Contents:
Dying of heartbreak is a romantic notion, if altogether impractical and typically metaphorical, but killing yourself for love is taking it too far. But such is Werther. He is a whinger and, like most whingers, an egoist. He constantly praises his view of nature and his own nature.
I obviously did not read it in the original German, and when I read translations, I typically like to refrain from commenting on the prose. If you read the novel as a straight-forward story, then, like I said, the prose is actually the only thing that saves it. Before that, he wrote about nature, art, the local peasants, and what-have-you. Yes, they were still very hubristic letters, but at least his topics were varied.
Bring in Lotte and everything, even when not about her, draws back to her. If you look at the dates to his letters you can clearly see that what might seem romantic over a longer period of time begins to look obsessive. He sees her every day, and according to his letters, she encourages his visits. But does she really? I suppose that comes down to how reliable of a narrator you think Werther is.
I think Lotte was too polite to tell him he should find some other occupation, and he was too blinded by his obsession to realize it. His feelings were never going to change, especially not while seeing her all the time. Werther had suicidal tendencies long before this. Though Lotte's personally giving of the guns to Werther's servant seems odd to me. I'm still puzzling over that one.
Werther makes me embarrassed for him, and for myself. Jan 14, Violet rated it liked it Shelves: Werther is an illustration of pure emotionalism, and his complete disregard for any rationality is his downfall. It took me years to finish this book because the intense, self-absorbed emotional wallowing of the main character annoyed me so much. I don't particularly enjoy the Romantic movement in literature, but even so when I picked this book up the second time I was better able to appreciate what the author was trying to convey.
May 26, Mags rated it liked it Shelves: Such a depressing force in literature. Jul 19, Christi rated it really liked it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. While reading most novels I like to write down various quotes that, for the time, somehow resonate with me. The first quote I wrote down in this book was: There is a certain monotony about mankind. This quote does a While reading most novels I like to write down various quotes that, for the time, somehow resonate with me.
This quote does a variety of things; it observes that people are no different in any society if you take them at face value, and it also characterizes Young Werther as somewhat of a narcissist and a pessimist, perhaps? Calling mankind monotonous is a gross generalization that only the blase at heart could truly feel while heightening his own status as above the norm.
Thus, the reader must soon understand that Werther, is not an ordinary man, not like the rest of the monotonous mankind. He is one afflicted with a narrow perspective and one that taints his perspective so that he sees everything through a specific filter. YET, Werther soon finds someone worthy of his attention. As an aside, I've dated one man who said that he felt that if he was with someone who made him want to be a better man, then he knew that he really loved her and wanted to be with her. Sometimes it is a desperate act to love someone because you want to be a better person. Werther may fall into this category; wanting to love someone other than himself because he wants to be viewed as better than he is.
If he could get the adoration that he wants from the person that he wants it from, maybe the world wouldn't be so monotonous after all. And whats more to possess another person he could feel in control of his own life. And then, there is the confusion that comes with the intense love obsession. This novella is a great character study, a thorough investigation on what it is like to be in love with someone unattainable, and how easy it is for that switch to flip on and become a pathological obsession that turns itself back on the owner of the obsession hence the suicide.
I think we all have the capacity to do many of the things that Werther does in this novella, but many people let's hope, most are somehow able to keep that switch turned off I did not go into great depth here, but these were just some meanderings that I came up with in response to the quotes I wrote down. I wrote a few more down, but they were kind of long Anyway, I enjoyed the book for it's rich characterization and melodrama that I wish to convey at times in my own life, but refrain from so that I do not slip into a pathological mind-space.
Jul 20, Vicky rated it really liked it Recommended to Vicky by: Barthes references it all the time in A Lover's Discourse. Werther falls in love with Lotte, but Lotte is engaged then married to Albert, and both Lotte and Albert are happy together. Meanwhile Werther is this persistent sad third wheel who agonizes over his unrequited love and writes all these feelings down and sometimes it's like, "lol, dude. He kisses Lotte's hand and more than once dropped tears all over her hand.
He is possessiv Werther falls in love with Lotte, but Lotte is engaged then married to Albert, and both Lotte and Albert are happy together. He is possessive and imagines that if he were Albert, he would be a jealous demon. He is also a Virgo, like me, lol. He is pitiful but his experiences are very resonating at times, his arguments for suicide and titles and life achievement stuff "giving pompous names to their shabby occupations.
I particularly hate yet enjoy reading the ultra cringy parts, when he commits terrible errors, such as: September 5 She had written a little note to her husband, who was in the country attending to some business. Come back as soon as you can; I await you with the utmost joy.
Lotte's note was not sent; and I found it by chance in the evening. I read it and smiled; and she asked me why. I do have favorite parts, too: July 26 Many times I have made up my mind not to see her so often. If one could only stick to one's resolutions! Every day I succumb to temptation, and then promise myself most solemnly that I shall stay away tomorrow for once; but when tomorrow comes, I again find some irresistible reason to go, and, before I know it, I am with her.
Either she has said the night before, "You will come tomorrow, won't you? Or she has given me some errand, and I think it is proper to bring her the answer in person; or the day is so very lovely that I walk to Wahlheim, and, when I am there, it is only half an hour to her! My grandmother knew a fairy tale about the Magnetic Mountain. Ships which sailed too close to it were suddenly deprived of all their iron; all the nails flew toward the mountain, and the poor sailors were shipwrecked among the collapsing planks.
If I rated this book based on Werther, I would give it one star. But I should try not to judge a book by its character s. I think I like this novel. What can I say but that I loved it? All because of unrequited love. The writing is at times poetic and at times confused, but always clear to the re This story.
The writing is at times poetic and at times confused, but always clear to the reader. But it makes me angry that Albert does not seem as delighted as he — hoped — as I — thought to be, if — I am not fond of dashes, but it is the only way of expressing myself here — and I think I make myself sufficiently clear. Now, unrelated to my review, I want to ask everyone who reads this to help me identify a story within the story. It was either The Arabian Nights: Can anyone help a girl out here?
Here's my favorite funny line from this book: I don't think I really agree. Goethe was Werther's age when he wrote it. It's like the way you base a character on yourself as both a fantasy and a nightmare: I think Janet Malcolm said a version of this in one of her books I read recently: So I don't think Goethe really meant for us to take Werther as a full goober.
But I think he did feel a little disgusted with him. But I feel like I did think, from time to time, "Werther, you dork. I didn't trust myself not to lose interest and give up on it often I'm not so good at keeping my attention focused on a 'literary classic' of a certain oldness level , so I listened to it as a free audiobook from the website Librivox. But I didn't trust myself not to miss big chunks while listening only, so I also read along in the book.
But they were two different translations. I was really suprised that it was easy for me to absorb both pieces of information at once -- visual and audio were giving me different, similar sentences with usually the same information, but sometimes structure and word choice varied quite a lot. Felt weirdly like I was 'triangulating' the German at the middle point between these two info sources inside my brain. First time I ever read something that way.
Told an English PhD acquaintance about this weird method, and he said, "yes of course, I do that all the time," hahaha. What a marvelous book, it contained not one but two amazing stories that have me appreciating the lyric style and touching writing of Goethe.
Goethe's choice in writing Werther through a series of letters is both personal and powerful -- for the most part, we as readers are not told what exactly Werther thinks but rather what he feels. It's no wonder that the resultant effects were A Goethe's rise to literary stardom and B the suicides of people following the book's publishing. It is a hauntin What a marvelous book, it contained not one but two amazing stories that have me appreciating the lyric style and touching writing of Goethe.
It is a haunting tale that inspires in me so many tremendous emotions! Novella too was a pleasure -- it remains realistic and serious, yet a certain magic pervades it all. In my opinion, it was because Goethe artfully captured the relationship of man to nature, and nature to religion in meaningful ways. Definitely a new favorite, what a pleasure! This is one of those books I was "supposed" to read in college as an English major, but I just now got around to it. I like the translation because the language is clear and concise.
However, the character of Young Werther is almost too much to bear. The young dilettante has no meaningful job or ambition. All he does is pine after Lotte, a woman engaged and then married to another man. The boy lives in his emotions and cannot see past his selfish desires. I suppose it is a great example of roman This is one of those books I was "supposed" to read in college as an English major, but I just now got around to it. I suppose it is a great example of romantic literature because it is based on the heart and not the mind, but you are rooting for the main character to just kill himself already.
Two books in this book: The Sorrows and Novella. Powerful emotions and lovely imagery.
Apparently, inspired many people to suicide. Novella, an idyll, telling of various qualities of man and nature; especially the peace and naivete of the natural world that is corrupted by human views that though well intended, ultimately see nature as more cruel and cynical than it really is. This moral is taught by a child singing a poem, reminiscent Two books in this book: This moral is taught by a child singing a poem, reminiscent of Blake's "Songs of Innocence.
The book was ridiculous No wonder the movement died along with Goethe. It was a pretty easy read, it was just absolutely silly. The main character, Werther, is an artist and falls for a girl who is engaged to another. His story is told through the letters that he writes to a friend, William. If I were William, I would have told him to stop being such a pansy. At least I can now say that I've read a work by Goethe.
Apr 16, Victoria rated it really liked it.
Not the book I expected: It's somewhat unsettling to reflect that the book's readers seem to have taken the situation recounted more seriously than the author did. Now to re-read Lotte in Weimar , which will mean a lot more. This love story was written by a young 23 Goethe. It reminded me of the Romeo and Juliet story. All victims of young love. Werther falls in love with a young woman who is engaged to a young man who leaves to serve in the military.
She marries the young soldier and Werther, instead of leaving, stays and tries to quietly love her in his mind. He becomes despondent and dramatically kills himself, unable to handle the emotional crisis. This story was later staged as an opera, "Werther. I read this over the summer as I was watching different performances of the opera, and listening to various recordings.
The deeper I submerged in the story the more interesting the opera became. For me the two are inseparable, so I suppose most people aren't interested in this novella any longer, the current suicide rate notwithstanding. Some things never seem to change. Jun 23, Danny rated it it was ok Shelves: So much flowery, mindless romanticism that I wanted to go on a drinking binge when I finished to cleanse the mental palate.
I wanted to beat up Werther. He's the kind of guy Gandhi would want to run over with his car. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. About Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include h Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides 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 is the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur "world literature" , having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, Arabic literature, amongst others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be 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 whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work in optics. Books by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
See All Goodreads Deals…. Trivia About The Sorrows of Yo No trivia or quizzes yet. Quotes from The Sorrows of Yo But are you more? Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I turn in upon myself and find a world there, again more in a spirit of presentiment and dour longing than dramatically or with vitality. Then everything grows hazy in my mind and I go on smiling dreamily at the world. This lef "The illusion that life is but a dream has occurred to quite a few people, and I feel the same way about it. This left me in a state of reader perplexity as the question reoccurred: Willa Cather once said, and I paraphrase, that to lose oneself in the creation of something, is to live.
Werther is an artist who feels himself bogged down by life and with what others expect of him; for example, his parents want him to train and become a diplomat, when all he wants to do is paint nature's beauty. Yet, with life comes expectation, with expectation, duty - unless that is, one extricates oneself, as he does. Werther escapes to what should have been his idyllic setting, but soon finds himself unable to focus on his art, because his heart is now encumbered by the beautiful, mysterious, and 'taken' Lotte. I coddle my heart like a sick child and give in to its every whim.
But don't tell a soul. There are people who would condemn me for it. There are some who write about suicide in a way that makes you sympathize, while others write about it in a way that makes you empathize; I do believe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is of the latter group. My copy of this novel first published in includes extra stories, and also Goethe's thoughts on Young Werther , wherein he speaks candidly about his own suicidal thoughts: Now you see why I've contemplated Werther's creative life.
We are dealing here with people who are weary of life from a lack of activity under the most peaceful conditions imaginable, through the exaggerated demands they make upon themselves. Since I found myself in such a condition once and know how I suffered and what efforts I had to make to escape it, I do not wish to hide the conclusions I reached after giving much consideration to the various forms of death one might choose. Werther is a character of the psychological novel who speaks clearheadedly about his inner turmoil, and as I followed his journey, it was obvious that this is not a story that is only about unrequited love which by the way, whether the love was returned or simply COULD NOT be returned, is another story.
Here is a man dissatisfied with life and when he stumbles upon some bits of happiness, life seems to take it away also. Without it being in the epistolary form, I probably would not have received this novel as I did; in fact, "from its initial publication, The Sorrows of Young Werther has continually provoked intense reposes.
While some readers identify readily with Goethe's beset protagonist, others respond with puzzled disappointment or impatience. The author may write as many prefaces as he likes; the reader will always go right on demanding that which the author is trying to avoid. View all 20 comments. Jul 13, John Zelazny rated it it was amazing. Before I was halfway through this book I had already connected with it on a deep level. Ten years later I published my first novel, The Sorrows of Young Mike , which is a parody of this great tale.
Also, if you like it enough or even if you hate it — you should check out Before I was halfway through this book I had already connected with it on a deep level. Also, if you like it enough or even if you hate it — you should check out my parody. I probably shouldn't rate this since I skimmed its second half and didn't spend more than a few minutes looking at the supplemental bits. Felt like things fell off the table about fifty pages in. Started wonderfully, with plenty of wisdom and enthusiasm and vivid description of village life.
Charismatic youth who abhors grumpiness falls for a hottie named Lotte betrothed to a good dude. Activate the chute down which protagonist slides en route t I probably shouldn't rate this since I skimmed its second half and didn't spend more than a few minutes looking at the supplemental bits. Activate the chute down which protagonist slides en route to the grave, addled with plentiful apostrophes!
I'm not sure I like Goethe -- he's maybe too conscious of his role as acknowledged legislator? Anyway, might look at Elective Affinities one day. Watched FW Murnau's Faust as rad as it was silent, although it too seemed to lose its plot a bit midday way through , which will have to suffice as preparation for Mann's "Doctor Faustus" in Your sorrows were often mine; you dragged me down into the mire with your incessant melancholy and self-pity, so much so that I wanted to shake you by the shoulders and order you — in slightly more colloquial language than this - to have some self-esteem in your nether regions, and find a different woman to tickle your fancy.
But then again, I was never much for the Classicists. It says much for Young Werther that I found the follow up to the title story more of an engaging read. Reflections on Werther is an interesting psychological analysis that explores the reasons for deep melancholy, and the subsequent journey into depression that some find unavoidable.
Goethe even cites English poetry as a contributing factor in the melancholia of the era; that could be quite close to the truth! Undoubtedly Goethe understood — and expressed most eloquently — the power of great poetry: No wonder we love reading! Overall, not exactly my cup of tea, but I guess this is one of those important reads and writers that all ardent readers need to check off their lists. Jun 25, R. I, personally, enjoyed the Romantic Idea brought to its logical conclusion with this little gem.
But, I can see how others might find it or much of from the Romantic Movement too syrupy.
View all 5 comments. Jul 03, Sam Ruddick rated it liked it. Most people know what this book is about before they read it I think, but if you don't here come spoilers: Might sound kinda pathetic, but the character and the writing make this little book a gem. It is epistolary for the most part and a philosophical consideration of lov It is epistolary for the most part and a philosophical consideration of love and unrequited love, as well as nature, art and God. When Werther killed himself I felt like it was the right thing for him to do under the circumstances, or at least that I could understand why he did it.
May 29, Michael rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: The Sorrows Of Young Werther is the precursor for all of today's teenage rants on internet blogs about love and its hardships, and it is an utterly enthralling read. Geothe has really been denied his proper acknowledgement as an author, where usually the only required reading of his tends to be a sample of Faust at college level. Sorrows is written through a series of letters from Werther to someone at his home, his correspondance with his roots.
Though tragic, Sorrows should rather be themed mo The Sorrows Of Young Werther is the precursor for all of today's teenage rants on internet blogs about love and its hardships, and it is an utterly enthralling read. Though tragic, Sorrows should rather be themed more as a book proclaiming a connection to nature and a very final means of gratification, instead of a book fancifying death.
Dec 20, Nooilforpacifists rated it liked it Shelves: Clipped, precise and order-driven, yet over-the-top sentimental. And this is the book that started it all. Overwrought in the extreme, it sparked a wave of ever more extreme suicides in the German-speaking world that persisted at least until WWI one enterprising Austrian broke into Beethoven's apartment, years after his death, to kill himself where genius had dwelt. Anyway, this is barely readable, but important historically. The best novel I have ever read. What began as a required read for a class turned into my leisure reading.
I am normally a slow reader but I finished it in 3 days, which is very fast for me. This particular translation I found very suitable and elegant. The language, though, should not distract one's attention. I began reading half-heartedly, not having any prior knowledge of the book. As the plot began to unfold, I was unwillingly drawn in and unwillingly subject to a flood of emotions. I found The best novel I have ever read. I found that I could relate entirely with Werther, being an introvert and having found myself in similar circumstances, though not exactly similar, those being two things that Goethe mentions in his reflections that produce the most impassioned, moved readers of the book.
I have never been more emotionally and deeply tampered with by a fictional book in all my life. During the final succession of events at the end, I felt that I was alongside Werther undergoing the exact same emotions, enduring the painful suspense and having to mentally prepare myself with him. I feel as if I have experienced what he experienced because I have read the book. Goethe wrote out of personal experience according to his reflections, to express his own similar emotions, and I must say that my own experience tells me that writing out of passion and personal experience produces the most highly charged work.
The plot is no surprise. At very occasional times I even felt angry at Werther for idolizing Lotte. I felt that his utter devotion was really unprompted, perhaps suggesting insanity, but these moments quickly faded again into a personal sympathy for Werther and an anger, rarely at Lotte and many times at Albert, for the circumstances which they foolishly foisted upon Werther, Albert especially guilty of not proceeding to try to console Werther or offer him at least the effort to help him.
If any, Lotte's guilt lay in her hasty foolishness at the end and her egging Werther on, or failing to limit her requiting, at the very outset. Anyhow, I found the story cohesive and meaningful, and no aspect detracted from the work. How anyone couldn't be in some way moved by Wether is beyond me. A mind free from an idealistic, giddy view of the world will see Werther's life most clearly. It is precisely that cloud that was lifted from his mind shortly after the beginning that caused the ensuing events.
They can't be understood except in such such a light. Near the beginning he was passionately arguing against the folly of not seeing the world happily, of not coming alongside your friends and helping to "leave them with their joys and increase their happiness by sharing it with them. Can you give them a little comfort when they are tormented by fear? It is precisely this fact of life that Werther comes to terms with.
As Sir Toby the drunkard of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" said to the stereotypically puritanical Malvolio "Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale? He should have destroyed his idealism before he allowed his feelings for an engaged woman to grow, he and she both knowing that their feelings wouldn't go anywhere. His descent into reality carried him six feet under, as it were. Anyhow, that is the extent of my criticism of Werther.
This translation has earned 5 stars, easily, with the quality of language as well as Goethe's exceedingly superb story. I must say, I found myself frenzily warding off melancholy every time I read it. It was that profound and tangible for me, though probably not for every reader. Sep 08, Marisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: I want to write novels about this book. Actually, others have already. Well, not precisely, but Mary Shelley did include "Sorrows" in the trio of books that the Monster finds in the portmanteau in the woods, alongside Milton's Paradise Lost and Plutarch's Lives.
I now know why. This is an incredibly sensory and heartfelt collection of letters from "a young unstable man," Werther, who falls in love with an engaged woman. Goethe whom I adore explores and gives commentary on societal duties and e I want to write novels about this book. Goethe whom I adore explores and gives commentary on societal duties and expectations, happiness and depression, devoted and unrequited love, and suicide, which fascinates me.
Goethe wrote this in four weeks when he was 24 and went through a difficult time, and the passion and wildly fluctuating emotions of Werther are both invigorating and dispiriting in turn. The novel is relatively short for the level complexity and number of ideas it conveys, and feels a weighty semblance to Shelley's Frankenstein, in atmosphere if not entirely in tone.
This is a tragedy in the vein and spirit of Hamlet, and the moment it ended I wanted to start it again. Please try and read this book. I purchased this book from a street vendor almost two years ago not knowing anything about it. I read The Sorrows of Young Werther in about two days and the rest of the commentary and remaining stories in the next week.
I think one of the strong points to this story is the form of writing-- one-sided letters to friends of a love struck man. Also, the story line is real and relatable and very forthcoming in the desires and emotions of Werther. Poignant, dramatic, sad, but lovely. A cla I purchased this book from a street vendor almost two years ago not knowing anything about it. A classic on my shelf. Apr 07, Jimmy rated it really liked it Shelves: When a young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of a man's suicide, he asked his girlfriend to find out all she could about him. The result was this fictional story based on an actual event.
It is a classic study in depression.
It loses something over time, but it is also far ahead of its time. Consider the hero who looks at the world as a prison and life just "prolongs his miserable existence. Jun 13, Tania ForgivenSoul rated it really liked it. I found the sorrows of young Werther so beautifully tragic. I was drawn to the nakedness of his internal wars of human nature and his stubborn yet graceful character.
I was taken by his ponders dealing with an unattainable love and happiness, of deceptive illusions and with his philosophies on suicide and lunatism. He is a classic helpless romantic, passionate and melancholic, a dreamer like myself. Too melodramatic for my tastes Mar 28, M. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
This is an interesting collection of Goethe's writings--the piece which originally made him famous, some excerpts from his own journals relevant to it, and two other fantasy stories. It came into my hands because the county library had tossed it on the free book rack and I knew the author's name, but only for Faust, known to me best from the telling by Wishbone on PBS, but of course long before that as the story of the man who sells his soul to the devil. I have written of that elsewhere http: In high school I read the original Bram Stoker's Dracula, and what impressed me most about the tale was the telling: Stoker spins the story through letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, and similar scraps of fictional historic sources.
The main story here, The Sorrows of Young Werther, is very similar in this aspect, being predominantly letters written by the central character to a friend, with sections of narrative from the supposed compiler particularly toward the end, to fill the gaps.
Somehow when we meet the seemingly happy young man at the beginning of the telling we know that in the end he commits suicide, and the path to that is completely opaque--he is a young man with few problems and much joie de vie, loving nature and the views of the valley afforded him from the property he apparently owns. His happiness only increases when he meets a young girl whom he describes in wonderfully warm tones, even though he knows from the beginning that she is engaged to be married to a promising young man presently settling family business far away. He and she become close friends, sharing very similar outlooks on life and having many common interests.
He finds excuses to spend time with her, and she does not discourage this. Then when her fiance returns they become a close threesome--the men never as close to each other as each is to the girl, in their different ways, but respecting each other and embracing each other as friends. The girl marries her intended, and we see Werther deteriorate. His passion for her grows, and he starts to push the envelope; she tells him he must leave. In the end, he borrows her husband's pistols, and kills himself.
That we know from the beginning that this is the outcome perhaps makes it clearer as it crosses the midpoint; but of course we also find that despite the very upbeat sound of those early letters we see the missteps, the decisions that draw him into a relationship that is bound to be less than he wants and more than he can hope. He seems to have very high highs at times, and bouts of depression between them, and then recover and collapse again. Since such an understanding of mental illness was not available to Goethe, it seems quite an insight into character to have captured that.
Of course, I am reading in translation, but I was impressed by the use of language; it is difficult to assess how much of that comes from the original and how much is the translator, but it was an easy read and an entertaining one; this is so throughout. Following the story are the several sections of history, including a segment telling of a similar love in the author's own life. They are here in large part because they explain some of the source of the ideas of the story. Goethe wrote the story in the wake of a prominent suicide of someone he knew at least in passing, and he frequently was asked how much of his telling was "true", by which people meant whether it was what happened to the person in question.
In fact, some of it was drawn from the events of that individual's life--he had fallen in love with a married woman and killed himself in despair--but it was drawn from several other sources as well. In that sense, Goethe might have said it was all true, but of many different people, and that almost none of it was completely true of the case to which it was in most minds connected.
These sections gave some insight into European continental life in the eighteenth century that were interesting and informative. It was followed by a story, and Goethe apparently was a good storyteller. The problem with this story is its place in the book--had I checked back to the table of contents I probably would have realized that I had crossed into fiction, but Goethe tells the story in the first person, describing his own travels, an encounter with a beautiful woman who agrees to let him help her carry a chest into an inn where they are both staying, and the relationship that grows between them.
She gives him money to pay for things, and he travels with her, and gradually the mystery becomes a fantasy. He discovers that she is actually a pixie princess, that she is using magic to become larger during the day but at night she returns to her normal size and lives inside the palace that is the box he carries. She has come from the pixie kingdom to find a husband, to help save her people, but when he gets drunk and starts spilling the secret, she has to leave and return home.
He can come with her, though, by wearing the ring that will make him smaller. He agrees--but then when he realizes that a wedding is planned for him and his now pregnant intended, he panics, files off the ring, and returns to his normal size to return home. I did not much care for the ending. Obviously not everyone lives happily ever after, and perhaps there is something significant in his concern that somehow marrying the princess is a permanent arrangement; but it seemed to me that he was very happy in that relationship and in that position, and his decision to leave so abruptly was a bit contrived to bring about the end that he was telling the story.
Of course, there has to be a sequel to this somewhere--not, that is, one Goethe told, but the story of the child. It was rather dissatisfying in that regard. The final section is entitled Fairy Tale, and it is fantastic from the outset, as two wil-o-wisps request a ride from a ferryman, and after taking them across the ferryman says he cannot accept in payment the gold that they shake out of themselves but must have three cabbages, three artichokes, and three onions. They must promise to pay or they will suffer some penalty. From there we meet an old woman who is wife of an old man with a magic lamp, a snake who eats the gold coins and becomes something quite magical, a hidden temple with the statues of three kings, an insubstantial giant with a solid shadow, and a woman known as the Magical Lily, and a story unwraps around them to a happy ending.
It has a lot of fascinating ideas. However, it seemed a bit ill constructed, almost as if he made it up on the fly and did not reconsider it.