“The Sorrows of Young Werther” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“The Sorrows of Young Werther”
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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~ Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Though he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. The first great 'confessional' novel, it draws both on Goethe's own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of a close friend. The book was an immediate success and a cult rapidly grew up around it, resulting in numerous copycat deaths as well as violent criticism and suppression for its apparent support of suicide. Goethe's exploration of the mind of an artist at odds with society and ill-equipped to cope with life remains as poignant as when it was first written. ~

~ The Tumultuous Seas of Emotion!
~ The passions! The urges! The "sturm und drang" ideal welcomed its most perfect specimen when "Werther" was published in 1774. It took Europe by storm, and made the young Goethe an instant celebrity. Goethe went on to publish a huge body of work (there is a collection of all his known writings, including correspondence, a hefty 150 volumes), but ‘Werther’ was to remain, by far, his most famous work. Even today, (at least in the US), most of his works, besides ‘Werther’, and ‘Faust’, remain unread. According to the foreword by Auden, the situation wasn't much different then either. Imagine when, after a lifetime's work, everyone keeps telling you how much they just LOVED something you wrote 50 years previous. We are introduced to Werther as he moves into a small town and begins writing letters to his friend (which make up the bulk of the novel), and living like he's on a vacation. He is rich (his mother sends him an allowance), so he doesn't have to work. He rambles around the countryside, idly sketching scenes in his sketchbook, joshing with the neighborhood kids, until he comes across Lotte. His easy, idle vacation comes to an abrupt halt as he falls wildly in love with her. The epistolary form works especially well with this novel, allowing Werther to vent fully the range of emotions as he struggles with his unwieldy fixation on beautiful Lotte, who to Werther, is absolute perfection. O cruel fate! She is engaged and later married to the simple, stalwart Albert - who is everything that the unstable Werther is not. Why doesn't Werther just forget about her and move on? Because his charisma has actually somewhat won her over, and while his intensity may occasionally flood the banks, his unyielding devotion flatters her. She gives Werther crumbs, and he views them as a feast. But she is not the cheating kind. Alas, Werther must occupy the hardest role of all time: that of the "friend". Werther knows that he must not cross the line, and struggles to maintain control over his desires. ~

~ He leaves for awhile, and works as a civil servant, and being intelligent and well educated, does quite well. With his education and easy lifestyle, he probably imagines himself a sort of honorary "nobleman", if not noble by blood, noble by feeling. He feels superior to most of those around him, becoming impatient with the slow, plodding, routines laid out by his "boss". This vanity becomes his ‘Achille's Heel’. An embarrassment occurs at a party for nobility only. Turns out Werther's "nobility of feeling" doesn't equal ‘nobility of blood’, at least in the eyes of a snobbish few, and he is asked to leave. Werther being Werther, he can't handle the fallout. He resigns his post, then returns to Lotte (now married to Albert), and his downward spiral commences in earnest. "Werther" was a very enjoyable read. His musings on art, nature, love, etc., are insightful and entertaining. His plight, while sad, doesn't weigh down the narrative (until the last several pages). Indeed, Werther's charisma, his stormy emotions, and occasionally rambunctious antics add some lightness to the story - especially when imagined from the viewpoints of others. Werther experiences emotions much more keenly than most. In a happy mood, his enthusiasm practically leaps off the page. When experiencing poignancy, tears cascade down his face. One of the saddest scenes of the book was when Werther cannot cry and just feels deflated. Where Jesus on the cross pleaded to the Father, Werther seems to be pleading instead to his emotions. My emotions! Why have you forsaken me? Towards the ending, the buoyancy of the narrative dissipates. It becomes monomaniacal, inexorably fixated on the sorrows of doomed love, and the question of whether to end it all. One of the last scenes has Werther reading a passage from Ossian, aloud to Lotte , of the people left behind, forever pining for the dead heroes and dreams forever left unrealized. ‘The Modern Library Hardcover Edition’ includes "Novella", published twelve years after ‘Werther’. This is a very different kind of story. It has been described as an "idyll" in prose. Its style is straight-forward: simple and tasteful. Goethe describes a kind of near-Utopian pastoral kingdom: the enlightened prince, his beautiful wife, their chivalrous retainer Honorio, the prince's learned uncle, a town market teeming with activity, an ancient ruined castle perched on a hill... everything is splendid, but then... everything goes awry! The town bursts in flames! Two beasts escape from captivity! How will the serenity be restored? Goethe deals with large themes beneath the surface "simplicity", examined the co-existing relationship between man and nature. It is a charming story, told by a master of his art, and makes for very pleasant reading. ~