The Sorrows of Young Werther (originally published as Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is an
epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. A major
scene prominently features Goethe's own German translation of a portion of James
Macpherson's Ossian cycle of poems, which were originally presented as
translations of ancient works, and were later found to have been written by Macpherson.
Werther was an important novel of the Sturm und Drang movement in
German literature. It was one of Goethe's few works in the movement before he, with
Friedrich von Schiller, began the Weimar
Classicism movement. It also influenced Romantic literature that followed.
The book made Goethe become one of the first true literary celebrities. Towards the end of his life, a trip to
Weimar and a personal visit was crucial in any young man's tour of Europe.
Plot summary
The majority of The Sorrows of Young Werther is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist
of a highly sensitive and passionate temperament, and sent to his friend Wilhelm. In these letters, Werther gives a very intimate
account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim (based on the town of Garbenheim, near
Wetzlar). He is enchanted by the simple ways of the peasants there. He meets and falls instantly
in love with Lotte, a beautiful young girl who is taking care of her siblings following the death of their mother. Lotte is,
however, already engaged to a man named Albert, who is in fact 11 years her senior.
Despite the pain this causes Werther, he spends the next few months cultivating a close friendship with both of them. His pain
eventually becomes so great that he is forced to leave and go to Weimar. While he is away, he makes the acquaintance of Fräulein
von B. He suffers a great embarrassment, he forgetfully visits a friend on the day when the entire aristocratic set normally
meets there. He returns to Wahlheim after this, where he suffers more than he did before, partially because Lotte and Albert are
now married. Every day serves as a torturous reminder that Lotte will never be able to requite his love. Out of pity for her
friend and respect for her husband, Lotte comes to the decision that Werther must not visit her so frequently. He visits her one
final time, and there, both overcome with emotion after Werther's recitation of a portion of Ossian, they kiss.
Werther had realized even before this incident that one of them--Lotte, Albert, or Werther himself--must die. Unable to hurt
anyone else, Werther sees no other choice but to take his own life. After composing a farewell letter (to be found after he
commits suicide), he writes to Albert asking for two pistols, under a pretense that he is going "on a journey." Lotte receives
the request with great emotion and sends the pistols, despite understanding what he will do with them. Werther then shoots
himself, but he lasts long enough for those who love him to assemble by his side. A Christian funeral is denied to him.
Inspiration and Parallels
As Goethe mentioned in the first version of his Römische Elegien, his "youthful
sufferings" played a part in the creation of the novel. Having concluded his law studies in the spring 1772, Goethe found himself
working for the Imperial Chamber of the Holy Roman Empire in Wetzlar . He befriended the secretary Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem and, on June 9
1772, they attended a ball where Goethe was introduced to the 19-year old Charlotte Buff and her
older fiancé, Johann Christian Kestner. Goethe is said to have instantly fallen in love with Charlotte. Goethe pursued Charlotte
and the relationship varied between friendship and rejection. Charlotte was honest with Goethe and told him there was no hope of
an affair. (She later married Kestner and their son was August Kestner.) On
September 11 Goethe left without saying goodbye.
The parallels between this incident and the novel are evident. Charlotte Buff, like her counterpart in the novel, was the
daughter of a widowed official and had many siblings. Goethe, like Werther, often found it difficult to complete work. Both
Goethe and Werther celebrated their birthdays on August 28 and both left Charlotte on
September 10. However, the novel also depicts a number of events that have close parallels
to the life of Goethe's friend Jerusalem who, like Werther, committed suicide. Goethe was told that the motive for the deed was
unrequited love for another man's wife. Jerusalem had also gone on long moonlight walks that reflected his sad mood and had also
borrowed pistols to carry out his suicide.
Effect on Goethe
Goethe distanced himself from The Sorrows of Young Werther in his later years. He regretted his fame and making his
youthful love of Charlotte Buff public knowledge. He wrote Werther at the age of twenty-four and yet, most of his visitors
in his old age had read only this book of his and knew him mainly only from this work, despite his many others.
Goethe described his distaste for the book, writing that even if Werther had been a brother he had killed, he could not have
been more haunted by the vengeful ghost. Nevertheless, Goethe acknowledged the great personal and emotional impact that The
Sorrows of Young Werther could exert on those forlorn young lovers who discovered it. In 1821, he commented to his secretary,
"It must be bad, if not everybody was to have a time in his life, when he felt as though Werther had been written
exclusively for him."
Cultural Impact (Warning: may spoil plot)
The Sorrows of Young Werther was Goethe's first major success, turning him from an unknown into a celebrated author
practically overnight. Napoleon Bonaparte considered it one of the great works of
European literature, thinking so highly of it that as a youth, he wrote a soliloquy in Goethe's style, and that as an adult
carried Werther with him on most of his campaigns. It also started the phenomenon known as the "Werther-Fieber" ("Werther
Fever"): Young men throughout Europe began to dress in the clothing described for Werther in the
novel. It also led to some of the first known examples of copycat suicide; supposedly
more than 2,000 readers committed suicide.
The "Werther Fever" was watched with concern by the authorities and fellow authors. One of the latter, Friedrich Nicolai, decided to create a satiric - and more happy - ending called
Die Freuden des jungen Werthers ("The Joys of Young Werther"), in which Albert,
having realized what Werther is up to, had loaded chicken blood into the pistol, thereby foiling Werther's suicide, and happily
concedes Lotte to him. And after some initial difficulties, Werther sheds his passionate youthful side and reintegrates himself
into society as a respectable citizen.
However, Goethe was not pleased with this version and started a literary war with Nicolai (which lasted all his life) by
writing a poem titled "Nicolai auf Werthers Grabe" in which Nicolai defecates on Werther's grave, thus desecrating the
memory of Werther from which Goethe had distanced himself in the meantime (as he had from the Sturm und Drang). This was
continued in his collection of short and critical poems, the Xenies, and his play
Faust.
Alternative versions and other appearances
- The statistician Karl Pearson's first book was "The New Werther".
- Thomas Mann's 1939 novel Lotte in Weimar recounts a fictional reunion between Goethe and the object of
his youthful passion Charlotte Kestner, an unrequited love that inspired the tale of Young Werther.
- An episode of History Bites features this book, with Bob Bainborough portraying
Goethe.
Translations
- The Sorrows of Young Werther - ISBN 0-8129-6990-1
- Translated by Burton Pike. 2004 Modern Library
(Random House, Inc.)
- The Sorrows of Young Werther - ISBN 0-14-044503-X
- Translated by Michael Hulse. 1989 The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection (Penguin Books Ltd.)
- The Sorrows of Young Werther - ISBN 0-486-42455-3
- Translated by Thomas Carlyle and R. Dillon Boylan. Originally published 1902 C.T.
Brainard Publishing Company. Reissued 2002 Dover Thrift Editions (Dover Publications,
Inc.)
- The Sorrows of Young Werther - ISBN 0-679-72951-8
- Translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Louise Bogan. Poems translated and foreword by W.H.
Auden. Also contains Novelle. Originally published 1971 Random House, Inc..
Reissued June 1990 by Vintage Books as a Vintage Classics Edition.
- The Sufferings of Young Werther - ISBN 0-393-09880-X
- Translated by Harry Steinhauer. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1970
See also
References
Auden, Wystan Hugh (1971), written at Toronto, Canada, Foreword, Random House, Inc.
Phillips, Mary Elizabeth (1895). A Handbook of German Literature. George Bell and Sons. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
Wilkinson, William Cleaver (1887). Classic German Course in English. Chautauqua Press. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
Herold, J. Christopher (1963). The Age of Napoleon. American Heritage Inc.
External links
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