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“Für Naturen wie die meine ist eine Reise unschätzbar: Sie belebt, berichtigt, belehrt und bildet.” - Goethe, der Weltbürger (Citizen of the World)
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| Das Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt am Main is a modern museum that incorporates the original house (left) in which Goethe was born in 1749. Photo © Hyde Flippo MORE: Goethe Photos - Frankfurt |
Frankfurt
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main on August 28, 1749. Goethe was born into prosperous circumstances. His lawyer father, Johann Caspar Goethe (1710-1782), and mother, Catharina Elisabeth Textor (1731-1808), were able to provide their first son a comfortable childhood and a good education. (Of their several offspring, only Johann and his sister, Cornelia Friederike Christiana, lived past childhood.) Johann Wolfgang showed an early talent for languages and had studied French, Greek, Italian, and Latin by the age of eight.
University studies
Goethe was only 16 years old when he went to Leipzig in 1765 to study law at the university there, following the wishes of his father. He soon realized that he was more interested in literature and writing than law. By 1768, his studies had faltered to the point that he had to return home. But in 1770 he continued his law studies in Strasbourg (in German Alsace), graduating with a law degee in 1771.
He returned to Frankfurt to practice law, but also continued writing. In 1773, he published the drama Götz von Berlichingen. His first real bestseller, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), a novel translated into many languages, became a worldwide success. In 1775, Duke Karl August became his patron and invited him to Weimar. Goethe would spend most of his adult life there.
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| “Goethe in the Roman Campagna” (1786) by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein. Oil on canvas. Displayed at the Goethe museum in Frankfurt. Photo © Hyde Flippo |
In 1786, Goethe made his first trip to Italy, where he met Christiane Vulpius (1765-1816), the lady who would become his mistress, and many years later (in 1806) his wife. (The couple had one son, Julius August Walter von Goethe, 1789-1830.) His time in Italy (1786-1788) was very influential to his future work and his view of the world. His travel diaries were published as Italienische Reise (Italian Journey). In 1790, he would return to Italy (Venice). (Also see “Places identified with Goethe“ below.)
Science (Wissenschaft)
Although less succesful as a scientist than as a writer, Goethe did significant work in the areas of anatomy, plant morphology and color theory. In 1784, Goethe independently discovered the human intermaxillary bone, which had been discovered by two other scientists several years earlier. In 1790, he published Metamorphose der Pflanzen (Metamorphosis of Plants), which reportedly influenced Darwin. In 1810, Goethe’s Farbenlehre (Theory of Color) promoted the idea that color arises from the dynamic interplay of darkness and light. Largely rejected in modern times, Goethe nevertheless did pioneering research in the area of light and color.
Germany and the world celebrated Goethe’s 250th birthday in 1999. In the early 21st century, the “Gothic Shakespeare” has become a somewhat controversial figure in the German-speaking world. A landslide of Goethe biographies coinciding with the 250th anniversary of his birth (in the 18th century) brought into question many aspects of the person who became the king of German literature. Many of his biographers have tried to demystify the legend and shed more light on the man by questioning everything from his sexual preferences to his religious views. But no one can dispute Goethe’s impact on Germany’s literary legacy as well as Weltliteratur.
Web content © 1997-2011 Hyde Flippo
MORE > Goethe-Haus Photos - Frankfurt
Goethe’s works include:
- Götz von Berlichingen (1773, drama)
- Die Leiden des jungen Werthers / The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774, novel)
- Erlkönig (1782, poem)
- Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787, dramatic verse)
- Faust, ein Fragment (1790, drama)
- Metamorphose der Pflanzen / Metamorphosis of Plants (1790, scientific treatise)
- Römische Elegien / Roman Elegies (1793, poems)
- Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre / Wilhelm Meister's Years of Apprenticeship (1795-96)
- Zur Farbenlehre / Theory of Color (1805-10, scientific treatise)
- Die Wahlverwandschaften / Elective Affinities (1809, novel)
- Italienische Reise / Italian Journey (1816, 1829) > Text (Web, in German)
- West-östlicher Divan / Divan of East and West (1819)
- Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre / Wilhelm Meister's Travels (1821-29)
- Faust I (1808) & Faust II (1827, 1832, dramatic verse)
- J.W. Goethe - Projekt Gutenberg (Werke online)
Goethe online
Places Identified with Goethe - on the Web:
- Frankfurt am Main
- Das Goethe-Haus - Goethe museum/birthplace, Frankfurt am Main (Deutsch)
- The Goethe House - Goethe museum and birthplace (English)
- Leipzig - Goethe studied here.
- Ilmenau ("Goethe- und Universitätsstadt")
- Italy: Italienische Reise (in German, Projekt Gutenberg, with map)
- Strasbourg (Straßburg, now in Alsace/Elsass, France)
- Weimar - Goethe spent most of his life here.
- Goethe Institute - Worldwide German cultural institution (in German, English and other languages)
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J.W. Goethe > J.W. Goethe: Biography > Goethe Photos
