Goethe: Life as a Work of Art

Leads to a better understanding of a man who who could do everything and did as much of it as he could. The author has given us insight into the complexities of living within a Germany of kingdoms while writing and living through writing. I still do not understand his views of the physics of colors but I do understand why he was interested. Similarly for rocks and his mines. The literature he produced was also conditioned by his needs. And I feel closer to those works as well. Is this not the best use of a biography? Thanks to this author for a job well done

I had been looking for a definitive biography of Goethe for a long time. I found it in this book.

This substantial new biography is the first of Goethe in a generation. What is distinctive about it is the author’s interpretations of Goethe’s major works, and his stress on Goethe’s mind. From a young man’s preoccupation with poetry he later focused on living a practical life and was given important government responsibilities in the duchy of Weimar, including supervision of mines and theatre. He also gained scientific interests, particularly mineralogy, and his Theory of Color, on which he spent much time and effort. He had an interest in philosophy. He identified with the pantheism of Spinoza, and took an interest in Hegel and Fichte also. Safronski gives a full explanation of the biographical and historical background of The Sorrows of Young Werther, and his comments on the structure and meaning of Faust, especially Part II are interesting. Hermann and Dorothea he calls an epic, with Homeric aspects, which may be surprising to some. His account of Wilhelm Meister makes no reference to it as a Bildungsroman and regrettably will not give anyone much of an idea of what this book is about. But what he says about The Roman Elegies and West-Eastern Divan is good. Goethe had strong opinions about his fellow writers, mostly negative in the case of the German romantics. He liked Herder and Wieland, and there are many references to the latter writer, but the reader will need to look elsewhere for any kind of introduction to Wieland’s thought and work—a significant lack in Safronski’s book. The account of Goethe’s friendship with, and admiration for, Schiller—which surprisingly lasted for only about ten years before Schiller’s death--was much better Goethe’s political leanings were neither liberal nor nationalistic. He admired Napoleon—the feeling was mutual—and accepted membership in the French Legion of Honor from Napoleon. He also approved of Metternich’s restriction on press freedom. Something all writers will applaud, however, was Goethe’s success in gaining copyright protection—admittedly applying specifically to his own publications. Goethe loved many women—from his youth to his old age--and might have married any of several. He was not a seducer but he was reluctant to commit, especially in his younger years when he wanted to keep himself free for poetry and from any expectation that he would pursue wealth. Goethe’s own account of his early life in Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth) is more interesting than Safronski’s summary. Goethe had his share of disappointments in love and broke a heart or two. He maintained friendships with a number of women, evidenced by his large and lengthy correspondence with them. After he moved to Weimar and travelled to Italy he became acquainted with sensuality and on his return married a woman very different from all the others. Interestingly, in his later years when the Lotte who inspired The Sorrows of Young Werther became widowed and visited Goethe, they found they had little to say to one another. As a widower in his seventies Goethe fell in love with a very young woman and actually proposed marriage through the intercession of a duke, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. She saw him more as a father figure and never directly responded but he got the message. The poetic consequence of this was one of his most highly regarded poems, the Marienbad “Elegy.”

A fantastical life led by a brilliant person. He was a conqueror, not of lands but of human creativity and potential. His personal interests stretched from foreign languages, writing, poetry, painting, drawing to science like mineralogy and physics like colors and lastly administrative tasks like minister of state and privy councelor of The Duke of Weimar. His vast interests and achievements rival with that of Da Vinci’s and Leibniz, he is the epitome of the universal man. Even though he wasn’t a genius in everything he did. I must say it was a daring attempt.

l wonderful biography of a great thinker of the Western World.

Wonderful biography of an amazing poet who illuminated everything he saw -- art, science, history -- and turned his life into a work of art. Inspiring!!!!!!

an excellent read, though this book also arrived with slight damage to one corner, again because of careless packaging.

This biography might not be the definitive book on Goethe's life, but it's a great start. I highly recommend this book!

Goethe was one of the very interesting creatives from both his own era and European history in general. This publication is everything one could hope for in covering the life of the man and his major works. I thoroughly recommend.

So very well written, highly recommended

Extraordinario, extraordinario, extraordinario, extraordinario, extraordinario, extraordinario, t asi sucesivamente hasta cumplir con las palabras requeridas para cumplir con su perición

Really detailed...more than I need to know but engaging What an amazing character with so much influence. I really only parts at a time as too much to take in but will get to the end as G's life is so fascinating

A good translation from the original German. An interesting read, somewhat intellectual, but this is a book essentially for lovers of Goethe - and if you love the man and his works (as I do) you will enjoy this book.