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Wilhelm Meister #1-2
Wilhelm Meister (Book 1&2): Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship & Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years
The story centres upon Wilhelm Meister's attempt to escape what he views as the empty life of a bourgeois businessman. After a failed romance with the theatre, Wilhelm commits himself to the mysterious Tower Society.
Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years or His Travels - Consisting largely of discrete short stories and novellas woven together with elements of the epistolary novel, lengthy sections of aphorisms, and several interspersed poems, the sequel is a treat to read! A major theme running through the various parts of the novel is that of "Entsagung," translatable as "renunciation." The most famous section of the novel is probably the episode in which the protagonist and his son Felix visit the "Pedagogical Province."
Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years or His Travels - Consisting largely of discrete short stories and novellas woven together with elements of the epistolary novel, lengthy sections of aphorisms, and several interspersed poems, the sequel is a treat to read! A major theme running through the various parts of the novel is that of "Entsagung," translatable as "renunciation." The most famous section of the novel is probably the episode in which the protagonist and his son Felix visit the "Pedagogical Province."
392 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 3, 2019
10 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13.3k books6,931 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 15, 2018
I like Goethe but I hate this work! The Sorrows of Young Werther made Goethe a household name in Germany. Had Meister come first, Goethe would have remained unknown. This is the incomprehensible writing of a young man impressed with his ability as expressed by earlier critics. No one edited this work. The novel is of a naïve young idealist with a warped point-of-view (how exactly does a rainbow appear in the road under his horses feet? How does a birch wood in a field evolve into a plateau from which a perilous climb takes place?).
There is no reference to any passage of time: the reader is incredulous at the conclusion of a long series of events that they all occurred in a few months; it takes a full day to troop to a castle and a full week to return to the start. A theme abruptly ends for no reason. Characters and crucial issues are inexplicably dropped. The main character acts against expected human behavior: a young Meister begins a business trip for his father and immediately violates his trust placed by joining a troop of mendicant actors! The strict social structure of eighteenth century Europe is ignored as a merchant’s son becomes intimate with nobility. A completely irrelevant book concerning a woman’s spiritual growth is inserted only for the reader’s edification. A sudden and inexplicable cult-like ritual only lends to confusion.
Part two – The Travels of Wilhelm Meister Goethe wrote during the autumn of his years. I expect better things from him.
This is horrible! I don’t know if it is a problem with the translator, but it is so confusing – point of view shifting for no apparent reason within a few paragraphs, first person singular suddenly shifts to third person, characters who have not been remotely introduced are discussed in weird conversations! I cannot follow it. I know that Goethe was criticized for this Part Two when it was published for violating the norms of the novel form, but recent “modern” critics like it!
Do not bother even attempting because it is a complete waste of time.
There is no reference to any passage of time: the reader is incredulous at the conclusion of a long series of events that they all occurred in a few months; it takes a full day to troop to a castle and a full week to return to the start. A theme abruptly ends for no reason. Characters and crucial issues are inexplicably dropped. The main character acts against expected human behavior: a young Meister begins a business trip for his father and immediately violates his trust placed by joining a troop of mendicant actors! The strict social structure of eighteenth century Europe is ignored as a merchant’s son becomes intimate with nobility. A completely irrelevant book concerning a woman’s spiritual growth is inserted only for the reader’s edification. A sudden and inexplicable cult-like ritual only lends to confusion.
Part two – The Travels of Wilhelm Meister Goethe wrote during the autumn of his years. I expect better things from him.
This is horrible! I don’t know if it is a problem with the translator, but it is so confusing – point of view shifting for no apparent reason within a few paragraphs, first person singular suddenly shifts to third person, characters who have not been remotely introduced are discussed in weird conversations! I cannot follow it. I know that Goethe was criticized for this Part Two when it was published for violating the norms of the novel form, but recent “modern” critics like it!
Do not bother even attempting because it is a complete waste of time.
October 10, 2012
God knows I tried... but I just couldn't stomach this. It's Goethe, and I love him but... so many detailed descriptions about wandering theatre companies and meetings with the aristocracy, without much substance to the plot itself! Impossible to enjoy this. I just couldn't stop myself from turning pages and pages of blahblahblah, looking for the real meat in the story. A pity. After all, hey! it's Goethe!
Want to read
May 17, 2025First edition 1890
May be super rare. Can’t find online.
May be super rare. Can’t find online.
June 22, 2020
This book is a confusing mess, but there are moments of clarity within it. First, I'm not sure about the organization of it. There are three main sections in the copy that I have. I believe the first section is the Apprenticeship, the third the Travels, and the second part a transition between the two. But on top of all that confusion, there is a random section about someone other than Wilhelm Meister plugged in. At first, I thought it was his primary love interest, but then I realized that it is his primary (at least through the second half) love interest's aunt's story. I'm guessing that Goethe changed his mind at some point, and this is reflected in the last section, which jumps all over the place and appears incomplete. The focus is less on Meister's travels than on the random stories people tell him, which do not congeal together as well as the final speech tries to make them (and that speech is made by a random character introduced near the end rather than Wilhelm Meister. Why?). There is even a section where the Translator intrudes into the story. What a mess!
With all that said, I can see some value in the early (more polished) part, especially for how early of a novel this is. I was entirely surprised, for example, when I discovered that a secret society had been studying and, in part, shaping Meister's life. Though I didn't understand why he had to travel at just the moment when his love story reached its peak. (All of that was confusing, which is reflected in the writing.) Overall, read the first section and forget about the rest, which is one unnecessary side story after another. I would give it, by itself, about three and a half stars.
Overall, there is just too much thrown into this novel. I think that the scope was too wide and that Goethe probably had plans to polish much of it but didn't get around to it. Honestly, I am surprised there are more volumes to it since the first volumes appear so incomplete. I believe the same is true for Faust, where the second section is much less polished than the first. He must have tried to write too much throughout his life without finishing much of it. Then at some point—perhaps because he was a perfectionist—he went back and tried to add more and more to make sense of what should have just been thrown out. I completely lost track of the side stories, and it was extremely frustrating.
So my final words are simple: just give up when shit gets out of hand. I did not want to give up, but I struggled through the last section a few pages each day for many, many weeks that I could have spent reading something better.
With all that said, I can see some value in the early (more polished) part, especially for how early of a novel this is. I was entirely surprised, for example, when I discovered that a secret society had been studying and, in part, shaping Meister's life. Though I didn't understand why he had to travel at just the moment when his love story reached its peak. (All of that was confusing, which is reflected in the writing.) Overall, read the first section and forget about the rest, which is one unnecessary side story after another. I would give it, by itself, about three and a half stars.
Overall, there is just too much thrown into this novel. I think that the scope was too wide and that Goethe probably had plans to polish much of it but didn't get around to it. Honestly, I am surprised there are more volumes to it since the first volumes appear so incomplete. I believe the same is true for Faust, where the second section is much less polished than the first. He must have tried to write too much throughout his life without finishing much of it. Then at some point—perhaps because he was a perfectionist—he went back and tried to add more and more to make sense of what should have just been thrown out. I completely lost track of the side stories, and it was extremely frustrating.
So my final words are simple: just give up when shit gets out of hand. I did not want to give up, but I struggled through the last section a few pages each day for many, many weeks that I could have spent reading something better.
March 5, 2016
This book is said to be the prototype of the Bildungsroman or development novel, which traces a protagonists personal development, from childhood or young adulthood to maturity. It is about Wilhelm Meister, the son of a well-to-do merchant family, who leaves home to find and educate himself. He tries the arts as an actor, works in business with his father, falls in and out of love, fathers a child, and grows ever more disillusioned until he finds his place in the Turm society, a kind of guild striving for social change, and finally gets married. Of the works Ive read by Goethe, I struggled with this one most. What I liked, were the songs and the poetry embedded in the text. The thoughts about Hamlet in book five were also something that stood out. The growing pains of Wilhelm Meister, however, were somehow not my thing.
August 8, 2018
Wilhelm, as most of Goethes main characters, feels a lot of things very intensely and talks about them a lot.
The children are kind of only seen and heard when relevant to the plot.
Le Coincidence, the musical.
Need some knowledge of Hamlet to follow the middling chapters.
Not really convinced I like this Wilhelm guy.
The children are kind of only seen and heard when relevant to the plot.
Le Coincidence, the musical.
Need some knowledge of Hamlet to follow the middling chapters.
Not really convinced I like this Wilhelm guy.
December 2, 2023
Superfluo commentare un capolavoro del genere
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews