Read-along – Werther (1 of 2)
Book One – and Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem
We’ve finished Book One! How did you find it? Please do share your thoughts and reactions as comments below. Here’s what I thought:
I look forward to discussing Book Two next week!
Book Two is based less on Goethe’s own experiences and more on those of his acquaintance, Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was a contemporary of Goethe’s at Leipzig University and they met again in Wetzlar in 1772, where they were both studying law. ‘He wore the clothes that were usual, in imitation of the English, in northern Germany,’ wrote Goethe: ‘a blue frock-coat, a buff leather waistcoat and breeches.’
Jerusalem fell in love with the countess Elisabeth Herd, who was already engaged. When she forbade him from visiting her, he was heartbroken. He borrowed a pair of pistols from his friend Kestner (the model for Albert in The Sorrows of Young Werther), dismissed his servant and shot himself on the night of 29 October 1772. He died the following day. He left a copy of Lessing’s tragedy Emilia Galotti open on his desk.
Jerusalem’s rooms are now a museum and library. The two-room apartment on the second floor of what is now called the ‘Jerusalemhaus’ contains historical furniture and a collection of editions of The Sorrows of Young Werther, in various languages.
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Very much enjoyed this, as a breath of youthful fresh air. The naïveté and fragility of youth, the self-obsession reflected in the almost comic ignorance of his impact on others, especially those not of his class. The translation really holds up as well - I feared it might read as more old-fashioned as it does.
Coming at it from a 21st century perspective, the nature of the relationship does feel fraught with uncomfortable overtones, but I think it's important to set it in the context of its own time. It's also salutary to remember that, as much as this now reads as almost a parody of the Romantic Novel, it was a forerunner, a progenitor of the genre.
Werther is also, to my mind at least, aware of the strength of his passions, and of what they might lead to, but for the moment he is revelling in that strength, in a state of heightened emotion emphasised by what he sees as the bountiful natural environment. I think Goethe plays on this, knowing that we, the reader, will want to read on to find out what happens, knowing it cannot be happy.
I really enjoyed Book 1 - thanks, Henry! Such a propulsive, poignant read. The epistolary form works brilliantly- each letter a portal into Werthe's experiences, each scene charged and luminous. I also like the fact we only see one side of the correspondence and have to intuit the other...
Perhaps the thing that struck me most was how familiar the themes, images and atmosphere felt - it's had such an effect on what came after it, I struggled to imagine how shocking and fresh this must have felt at the time.
Looking forward to diving into Book 2!