated and dishonoured in various ways; in corollary, the deceased's property and possessions were often confiscated by the Church. Epistolary novels were common during this time, letter-writing being a primary mode of communication. What set Goethe's book apart from other such novels was its expression of unbridled longing for a joy beyond possibility, its sense of defiant rebellion against authority, and of principal importance, its total subjectivity: qualities that trailblazed the Romantic movement.
The next work, his epic closet drama Faust, was to be completed in stages, and only published in its entirety after his death. The first part was published in 1808 and created a sensation. The first operatic version, by Spohr, appeared in 1814, and was subsequently the inspiration for operas and oratorios by Schumann, Gounod, Boito, Busoni, and Schnittke as well as symphonic works by Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler. Faust became the ur-myth of many figures in the 19th century. Later, a facet of its plot, i.e., of selling one's soul to the devil for power over the physical world, took on increasing literary importance and became a view of the victory of technology and of industrialism, along with its dubious human expenses. In 1919, the Goetheanum staged the world premiere of a complete production of Faust. On occasion, the play is still staged in Germany and other parts around the world.
Goethe's poetic work served as a model for an entire movement in German poetry termed Innerlichkeit ("introversion") and represented by, for example, Heine. Goethe's words inspired a number of compositions by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz and Wolf. Perhaps the single most influential piece is "Mignon's Song" which opens with one of the most famous lines in German poetry, an allusion to Italy: "Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn?" ("Do you know the land where the lemons bloom?").
Goethe in the Roman Campagna (1786) by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein. Oil on canvas, 164 x 206 cm. Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt.He is also widely quoted. Epigrams such as "Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him", "Divide and rule, a sound motto; unite and lead, a better one", and "Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must", are still in usage or are often paraphrased. Lines from Faust, such as "Das also war des Pudels Kern", "Das ist der Weisheit letzter Schluss", or "Grau ist alle Theorie" have entered everyday German usage. Although a success of less tasteful appeal, the famous line from the drama Götz von Berlichingen ("Er kann mich im Arsche lecken": "He can lick my arse") has become a vulgar idiom in many languages, and shows Goethe's deep cultural impact extending across social, national, and linguistic borders.
It may be taken as another measure of Goethe's fame that other well-known quotations are often incorrectly attributed to him, such as Hippocrates' "Art is long, life is short", which is found in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
Eroticism
Many of Goethe's works, especially Faust, the Roman Elegies, and the Venetian Epigrams, depict hetero- and homosexual erotic passions and acts. In Faust, having signed (the Devil insists on his signature in an actual contract) his deal with the devil, the very first use of his new power thus gained sees Faust raping a young teenage girl. In fact, some of the Venetian Epigrams were held back from publication due to their sexual content. However, Karl Hugo Pruys caused national controversy in Germany when his 1999 book The Tiger's Tender Touch: The Erotic Life of Goethe tentatively deduced from Goethe's writings the possibility of Goethe's homosexuality. The sexual portraitures and allusions in his work may stem from one of the many effects of Goethe's eye-opening sojourn in Italy, where men, who shunned the prevalence of women's venereal diseases and unconscionable conditions, embraced homosexuality as a solution that was not widely imitated outside of Italy. Whatever the case, Goethe clearly saw sexuality in general as a topic that merited poetic and artistic depiction. This went against the thought of his time, when the very private nature of sexuality was rigorously normative, and makes him appear more modern than he is typically thought to be.
Religion
Born into a Protestant (Lutheran) family, Goethe's early faith was shaken by news of such events as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the Seven Years' War. His later spiritual perspective evolved among pantheism, humanism, and various elements of Western esotericism, as seen most vividly in Part II of Faust.
A year before his death he expressed an identification with the Hypsistarians, an ancient Jewish-pagan sect of the Black Sea region. After describing his difficulties with mainstream religion, Goethe laments:
…I have found no confession of faith to which I could ally myself without reservation. Now in my old age, however, I have learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they would treasure, admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their knowledge, and inasmuch as it must have a close connection to the Godhead, pay it reverence. A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian. That, however, is no small task, for how does one, in the limitations of one's individuality, come to know what is most excellent?
– from a letter to Sulpiz Boisserée dated 22 March 1831
Historical importance
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Goethe had a great effect on the 19th century. In many respects, he was the originator of many ideas which later became widespread. He produced volumes of poetry, essays, criticism, a theory of optics and early work on evolution and linguistics. He was fascinated by mineralogy, and the mineral goethite is named after him. His non-fiction writings, most of which are philosophic and aphoristic in nature, spurred the development of many philosophers, including G.W.F. Hegel, Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Along with Schiller, he was one of the leading figures of Weimar Classicism. Goethe is remembered with special fondness by followers of 20th century esoteric figure Rudolf Steiner - who named the Goetheanum after him, where festival performances of Faust are still performed today. In contemporary culture, he stands in the background as the author of the story upon which Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice is based.
Second GoetheanumGoethe embodied many of the contending strands in art over the next century: his work could be lushly emotional, and rigorously formal, brief and epigrammatic, and epic. He would argue that classicism was the means of controlling art, and that romanticism was a sickness, even as he penned poetry rich in memorable images, and rewrote the formal rules of German poetry.
His poetry was set to music by almost every major Austrian and German composer from Mozart to Mahler, and his influence would spread to French drama and opera as well. Beethoven declared that a "Faust" Symphony would be the greatest thing for Art. Liszt and Mahler both created symphonies in whole or in large part inspired by this seminal work, which would give the 19th century one of its most paradigmatic figures: Doctor Faustus. The Faust tragedy/drama, often called "Das Drama der Deutschen" (the drama of the Germans), written in two parts published decades apart, would stand as his most characteristic and famous artistic creation.
Goethe was also a cultural force, and by researching folk traditions, he created many of the norms for celebrating Christmas, and argued that the organic nature of the land moulded the people and their customs—an argument that has recurred ever since, including recently in the work of Jared Diamond. He argued that laws could not be created by pure rationalism, since geography and history shaped habits and patterns. This stood in sharp contrast to the prevailing Enlightenment view that reason was sufficient to create well-ordered societies and good laws.
Influence
Goethe's influence was dramatic because he understood that there was a transition in European sensibilities, an increasing focus on sense, the indescribable, and the emotional. This is not to say that he was emotionalistic or excessive; on the contrary, he lauded personal restraint and felt that excess was a disease: "There is nothing worse than imagination without taste". He argued in his scientific works that a "formative impulse", which he said is operative in every organism, causes an organism to form itself according to its own distinct laws, and therefore rational laws or fiats could not be imposed at all from a higher, transcendent sphere; this placed him in direct opposition to those who attempted to form "enlightened" monarchies based on "rational" laws by, for example, Joseph II of Austria or, the subsequent Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. A quotation from his Scientific Studies will suffice:
We conceive of the individual animal as a small world, existing for its own sake, by its own means. Every creature is its own reason to be. All its parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we are justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect. Viewed from within, no part of the animal is a useless or arbitrary product of the formative impulse (as so often thought). Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance. Thus…[not] the question, What are they for? but rather, Where do they come from?
– Suhrkamp ed., vol 12, p. 121; trans. Douglas Miller, Scientific Studies
This change later became the basis for 19th century thought; organic rather than geometrical, evolving rather than created, and based on sensibility and intuition, rather than on imposed order, culminating in, as he said, a "living quality" wherein the subject and object are dissolved together in a poise of inquiry. Consequently, he embraced neither teleological nor deterministic views of growth within every organism. Instead, the world as a whole grows through continual, external, and internal strife. Moreover, he did not embrace the mechanistic views that contemporaneous science subsumed during his time, and there with he denied rationality's superiority as the sole interpretation of reality. Furthermore, he declared that all knowledge is related to humanity through its functional value alone and that knowledge presupposes a perspectival quality. He also stated that the fundamental nature of the world is aesthetic.
His views make him, along with Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, and Ludwig van Beethoven, a figure in two worlds: on the one hand, devoted to the sense of taste, order, and finely crafted detail, which is the hallmark of the artistic sense of the Age of Reason and the neo-classicistic period of architecture; on the other, seeking a personal, intuitive, and personalized form of expression and society, firmly supporting the idea of self-regulating and organic systems. Thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson would take up many similar ideas in the 1800s. His ideas on evolution would frame the question which Darwin and Wallace would approach within the scientific paradigm.
Bibliography
Goethe: The History of a Man by Emil Ludwig
Goethe by Georg Brandes
Goethe: his life and times by Richard Friedenthal
Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns by Thomas Mann
Conversations with Goethe by Johann Peter Eckermann
Goethe's World: as seen in letters and memoirs ed. by Berthold Biermann
Goethe: Four Studies by Albert Schweitzer
Goethe and his Publishers by Siegfied Unseld
Goethe: The Poet and the Age (2 Vols.), by Nicholas Boyle
Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients, by Angus Nicholls
Goethe and Rousseau: Resonances of ther Mind, by Carl Hammer, Jr.
References
^ dictionary.com
^ Eliot, George (2004). in Gregory Maertz (ed.): Middlemarch. Broadview Press. ISBN. Note by editor of 2004 edition, Gregory Maertz, http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1551112337&id=4MopnRJ-HmMC&pg=PA710&lpg=PA710&sig=4nAO63zmLS9Ua-x0mevpZA7kSIY p. 710
^ http://www.bartleby.com/65/go/Goethe-J.html Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. (2001-2005).
^ Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st edition.http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=165&keywords=goethe
^ a b Opitz, John (2004). "Goethe's bone and the beginnings of morphology". American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A 126A (1): 1–8. doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.20619.
^ see Goethe and his Publishers
^ Safranski, Rüdiger, Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Harvard University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-674-79275-0
^ http://www.natureinstitute.org/about/who/goethe.htm The Nature Institute - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
^ Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st edition.http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=165&keywords=goethe
^ K. Barteczko and M. Jacob (1999). "A re-evaluation of the premaxillary bone in humans". Anatomy and Embryology 207 (6): 417–437. doi:10.1007/s00429-003-0366-x.
^ http://books.google.com/books?id=0Fjuaog1_E0C&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&ots=ezKJugQmvs&dq=intermaxillary+bone+prove&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=jkPjZ1STzEfso5aFHxmFqxeof18] In 1790, he published his Metamorphosis of Plants
^ Goethe, J.W.. Italian Journey. Suhrkamp ed., vol 6.
^ Bockemuhl, M. (1991). Turner. Taschen, Koln. ISBN 3-8228-6325-4.
^ Goethe, Johann (1810). Theory of Colours, paragraph #50.
^ Goethe's Color Theory
^ GA002: The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World Conception
^ Goethe's World View
^ Pips Project – THE STIGMA OF SUICIDE A History
^ Ophelia's Burial
^ Karl Hugo Pruys, The Tiger's Tender Touch: The Erotic Life of Goethe. Trans. Kathleen Bunten. (Edition Q, 1999). ISBN 1883695120.
^ Outing Goethe and His Age, edited by Alice A. Kuzniar (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1996) (page number needed). ISBN 0804726159.
^ Outing Goethe and His Age; edited by Alice A. Kuzniar (page number needed)
^ quoted in Peter Boerner, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1832/1982: A Biographical Essay. Bonn: Inter Nationes, 1981 p. 82]