Goethe Collected Works

Author: Yang Wuneng / Liu Shuoliang, Editors
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-09-01
Features: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great Romantic poet of Germany, is one of the world's greatest cultural giants after Shakespeare. His epic poem Faust, the autobiographical novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, and a large number of lyric poems are deeply loved by Chinese readers. This collection comprehensively includes his representative works in lyric poetry, narrative poetry, drama, fiction, essays, literary theory, and a batch of precious letters. Faust is newly translated, Italian Journey is included for the first time, and nearly half of the omitted texts in the selected translation of Conversations with Goethe are restored. The new generation of Goethe scholars, Yang Wuneng, takes on the role of editor, with the strong collaboration of Goethe experts from Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and other cities. Together, they present Goethe's works in a fresh light, bringing them back to the forefront.
Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832) was a renowned German poet and one of the greatest writers of the later European Enlightenment. Born into a wealthy bourgeois family in Frankfurt, he studied law at the University of Leipzig and the University of Strasbourg, though he also worked as a lawyer for a short period. His primary interest, however, lay in literary creation, making him a central figure in Germany's "Sturm und Drang" movement. From 1775 to 1786, he served as a government official in the Duchy of Weimar to improve society, but achieved little. Not only did he fail to overcome the vulgarity of German bourgeoisie, but "on the contrary, the vulgarity conquered him" (Marx). In 1786, he traveled to Italy under a pseudonym, dedicating himself to the study of natural sciences, painting, and literary creation. Upon returning to Weimar in 1788, he was appointed theater supervisor but leaned politically conservative, pursuing classical beauty in art. After meeting Schiller in 1794, with the rise of European democracy, nationalism, and utopian socialism, his thoughts and works underwent a new leap, completing masterpieces such as Faust.
Goethe was not only skilled in painting but also had extensive research in natural sciences. His creative works span a wide range of genres, including lyric poetry, free verse, odes, epic poems, pastoral poems, historical poems, historical dramas, tragedies, poetic dramas, long novels, short novels, educational novels, epistolary novels, and autobiographical poetry and prose. His most famous works are the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), the philosophical tragic poem Faust (1774–1831), and the long novel Wilhelm Meister (1775–1828). The Sorrows of Young Werther tells the story of a young man, Werther, who rejects feudal customs, despises bureaucratic nobility, and clashes with vulgar social reality. Facing oppression from feudal forces in love, Werther takes his own life in a romantic tragedy. Reflecting the anti-feudal sentiments of a generation of youth, the novel was warmly received by the public, bringing Goethe international fame. Faust is based on the German legend of the scholar Faust from the 16th century. With its grand structure, vibrant colors, and a blend of realism, Romanticism, and symbolism, it integrates the dialectical development of good and evil, hatred and love, success and failure in the thoughts and actions of its main characters, Faust and the demon Mephistopheles. As a result, the work is ranked alongside Homer's epics, Dante's The Divine Comedy, and Shakespeare's Hamlet as one of the four great classical masterpieces of European literature.