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Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I
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- GenresFiction
443 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1897
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13.6k books7,322 followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided 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 took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe 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 about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided 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 took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe 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 about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 15, 2025
Sadly, I’m not curious enough about this character to read part two. Meh to the meh. 😒
September 17, 2025
I will admit, right up front, that I lost interest in this novel at about the halfway point, and was anxious for it to be done. It was simply too long and rambling.
So, this will be a brief review.
Written by van Goethe in late 18th century (1795-96), Wilhelm Meister was a young dude disillusioned by love gone wrong, and decided to go gallivanting about Germany in search of something more fulfilling. He fell in with an itinerant group of actors and other theatrical types, and enjoyed some moderate success in this profession.
He was introduced, and fell under the thrall of, one William Shakespeare, and became determined to produce and star in Hamlet. Willy and his mates bang on about Hamlet, like forever!
Our 'Apprentice' also embarked on a series of liaisons with desirable women (he was seeking his Amazon - but who isn't?) with varying results. Perhaps his most interesting relationship was with young Mignon (who he more or less bought), who was like a very loving young daughter to him.
As it turns out, he must have properly shagged at least one of these women, because he finds out (spoiler alert) near the end of the yarn that he has a son, Felix.
The whole plot here is pretty flimsy, and merely provides van Goethe a framework in which to wax on about the joys and tribulations of a career in the arts, about the nature of love and relationships between the sexes, and several other lengthy philosophical musings.
I suspect the author was being somewhat ironic in amongst all his wit and cleverness, but such was the density of the prose that much of it was lost on me.
I've made it sound pretty awful - it wasn't actually that bad, but it's one I will forget pretty darn quickly.
So, this will be a brief review.
Written by van Goethe in late 18th century (1795-96), Wilhelm Meister was a young dude disillusioned by love gone wrong, and decided to go gallivanting about Germany in search of something more fulfilling. He fell in with an itinerant group of actors and other theatrical types, and enjoyed some moderate success in this profession.
He was introduced, and fell under the thrall of, one William Shakespeare, and became determined to produce and star in Hamlet. Willy and his mates bang on about Hamlet, like forever!
Our 'Apprentice' also embarked on a series of liaisons with desirable women (he was seeking his Amazon - but who isn't?) with varying results. Perhaps his most interesting relationship was with young Mignon (who he more or less bought), who was like a very loving young daughter to him.
As it turns out, he must have properly shagged at least one of these women, because he finds out (spoiler alert) near the end of the yarn that he has a son, Felix.
The whole plot here is pretty flimsy, and merely provides van Goethe a framework in which to wax on about the joys and tribulations of a career in the arts, about the nature of love and relationships between the sexes, and several other lengthy philosophical musings.
I suspect the author was being somewhat ironic in amongst all his wit and cleverness, but such was the density of the prose that much of it was lost on me.
I've made it sound pretty awful - it wasn't actually that bad, but it's one I will forget pretty darn quickly.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews