Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, statesman and natural philosopher, and the central figure of German literature. He rose to fame with The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), the defining novel of the Sturm und Drang movement, and later, alongside Friedrich Schiller, led the turn toward Weimar Classicism from the city of Weimar, where he also served for decades as a government minister to Duke Carl August. His novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1795-96), tracing a young man's moral and artistic education through a series of formative experiences, gave literary scholarship its model for the Bildungsroman, the novel of formation, a term the critic Karl Morgenstern coined in 1819 with Goethe's novel as the exemplary case. His two-part drama Faust, begun in his twenties and completed only in the year of his death, is generally regarded as his masterwork. Goethe was also a working scientist, publishing Theory of Colours (1810) in direct opposition to Newton's optics and conducting influential botanical work on plant morphology.
Facts
AwardGrand Cross of the House Order of the White Falcon, 1816. 2 AwardGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour. 2 AwardKnight Commander of the Order of Leopold (Austria). 2 AwardMerit Order of the Bavarian Crown, 1827. 2 AwardOfficer of the Legion of Honour, 1808. 2 AwardOrder of Saint Anna, 1st class, 1808. 2 Classification
Original Language Connections
Associated With
Wikipedia, Sturm und Drang: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller were notable proponents of the movement early in their lives, although they ended their period of association with it by initiating what would become Weimar Classicism.
In Genre
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1795-96) is the work scholarship treats as the genre's defining case; Karl Morgenstern coined the term Bildungsroman in 1819 with Goethe's novel as the model.
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
The Sorrows of Young Werther already in-genre The Novel; Goethe himself carried no in-genre edge to it.
Source Wikipedia: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In Movement
Goethe's early novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) is regarded as one of Sturm und Drang's most influential and representative works, though he later moved toward the classicism of his Weimar period.
Source Sturm und Drang (Wikipedia)
Works Attributed
Source The Sorrows of Young Werther (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. Wikipedia: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
WikipediaLead paragraph
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Merit Order of the Bavarian Crown
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Officer of the Legion of Honour
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Order of Saint Anna, 1st class
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Grand Cross of the House Order of the White Falcon
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Knight Commander of the Order of Leopold (Austria)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
Award: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, Christian views, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present.
View the Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
W. W. Norton & CompanyIn Genre: Bildungsroman
Sturm und Drang (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)In Movement: Sturm und Drang, In literature, CharacteristicsQuote, In Movement: Sturm und Drang, In literature, Characteristics
The story of hopeless love and eventual suicide presented in Goethe's sentimental novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) is an example of the author's tempered introspection regarding his love and torment.
The Sorrows of Young Werther (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Works Attributed: The Sorrows of Young Werther, Lead sectionView the Source Wikipedia: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)In Genre: The Novel, Details of selected works section, epistolary novel descriptionQuote, In Genre: The Novel, Details of selected works section, epistolary novel description
The short epistolary novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, or The Sorrows of Young Werther
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