Today we start reading The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe!
If you would like to read along, we’ll read Book One this week and we’ll discuss it next Friday. Full details here.
The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary novel. It is told through letters, written by Werther to his close friend Wilhelm. Book One covers Werther’s letters from 4 May and 10 September 1771. They describe events based on Goethe’s own youthful experiences. As you read, here are few real-life parallels to look out for.
4 May – In the summer of 1772, Goethe came to practise law in the town of Wetzlar, 50km south of Frankfurt. He lodged in a house on the Cornmarket, now home to the restaurant Steakhaus Bolero. His experiences in Wetzlar are dramatised in the 2010 film Young Goethe in Love, directed by Philipp Stölzl.
12 May ‘Right outside the town there is a spring, a spring that holds me in thrall’ – the well outside the Wöllbach Gate in Wetzlar is known today as the ‘Goethe Well’.
26 May ‘best of all are the two linden trees whose spreading boughs shade the little church square’ – the nearby village of Wahlheim in the novel is based on the village of Garbenheim. The square that Goethe knew has been recreated at the town museum.
16 June ‘the most charming scene I have ever set eyes on’ – Charlotte S. is based on Charlotte Buff (1753-1828), daughter of the royal estate officer Heinrich Buff. The house where she was born, where she lived and where Goethe first met her, still stands. It is now a museum called the Lottehaus, on a road renamed Lottestrasse.
16 June ‘I hardly heard the music that sounded across from the brightly lit ballroom above’ – Werther and Lotte attend a ball at Volpertshausen, where today the Goethehaus recreates the room where they dance the allemande together.
16 June ‘Albert is a dear, honest man to whom I am as good as engaged’ – Lotte’s fiancé Albert is based on Johann Christian Kestner (1741-1800), a young lawyer.
24 July ‘So then I cut a silhouette profile of her’ – Goethe did have a silhouette of Lotte Buff.
Enjoy reading Book One! And I look forward to discussing next week.
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I can't decide werther or not to participate.
Not really! Just got my copy. Can't wait!
I did not know there was a film adaptation! I will need to go look for it now.