Books by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Book SynopsisTranslated, with an Introduction and Notes by John R. Williams. Goethe's Faust is a classic of European literature. Based on the fable of the man who traded his soul for superhuman powers and knowledge, it became the life's work of Germany's greatest poet. Beginning with an intriguing wager between God and Satan, it charts the life of a deeply flawed individual and his struggle against the nihilism of his diabolical companion Mephistopheles. Part One presents Faust's pact with the Devil and the harrowing tragedy of his love affair with the young Gretchen. Part Two shows Faust's experience in the world of public affairs, including his encounter with Helen of Troy, the emblem of classical beauty and culture. The whole is a symbolic and panoramic commentary on the human condition and on modern European history and civilisation. This new translation of both parts of Faust preserves the poetic character of the original, its tragic pathos and hilarious comedy. In addition, John Williams has translated the Urfaust, a fascinating glimpse into the young Goethe's imagination, and a selection from the draft scenarios for the Walpurgis Night witches' sabbath - material so ribald and blasphemous that Goethe did not dare publish it.

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Book SynopsisA key work in the German ''Sturm und Drang'' movement, Johann Goethe''s autobiographical epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther is a defining moment in early Romanticism, which has influenced writers from Mary Shelley to Thomas Mann. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from with an introduction by Michael Hulse.Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, meets and falls in love with sweet-natured Charlotte. Although he realises that she 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, The Sorrows of Young Werther draws both on Goethe''s own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem. The book was an immediate success, and a cult rapidly grew up around it, resulting in numerous imitations as well as violent criticism and suppression on the grounds of its apparent support of suicide. Goethe''s sensitive exploration of the mind of an artist at odds with society and ill-equipped to cope with life is now considered the first great tragic novel of European literature.This edition includes notes and an introduction by Michael Hulse, who explores the origins of the novel in the author''s life and examines its impact on European culture.Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Although he directed the German State Theatre, dabbled in the occult and worked on scientific theories in evolutionary botany, Goethe is best remembered for his great works The Sorrows of Young Werther and Faust, and his part in the 18th century ''Sturm and Drang'' movement.If you enjoyed The Sorrows of Young Werther, you might like Stendhal''s Love, also published in Penguin Classics.

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Book Synopsis''I have so much and my feeling for her devours everything, I have so much and without her everything is nothing.''The Sorrows of Young Werther propelled Goethe to instant fame when it first appeared in 1774. Goethe drew on his own unhappy experiences to tell the story of Werther, a young man tormented by his love for Lotte, a tender-hearted girl who is promised to someone else. Overwhelmed by his feelings, Werther begins to see only one way to escape from his anguish.Goethe''s story of a sensitive young artist alienated from society channelled the Romantic sensibility of the day and led to a wave of imitations. Werther''s searching introspection and the passionate intensity with which he bares his soul have an immediacy that is all the more powerful for being expressed in letters; charting the course of his emotions, they give added drama to the unfolding account. David Constantine''s new translation captures the novel''s lyric clarity, and his introduction and notes illuminate Goethe''s achievement. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewIn a new translation which skilfully draws attention to elements of self-imprisonments within the novella, we come to understand Goethe's desire to exorcise a part of himself. * Kristen Treen, The Observer *

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Book SynopsisTrade Reviewwelcome the new additions to the finest and widest-ranging library of great writing (at accessible prices too), OUP's World's Classics series ... Goethe's Erotic Poems ... this is the first readily available version of the uncensored Elegies * Oxford Times *

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Book SynopsisIn this sequel to Faust, Mephistopheles takes Faust on a journey through ancient Greek mythology, conjuring for him the insurpassably beautiful Helen of Troy, as well as the classical gods. Faust falls in love with and marries Helen, embodying for Goethe his ''imaginative longing to join poetically the Romantic Medievalism of the germanic West to the classical genius of the Greeks''. Further to the themes of redemption and salvation in this great drama, are Goethe''s eerie premonitions of modern phenomena such as inflation and the creation of life by scientific synthesis.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary autTrade Review" One of those great works of literature into which a writer has been able to combine his ranging preoccupations and understanding as he worked." -A. S. Byatt, from the Preface

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Book SynopsisPresents a philosophical and poetic drama full of satire, irony, humour and tragedy. This book creates the text's varied metre and rhyme and also its diverse tones and styles - dramatic and lyrical, reflective and farcical, pathetic and coarse, colloquial and soaring.Trade Review"Greenberg is quite remarkable, and at his best truly brilliant, in evoking the poetic ‘feel’ of Goethe’s original. I do not believe that any other version of Faust has attempted anything quite like it."—Cyrus Hamlin, Yale University (on the earlier edition of Part One)"Goethe’s Faust is an enigmatic and perhaps barely translatable masterpiece. Its grotesque and exuberant part 2 must be the most outrageous poem in the western canon. Martin Greenberg’s revised version conveys the outrage yet also shows again and again why the poem does stand with the major works of the western tradition."—Harold Bloom"Greenberg has accomplished a magnificent literary feat. He has taken a great German work, until now all but inaccessible to English readers, and made it into a sparkling English poem, full of verve and wit. Greenberg's translation lives; it is done in a modern idiom but with respect for the original text; I found it a joy to read."—Irving Howe

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Book SynopsisTrade Review" One of those great works of literature into which a writer has been able to combine his ranging preoccupations and understanding as he worked." -A. S. Byatt, from the Preface

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Book SynopsisJohann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) is one of the towering figures of world culture, a universal man whose extraordinary talents found expression in literature, drama, autobiography, politics and the sciences. Edited and introduced by Nicholas Boyle, author of the definitive biography of Goethe, the Everyman's Library edition shows that Goethe remains one of the most intriguing and readable of European writers. Goethe established an international literary reputation overnight with The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), a story of disappointed love and pathological sensibility which mounted a powerful challenge to the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

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Book SynopsisIn 1814, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe read the poems of the great fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafiz in a newly published translation by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. For Goethe, the book was a revelation. He felt a deep connection with Hafiz and Persian poetic traditions, and was immediately inspired to create his own West-Eastern Divan as a lyrical conversation between the poetry and history of his native Germany and that of Persia. The resulting collection engages with the idea of the other and unearths lyrical connections between cultures. The West-Eastern Divan is one of the world's great works of literature, an inspired masterpiece, and a poetic linking of European and Persian traditions. This new bilingual edition expertly presents the wit, intelligence, humor, and technical mastery of the poetry in Goethe's Divan. In order to preserve the work's original power, Eric Ormsby has created this translation in clear contemporary prose rather than in rhymed verse, which tends to obscure the works sharpness. This edition is also accompanied by explanatory notes of the verse in German and in English and a translation of Goethe's own commentary, the "Notes and Essays for a Better Understanding of the West-Eastern Divan." This edition not only bring this classic collection to English-language readers, but also, at a time of renewed Western unease about the other, to open up the rich cultural world of Islam.Trade Review"...what I really want to say is how exhilarating and enjoyable it is to read a book that combines such strikingly different kinds of artistic excellence and such diverse perspectives with the underlying coherence that comes from the shared reference to Goethe's original cycle."--Marjorie Perloff "Polyphonic Voices" "Ormsby wisely makes no attempt to simulate Goethe's elaborate rhyming stanzas; rather, he provides en face literal prose translations, with helpful explanatory notes at the bottom of each page. Goethe's polyphonic sequence folds lines and phrases from his Persian and Arabic sources into German lyric so as to create an East-West complex at once intimate and theatrical."--Marjorie Perloff "Times Literary Supplement - Books of the Year 2019" "This fine volume -- which also contains a translation of the essays on Eastern culture that Goethe added to make the poems more intelligible -- should make the Divan accessible to many more readers."-- "Times Literary Supplement" "Ormsby's book has the whole Divan + all the short, eccentric, extremely interesting essays that Goethe originally included--more than a hundred pages' worth."--Marjorie Perloff "Rhino Poetry"

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Book SynopsisOne of the great classics of European literature, Faust is Goethe's most complex and profound work. This title tells the story of one man's pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION xi FAUST: A Tragedy DEDICATION 1 PRELUDE ON THE STAGE 3 PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN 9 PART ONE NIGHT (Faust's Study I: Easter Eve) 13 OUTSIDE THE CITY GATE (Easter-Day Walk) 23 FAUST'S STUDY (II: Easter Night) 32 FAUST'S STUDY (III: Pact and Student Scene) 40 AUERBACHS WINE-CELLAR IN LEIPZIG 53 WITCH'S KITCHEN (Rejuvenation) 60 A STREET (I: Margarete Accosted) 67 EVENING (Margarete's Room I) 69 PROMENADE (Street II: Mephistopheles' Report) 72 THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE (The Story of Schwerdtlein) 73 A STREET (III: False Witness) 77 (Martha's) GARDEN (I: Promenading Couples) 79 A SUMMERHOUSE (Martha's Garden II) 82 FOREST AND CAVE (Faust's Conscience) 83 GRETCHEN'S ROOM (II: Margarete at Her Spinning Wheel) 87 MARTHA'S GARDEN (III: Faust's Credo) 88 AT THE WELL (Gretchen and Lieschen) 91 BY THE RAMPARTS (Gretchen's Prayer) 92 NIGHT (Street IV: Valentine's Death) 93 CATHEDRAL (Mass, with Organ and Choir) 97 WALPURGIS NIGHT (Faust on the Brocken) 99 WALPURGIS NIGHT'S DREAM (Intermezzo) 108 AN EXPANSE OF OPEN COUNTRY (Faust's Rage) 112 NIGHT: OPEN FIELDS (The Gibbet) 114 PRISON (Margarete's Death) 114 PART TWO, in Five Acts Act I A PLEASANT LANDSCAPE (Faust's Recovery) 121 AN IMPERIAL PALACE THE THRONE ROOM (Council of State) 124 A GREAT HALL (Masquerade and Faust's Masque) 132 A GARDEN (Benefits of Paper Money) 154 A DARK GALLERY (The Mothers) 158 BRIGHTLY LI T ROOMS (Waiting for Faust) 162 KNIGHTS' HALL (The Rape of Helen) 163 Act II A HIGH-VAULTED, NARROW GOTHIC ROOM (Faust's Study IV) 169 LABORATORY (Creation of Homunculus) 175 CLASSICAL WALPURGIS NIGHT 180 The Pharsalian Fields 180 (Erichtho and the Aeronauts 180 * By the Sphinxes 181 * Peneus and Nymphs 186 * Faust, Chiron, and Manto 187 * Again by the Upper Peneus: Seismos' Mountain 191 * Mephistopheles and the Lamiae 196 * Anaxagoras, Thales, and Homunculus 200 * The Phorcides 202) Rocky Inlets of the Aegean Sea 204 (Nereus 206 * Proteus 209 * Galatea 214 * Homunculus merges with the sea 215) Act III (Helen: Classico-Romantic Phantasmagoria. An Intermezzo) BEFORE MENELAUS' PALACE AT SPARTA (Helen's Flight) 216 INNER COURTYARD OF A CASTLE (The Wooing and Defense of Helen) 231 A SHADED GROVE (The Life and Death of Euphorion) 241 Act IV HIGH MOUNTAINS 254 (Margarete Remembered 254 * Faust's Great Plan 256 * The Emperor in Danger 258 * Mephistopheles' Three Mighty Men 260) ON A FOOTHILL (Defeat of the Anti-Emperor) 261 THE ANTI-EMPEROR'S TENT (Rewards of Victory) 272 Act V A BROAD LANDSCAPE (Baucis and Philemon) 279 FAUST'S PALACE BEFORE THE PALACE 281 (Faust's Discontent 281 * The Destruction of Baucis, Philemon and Their Guest 285) FAUST ON THE BALCONY 286 (Mephistopheles' Report 286 * Four Gray Women in the Courtyard 287) WITHIN THE PALACE (Care, and the Blinding of Faust) 288 THE LARGE OUTER COURTYARD 290 (Faust's Death and Interment 292 * Mephistopheles Defeated 295) MOUNTAIN GORGES (Faust's Vision of Heaven and His Reunion with Margarete) 299 Chronology of the Composition of Faust 306 Goethe's Faust and the Present Translation 307 Bibliographical Note 314 Explanatory Notes 315

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Book SynopsisThroughout his long, hectic and astonishingly varied life, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) would jot down his passing thoughts on theatre programmes, visiting cards, draft manuscripts and even bills Goethe was probably the last true Renaissance Man'. Although employed as a Privy Councillor at the Duke of Weimar's court, where he helped oversee major mining, road-building and irrigation projects, he also painted, directed plays, carried out research in anatomy, botany and optics and still found time to produce masterpieces in every literary genre. His fourteen hundred Maxims and Reflections reveal some of his deepest thought on art, ethics, literature and natural science, but also his immediate reactions to books, chance encounters or his administrative work. Although variable in quality, the vast majority have a freshness and immediacy which vividly conjure up Goethe the man. They make an ideal introduction to one of the greatest of European writers.Table of ContentsMaxims and ReflectionsPrefaceIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the TextFROM ELECTIVE AFFINITIES (1809)From Ottilie's DiaryFROM ART AND ANTIQUITYVol. I, issue 3: Naïvety and Humour (1818)Vol. II, issue 3: Matters of Serious Moment (1820)Vol. III, issue 1: Own and Adopted Ideas in Proverbial Formulation (1821)Vol. IV, issue 2: Own and Assimilated Material (1823)Vol. V, issue 1: Individual Points (1824)Vol. V, issue 2: Individual Points (1825)Vol. V, issue 3: Individual Points (1826)Vol. VI, issue 1: [untitled] (1827)FROM THE PERIODICAL ISSUES ON MORPHOLOGYVol. I, issue 4: [untitled] (1822)FROM THE PERIODICAL ISSUES ON THE NATURAL SCIENCESVol. II, issue 1: Old Ideas, Almost out of Date (1823)FROM WILHELM MEISTER'S JOURNEYMAN YEARS (1829)Thoughs about Art, Ethics and Nature in the Spirit of the TravellersFrom Makarie's ArchivePOSTHUMOUSOn Literature and LifeOn Art and Art History: Aphorisms for the Attention of Friends and OpponentsOn Nature and Natural ScienceSketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete JottingsAddenda from the Posthumous PapersNotes

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Book Synopsis“Corngold’s new translation is of the very highest quality, punctiliously faithful to Goethe’s German and sensitive to gradations of style in this extraordinary, trail-blazing first novel.” —J. M. Coetzee, New York Review of BooksTrade Review"A highly readable, sensitive, and lively Werther. Corngold is both faithful to the German and true to the demands of a modern English text. The translator is to be congratulated on having produced a Werther in which both the substance and the tone of the original shine through. It is to be hoped that this new version will win Goethe’s book many new friends." -- Jeremy Adler - Times Literary Supplement (London)"Corngold’s translation is earthy and precise, with language belonging to a young man who is capable of both elation and despair." -- Rachel Shtier - The New RepublicTable of ContentsDownload Contents (pdf)

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Book SynopsisBy closely following Goethe''s explanations of the color phenomena, the reader may become so divorced from the wavelength theory—Goethe never even mentions it—that he may begin to think about color theory relatively unhampered by prejudice, ancient or modern.By the time Goethe''s Theory of Colours appeared in 1810, the wavelength theory of light and color had been firmly established. To Goethe, the theory was the result of mistaking an incidental result for an elemental principle. Far from pretending to a knowledge of physics, he insisted that such knowledge was an actual hindrance to understanding. He based his conclusions exclusively upon exhaustive personal observation of the phenomena of color.Of his own theory, Goethe was supremely confident: “From the philosopher, we believe we merit thanks for having traced the phenomena of colours to their first sources, to the circumstances under which they appear and are, and beyond which no further explanation respecting them is possible.”Goethe''s scientific conclusions have, of course, long since been thoroughly demolished, but the intelligent reader of today may enjoy this work on quite different grounds: for the beauty and sweep of his conjectures regarding the connection between color and philosophical ideas; for an insight into early nineteenth-century beliefs and modes of thought; and for the flavor of life in Europe just after the American and French Revolutions.The book does not have to be studied to be appreciated. Goethe''s subjective theory of colors permits him to speak most persuasively of color harmony and aesthetics. In some readers these notions will evoke a positive response on their merits. Others may regard them as pure fantasy, but savor the grace and style of their exposition.The work may also be read as an accurate guide to the study of color phenomena. Goethe''s conclusions have been repudiated, but no one quarrels with his reporting of the facts to be observed. With simple objects—vessels, prisms, lenses, and the like—the reader will be led through a demonstration course not only in subjectively produced colors, but also in the observable physical phenomena of color. By closely following Goethe''s explanations of the color phenomena, the reader may become so divorced from the wavelength theory—Goethe never even mentions it—that he may begin to think about color theory relatively unhampered by prejudice, ancient or modern.

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Book SynopsisFirst published by Wordsworth Editions 1999 and 2007. First published by Princeton University Press in 2016.Trade Review"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2016""A rich new anthology … which valiantly seeks to display every facet of Goethe's genius."---Adam Kirsch, New Yorker"Succeeds in presenting Goethe from as many angles as can be fitted in between the covers of a single tome: the scientist beside the poet, the tireless observer of nature and eagle-eyed critic of art and society, the philosopher alongside the novelist and playwright."---Osman Durrani, Times Literary Supplement"This meticulously prepared edition brims with Goethe's radiant insights and reflects his stunning virtuosity, confirming again his paramount position in European letters." * Publishers Weekly *"Answers a need for a one-volume English translation of Goethe's most significant works…. An excellent, serviceable book." * Choice *"[T]his is the best available one-volume anthology of Goethe’s works, spanning the full range of his output of poetry, drama, novels, literary criticism, autobiography, philosophy and science. The scope and insight of his work is extraordinary and his style eminently readable in every discipline."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

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Book SynopsisFirst published in German in 1810, this detailed volume was translated from the German by Charles Lock Eastlake and, in six parts, examines every aspect of Goetheâs theory of colours, including psychological colours, chemical colours, the moral effect of colour, minerals, plants, insects, mammals and a multitude of further subjects.Table of ContentsPart I. Physiological Colours. 1. Effects of Light and Darkness on the Eye. 2. Effects of Black and White Objects on the Eye. 3. Grey Surfaces and Objects. 4. Dazzling Colourless Objects. 5. Coloured Objects. 6. Coloured Shadows. 7. Faint Lights. 8. Subjective Halos. Part II. Physical Colours. 9. Dioptrical Colours. 10. Dioptrical Colours of the First Class. 11. Dioptrical Colours of the Second Class – Refraction. 12. Refraction without the Appearance of Colour. 13. Conditions of the Appearance of Colour. 14. Conditions under which the Appearance of Colour Increases. 15. Explanation of the Foregoing Phenomena. 16. Decrease of the Appearance of Colour. 17. Grey Objects Displaced by Refraction. 18. Coloured Objects Displaced by Refraction. 19. Achromatism and Hyperchromatism. 20. Advantages of Subjective Experiments – Transition to the Objective. 21. Refraction without the Appearance of Colour. 22. Conditions of the Appearance of Colour. 23. Conditions of the Increase of Colour. 24. Explanation of the Foregoing Phenomena. 25. Decrease of the Appearance of Colour. 26. Grey Objects. 27. Coloured Objects. 28. Achromatism and Hyperchromatism. 29. Combination of Subjective and Objective Experiments. 30. Transition. 31. Catoptrical Colours. 32. Paroptical Colours. 33. Epoptical Colours. Part III. Chemical Colours. 34. Chemical Contrast. 35. White. 36. Black. 37. First Excitation of Colour. 38. Augmentation of Colour. 39. Culmination. 40. Fluctuation. 41. Passage through the Whole Scale. 42. Inversion. 43. Fixation. 44. Intermixture, Real. 45. Intermixture, Apparent. 46. Communication, Actual. 47. Communication, Apparent. 48. Extraction. 49. Nomenclature. 50. Minerals. 51. Plants. 52. Worms, Insects, Fishes. 53. Birds. 54. Mammalia and Human Beings. 55. Physical and Chemical Effects of the Transmission of Light through Coloured Mediums. 56. Chemical Effect in Dioptrical Achromatism. Part IV. General Characteristics. Part V. Relation to Other Pursuits. Part VI. Effect of Colour with Reference to Moral Associations.

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Book SynopsisThe best translation of Faust available, this volume provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages. Walter Kaufmann''s translation conveys the poetic beauty and rhythm as well as the complex depth of Goethe''s language. Includes Part One and selections from Part Two.

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