Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} From My Life Poetry and Truth Parts 1-3 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Creator / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) is to German what Dante Alighieri is to Italian, William Shakespeare is to English, Miguel de Cervantes to Spanish or Alexander Pushkin to Russian: the most important author of his language. The quintessential Dichter and Denker. For the benefit of English-speakers, his name is pronounced (roughly) " Yo -hawn Volf g uhng phone Gö tuh" — not "Go-eth". Born in 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Goethe rose to fame with the drama Götz von Berlichingen and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther . Werther, the hero of the latter story, even was a role model for many young people of Goethe's time, many of them adopting his signature yellow waistcoat and his philosophy. This wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that the story ends with Werther's suicide. The oft-repeated claim that the book caused a suicide epidemic among young men lacks solid evidence, and is probably greatly exaggerated. Despite being the author of such an unintentionally controversial book, Goethe soon made his career at the court of Weimar, where he was an important minister for the grand duke, and where he met Friedrich Schiller, the other most important German author; after an uneasy first meeting they quickly became Heterosexual Life-Partners. Goethe got ennobled in Weimar (hence the ''von'' in his name) and most of his works were created there. Unlike what one would expect from famous German writers at the time, Goethe was relaxed about including lots of rude and dirty jokes in his works. Götz von Berlichingen , a biographical piece about a famous soldier, is known as the play in which the main character speaks the line "Tell him that he can lick my arse!" (Indeed, the subject of the play is said to have invented the insult - Goethe merely quoted him. Also note: "Lick my arse" is roughly equivalent to "kiss my ass" in English; it's the phrase Mozart used in his famously and childishly rude canon in B-flat minor , and Mozart actually jokes about Goethe in it.) Although mostly known for his literary works, Goethe also dabbled in many fields of science. For example, he discovered the incisive bone, though others had discovered it independently before him. He studied botany extensively and declared "alles ist Blatt" (all is leaf). He also disagreed with Newton's theory of colour and came up with his own, and then could never figure out why nobody agreed that it was his greatest work. Goethe also traveled to Italy. During his time, Germans loved Italy! He became one of the most well-documented people of all time; he was so famous so early that nearly everyone who met him wrote about him in detail, loads of his correspondence has been preserved and practically every scrap he ever wrote has been published: the standard modern Hamburg Edition of his works runs to 11,000 pages . Goethe died in 1832 in Weimar. His last words were (allegedly), "More light!" The Autobiography of Goethe Volume 1. This Autobiography of Goethe has a lengthy introduction and short biography of Goethe's life by Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) and was translated by John Oxenford (1812-1877) in 1848, which was a year of revolutions in Europe. Johann Goethe was a literary celebrity by the age of 25 and was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Carl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November of 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (available on Librivox). He lived in Germany from 1749-1832. This period corresponds to the same time as the Seven Years' War, and the French and American Revolutions (1754-1815). Goethe was a member of the Sturm und Drang literary movement. This group of writers believed that literature should shock the audience in order to produce extreme emotions as a counterbalance to the rationalist movement which promoted detachment in the sciences. This is the first part of his autobiography, which he called Truth and Fiction or Truth and Poetry depending on the translator. Goethe wrote poems, such as, The Sorcerer's Apprentice , as well as plays, novels and some scientific works. He wrote the play Faust which is also available on Librivox. He was an Anti-Enlightenment writer. Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) assisted with the 1839 English translation of Johann Peter Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of his Life . One reader, Barbara, submitted the following after reading a little of the book. "The publisher, J. H. Moore, seems to have cobbled his book together from sources which are not properly acknowledged if at all. For instance, the "Introduction" merely pinches an essay by Thomas Carlyle which was published in 1828. Google gives the publication date of "The Autobiography of Goethe" as "1901?" (Summary by Wikipedia and Craig Campbell) Goethe. He became the greatest figure in German literature, but his interests ranged from politics to science, from art to occultism. In life he was a respected intellectual who rubbed shoulders with the most illustrious names in his country’s culture and society. The preposition “von” of his surname was due to Duke Charles Augustus, who assimilated him to the nobility in 1782 due to his outstanding work as an advisor and statesman. He was born on August 28 in a bourgeois home and his father was personally in charge of his education, which included Latin, music and fencing, also becoming fond of drawing from a very young age; a path that led him to master several branches of knowledge. In 1765 he moved to Leipzig to begin his law studies, which he would finish in Strasbourg six years later. It was there that he befriended the person who would introduce him to Romanticism and make him an enthusiastic reader of German poetry, Shakespeare and Homer. Together with Johan Gottfried Herder, a renowned philosopher and literary critic, he later laid the foundations for the “Sturm und Drang” movement, a response to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. In 1772 he moved to Wetzlar, where he began his practice as a lawyer and met Charlotte Buff, the fiancée of a friend with whom he fell in love and who ended up being the inspiration for his novel The Misadventures of Young Werther. In Frankfurt he commits himself to the daughter of a banker, but ends up fleeing to Weimar, who is also disappointed in his profession. Thus, in 1775 he begins his life as a civil servant, an occupation that distances him for a long time from literature. That which he would take up again in 1786 after a trip to Italy, focusing on the culmination of what would be his greatest work: Faust, the second part of which would be published the same year as his death. 10 famous works of Goethe. 1. Götz von Berlichingen. Darmstadt, 1773. Considered the first work by the movement “Sturm und Drang”, the protagonist is inspired by a famous character of the sixteenth century. It is set in the region of Bavaria and focuses on the conflict between an imperial knight and a bishop. One of the characteristics that separates this drama from neoclassical theatre is the emphasis on individual feelings, emotions over reason. 2. The Sorrows of Young Werther. Leipzig, 1774. This epistolary novel composed of three distinct parts caused a great stir and made Goethe a celebrity. The story follows the evolution of Werther’s self-destructive feelings towards Carlota, who despite the empathy she feels, cannot return his love and save him from madness. It is a semi-biographic work that impacted the youth of the time in positive and negative ways. There were many suicides inspired by this romantic anti- hero. 3. Prometheus. Frankfurt, 1774. Poem starring the famous Greek character who rebelled against the gods. As in the myth, Prometheus confronts Zeus, which for some interpreters of Goethe’s work would speak of the agnostic side of the author. Far from that polemic, the verses exalt human genius and suggest that religion keeps people sleepy, that divine beliefs hold back freedom. 4. Venetian Epigrams. Weimar, 1790. His second stay in Italy would mark Goethe’s later thought, his most critical and sharp side will emerge. In addition to transmitting all the reluctance produced by Venice and its people, he ends up questioning the French Revolution, pointing out the vices of the clergy and touching on other subjects as relevant as sexuality. His epigrams are opinions that seek to demystify the promises of the modern world. 5. Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. Berlin, 1795. In his second novel, he distances himself completely from the tragic postulates that appeared in Werther. The protagonist is a member of the bourgeoisie who questions what society expects of him, so he decides to seek happiness through self-realization. In this “learning novel,” Wilhelm aspires to a career as a playwright, although he must first make a personal journey that allows him to know himself. 6. Elective affinities. Tubingen, 1809. Goethe uses his scientific knowledge to develop this plot in which relationships are the excuse to show the irrationality of passions. In nature, the elements are attracted or rejected without any explanation. In the same way, the four characters of the novel struggle to remain faithful, conditioned by the mysterious laws of the universe. 7. From My Life: Poetry and Truth.. Tübingen, 1811. The second part of his autobiography would appear a year after his death, which took him two decades to finish.