The Sorrows of Young Werther (Modern Library)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Penguin English Library features the best novels in the English language. Get lost in the amazing stories, browse the Penguin English Library. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Though he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. The first great 'confessional' novel, it draws both on Goethe's own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of a close friend.
The book was an immediate success and a cult rapidly grew up around it, resulting in numerous copycat deaths as well as violent criticism and suppression for its apparent support of suicide. Goethe's exploration of the mind of an artist at odds with society and ill-equipped to cope with life remains as poignant as when it was first written.
About the Author
Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in Frankfurt in 1749. He is best remembered for his great works The Sorrows of Young Werther and Faust, and his part in the 18th century 'Sturm and Drang' movement. He died in 1832. Michael Hulse is an acclaimed literary German translator.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
'This spring,' wrote Christian Kestner in 1772, 'a certain Goethe came here. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
'This spring,' wrote Christian Kestner in 1772, 'a certain Goethe came here. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We tend to think of our era as unique when we descry the impact that the media has on our young people's behavior. Well the same thing happened 200 years ago when this book was first published. Impressionable young readers who identified so completely with Werther went out and committed suicide by the droves.
Werther is the prototypical Romantic male, who "feels" more deeply than the rest of humanity. Unlike Heathcliffe, who settles on revenge as an answer to his thwarted designs, Werther takes it out on himself. Of course, there's a great deal of self-destruction at work in Heathcliffe's persona too.
I would recommend this to a reader who is just getting to know Goethe. I read it when I was about eighteen and it definitely struck a nerve with me at that time. It made me want to read everything by Goethe I could find in translation.
Read it, and if you like it, as I am sure you will, go on to Goethe's two great Romantic novels, Elective Affinities and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. I found in my earlier readings that I never went wrong with Penguin Classics translations. They're normally all top-notch, whether Greek, Latin, French, German, Russian, etc. PS: If you're a young reader, please don't take Werther too much to heart. It's only a novel, ok?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The sorrows of young Werther is, in my humble opinion, one of the best stories I have read.
The majority of the narrative is written in the words of Werther himself in the form of letters to his brother Wilhelm and it starts slowly but I would urge the reader to be patient as the story blossoms.
I found myself sympathising with Werther and his unrequieted love for Lotte having been there more than once in my life and feeling the same pain and elation in the same heart beat, the uncertainty and the joy. I found Goethe's text mirroring real life, I later discovered that it is based on his own unrequieted love and so was an out pouring of his feelings.
On the whole I really enjoyed this book and it was my first Goethe and I am looking forward to reading more and would urge anyone who has felt the same pain or has an interest in classic literature to read this.
The majority of the narrative is written in the words of Werther himself in the form of letters to his brother Wilhelm and it starts slowly but I would urge the reader to be patient as the story blossoms.
I found myself sympathising with Werther and his unrequieted love for Lotte having been there more than once in my life and feeling the same pain and elation in the same heart beat, the uncertainty and the joy. I found Goethe's text mirroring real life, I later discovered that it is based on his own unrequieted love and so was an out pouring of his feelings.
On the whole I really enjoyed this book and it was my first Goethe and I am looking forward to reading more and would urge anyone who has felt the same pain or has an interest in classic literature to read this.
Format:Paperback
The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, is an exciting read for anyone interested in the Romantic period. Written in 1774, some critics have considered the publishing of the short novel as the beginning of Romanticism. Although academics vary on the dates they attribute to the period, it is undeniable that Werther is fundamental to fundamental aspects of it, particularly its influence in the cult of sensibility and the European cult of celebrity. Following its release, the novel was banned in Italy due to the numerous suicides of young men who felt they identified with Werther. In this story of unrequited love, one finds some of the most hyperbolic and lyrical writing of the period. It anticipates the confessional thread which ran through later Romantic works, and provides a study of obsessive manic love of which an elevated mind of reason has no control. In this sense, it is not unlike Hazlitt's Liber Amoris. Madame de Stael widened readings of Werther, politicizing it, suggesting that Werther would not have become suicidal if it wasn't for his occupational failings. All in all, The Sorrows of Young Werther is an under-appreciated book. Its influences on the Romantic period were far-reaching and it should be delved into by those with a love of Romanticism.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
sorrows of young werther
good book even though it doesn't look like one! good for anyone who likes to read a little bit of romance,
i hope the rest of you enjoy it as much as i did!
i hope the rest of you enjoy it as much as i did!
Published 5 months ago by maryam
a great story
the sorrows of young werther is a story of deep love and how it can affect a person in the most terrible ways if the feeling is not mutual. Read more
Published 16 months ago by purple dreamz
A journey alongside genius
Two true stories woven together so as to provide a tragic love story and a direct insight into Goethe's mind. Simple, poetic, tragic and thoughtful. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Brownbear101
It might be a classic but it's also absurd
I was keen to get into Goethe and so read this. Frankly, it's extraordinarily dated. It's hard not to laugh at this ludicrous protagonist who is so wet he might as well be a... Read more
Published on 15 April 2010 by Frederick Helmersley-Bott
Profound - but not for everyone
I read this book as part of my English degree, and turned out to be the only person in class to really enjoy it. Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by Mysterio
Not a story for the cynics!
Werther falls in love with a woman who is engaged to another man. As a result he suffers miserably, tormented by his existence, unable to dispel the burning desire in his `sorely... Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2006 by Room For A View
Disapointing
I expected to enjoy this book. I'm keen on literature from this period and I'm not averse to a bit of tragedy. Unfortunately I found Werther in love to be utterly unconvincing. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2005
Overwrought and unbelievable
'TSOYW' is touted as being one of Europes first tragic novels. It follows the story of Werther's love for Lotte, a love that is doomed to be unfulfilled because she is marrying... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2004 by Depressaholic
"Be on your guard..."
"...and take care not to fall in love!" Truly the first, and still the greatest, pieces of 'confessional' writing on the up's and down's, the trials and tribulations, that come... Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2004 by "selex_2000"
A Tragic Love Story
This book is possibly the most moving account of a young mans love. The words are so beautifully written and with such poignancy the reader is left with a heavy heart aching for... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2002
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
