Sorrows of Young Werther

Author: (German) Goethe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Goethe (1749–1832) was a great German writer. The Sorrows of Young Werther is one of his most important early works. It is a letter novel, and the author wrote it at the age of only twenty-five. The novel depicts the experiences and feelings of a progressive young man in the backward German society at the time, expressing the author's reaction to feudal moral hierarchy and a strong demand for individual liberation. Young Werther falls in love with a girl named Lotte, who is already engaged to someone else. The frustration in love drives Werther to utter despair. Later, Werther feels hopeless due to his inability to fit into the feudal society and commits suicide. The Sorrows of Young Werther was published in 1775, and its release was considered a landmark event in German literary history. It shook the hearts of an entire generation of young people in Germany and Europe.