The Essential Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Matt Bell

"The Essential Goethe" is the most comprehensive and representative one-volume collection of Goethe's writings ever published in English. It provides English-language readers easier access than ever before to the widest range of work by one of the greatest writers in world history. Goethe's work as playwright, poet, novelist, and autobiographer is fully represented. In addition to the works for which he is most famous, including "Faust Part I "and the lyric poems, the volume features important literary works that are rarely published in English--including the dramas "Egmont," "Iphigenia in Tauris," and" Torquato Tasso" and the bildungsroman "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," a foundational work in the history of the novel. The volume also offers a selection of Goethe's essays on the arts, philosophy, and science, which give access to the thought of a polymath unrivalled in the modern world. Primarily drawn from Princeton's authoritative twelve-volume Goethe edition, the translations are highly readable and reliable modern versions by scholars of Goethe. The volume also features an extensive introduction to Goethe's life and works by volume editor Matthew Bell.

Includes: Selected poemsFour complete dramas: "Faust Part I, Egmont, Iphigenia in Tauris," " "and" Torquato Tasso"The complete novel" Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship"A selection from the travel journal" Italian Journey"Selected essays on art and literatureSelected essays on philosophy and scienceAn extensive introduction to Goethe's life and worksA chronology of Goethe's life and timesA note on the texts and translations

Genres: Classics, Literature, Philosophy, Fiction, Poetry, German Literature, Germany

1056 pages, Hardcover

Published January 12, 2016

About the author

A 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.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Johann Wolfgang Goethe and adapted by Judith French
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...


What the original sounds like, I confess from the start that I do not know.
But I have listened earlier the adaptation by Judith French.

It seems to me that Goethe must have created a more serious, darker and more dramatic oeuvre, but I may be wrong.

The version produced for the BBC is jocular, even if there are upsetting events within.

From the start, the Sorcerer is disappointed; perhaps angry is more appropriate with his Apprentice who does not obey the rules.
Hexenmeister has told Peter to clean the “laboratory”, but there are cobwebs and spiders around and in corners.

- You played with the broom!
- Yes master
- Instead of cleaning, you wanted to fly
- I did
- And you made me lose my best client, when you played the part of a Rottweiler with Mrs. D’s poodle
- I had no idea he had a heart condition!
- Then you added your own contribution to the potion for Gerhard – I can’t recall what the real name is- and he went around naked, I had to pay damages

The wizard is concentrated on the elections of that night, when he could advance in a better position within the organization of sorcerers.
When he sums up the activity of his help he says something like

- You are fired!
- But master…
- I have had enough

Luckily for the young man, on the way out, his employer finds a parcel:

- What is it?
- A Christmas gift
- A cabbage and…
- Yes, with the right spell…

Before that, the apprentice had tried to convince his master to capitalize on the celebrations with some inventions:

- A game that sounded like Empire or Rome
- Pajamas that glowed in the dark on account of the phosphorus used on them

In the first instance, the wizard rejects these foolish tricks, but he would have the occasion to reconsider.
Because he is appeased by the gift, or he is just a kind man, the sorcerer forgives his apprentice one more time…

- But if you fail me again, I will throw you into the river…

He does not seem to have prophetic powers that might anticipate a river within the house…
When he is alone with the daughter, that keeps getting stuck inside the chimney, the cat starts speaking.

- Copernicus gives our hero instructions and then spirits come down, agitation increases and a line from Lawrence of Arabia comes to mind
- I am a river for my people


And that was Anthony Quinn boasting about his supposed generosity, contradicting the rumors that he is greedy.
Posted 8th October 2016 by realini

[Isaac Samuel Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a true tome.

It’s inundated with axiomatic scruples that I wholeheartedly ascribe to.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you love archaic concepts that really aren’t inceptive.

I know, contradictory, but if you’re a true literary aficionado, then you’ll ascertain what I am propagating.

[Oscar Lamont · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always wanted to read Goethe but never knew how to go about it and always thought he would be extremely difficult to read.

I purchased "The Essential Goethe" and just from dipping into it in the last 24 hours, it has genuinely changed my life. Beautiful writing by an astonishing person with an incredible range of interests.

I started with his pieces about philosophy and science. I have never read anything like them. I love the spirituality. The little piece based on Spinoza, for example, went some way to answering some of the deepest and most difficult philosophical questions that have haunted me recently. The writing is a joy -- the only thing I have found difficult is fully understanding the complexity and profundity of some of the content/ideas. I plan to keep dipping into new stuff (Faust next) but then also returning to the bits I have read in order to try and understand them more fully!

Also: these translations are excellent -- a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book for that reason and also because of the great breadth of Goethe writing which it offers in a single volume.

[Dan Urbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The translations in this book are very well done. While the book contains some puzzling selections and omissions (why Torquato Tasso but not Sufferings of Werter?), I would certainly recommend it. The Faust is especially good, and I found myself completely absorbed in Travels in Italy. His writing in the memoir genre is especially engaging. Reading his Travels in Italy, you feel like you're looking at the world of the 18th century through your own eyes. His excitement and curiosity about the world around him, the geology, plants, people, art, are really the key to his genius. He was a polymath because he loved to learn and observe. That he was an artist and an enlightenment thinker was a lucky thing for the world, since we get to read his thoughts.

[Andria Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me six days to get through. It slogged in the middle and though it's an important work of fiction, I found myself bored towards the end. I was so glad that I finally finished reading this massive tome. A thousand pages of plays, stories, poetry and more. I highly doubt that I'm going to reread it, though I hope to own a physical copy one day. It's a good book but man am I glad I finally finished it.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Translations are beautiful. Quite enjoyed Faust and the essays on science in the back are remarkable if that's your cup of tea.

Good idea to bookmark this on the princeton university press website and wait for the 75% sale and snatch this one up.

[Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of Goethe’s greatest works. I had never read Goethe before but I found his work to have more existential leaning than I suspected, especially Faust and Master Wilhelm’s Apprenticeship. Schopenhauer thought Master Wilhelm’s Apprenticeship (a book I had not even heard of prior to finding it in this collection) was one of the four greatest literary works ever created. It certainly may be, what a beautiful and thought provoking coming of age story.

If you’ve never read Goethe, this collection is certainly a great start.

[Christy Blow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love that the youth hear music in the fountains. Some things just never change with the centuries.