The Sorrows of Young Werther (Modern Library Classics)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to D.S. by:
JT recommends it for: readers of timelessness
I was sitting in the Blue Plate late one Friday night a few months ago sipping a bit of Trumer Pils and waiting for my girlfriend, Riya, to finish her checkout. At the time I was reading my little copy of Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, which must have caught the owner/manager, JT's, attention because he walked up and asked, "Have you read any Goethe?" Unlike others, when I haven't read a famous author I fess up and reply either, "No," or "Not yet,"...more
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Read in February, 2008
I had my pen out often while reading this book because there were so many lovely sentiments expressed. I was constantly underlining them. I'm afraid my copy is very well worn already.
I'm not sure where to begin with my review of this work. It had the capability to illicit so much sympathy. Werther's case is that of unrequited love, yet for a good part of the book one almost envies him for all the passion and feeling it brings to his life. Remember those moments early in life when one feel...more
I'm not sure where to begin with my review of this work. It had the capability to illicit so much sympathy. Werther's case is that of unrequited love, yet for a good part of the book one almost envies him for all the passion and feeling it brings to his life. Remember those moments early in life when one feel...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
people who love beautiful things
I picked this up with some trepidation, assuming that it would be full of stolid German angst and that I would give up after a couple of pages. However, it's a perfect psychological portrait! I loved it. Werther isn't an entirely sympathetic character (he has the odd Kevin the Teenager moment) but you are entirely drawn into his world and feel the same responses as him very keenly. It's only upon finishing that you realise how Goethe has managed to completely draw you into the concerns and b...more
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Read in October, 2007
For being written in 1774, this German novella is a timeless classic. It is often described as a romance or tragic love story, but I'd have to disagree with that description. What I experienced was a case study in severe depression and angst, not "love." But that's just semantics. Goethe wrote the book as a series of letters from Werther to his friend Wilhelm. Werther finds himself "in love" (obsessed) with a girl, Charlotte, who is engaged to another man, Albert. He is consu...more
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this is one of the most affecting books i've read in a long time... i ate it up in a very short time. not too impressive, though, considering it's pretty short (about 100 pages). definitely not a faust-esque read, but it still maintains goethe's poetic words, just in a more informal narrative. i love goethe. i would marry him. his way with words just makes me want to keep reading, and then read what i just read over again. i thoroughly enjoyed the sententious bits he threw in here and there; he ...more
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Read in August, 2008
Not quite as depressing as I expected. In fact, joyful at times. Philosphical considerations I had never thought to make. I found myself pausing to ponder what I had read. (I skimmed a lot, however. Werther's letters can be quite mundane, and this is a very short work of fiction.) The "editor's note" at the end, while expanding my understanding about Werther's frame of mind shortly before his untimely death, tended to annoy me with its Wise Old Coot tone of voice. Like a much smarter, ...more
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Read in June, 2006
Beautiful, beautiful language from wordsmith Goethe. A narrator (the story unfolds through the letters we read, from Werther to a friend) who is a beautiful character, exposing young, ever-fluctuating, inspiring, and sometimes unstable emotions ('young emotions' in that they are the sorts of emotions that are felt strongly by young people, the hopeless romantic young-and-dumb, the Werthers). You should read the book for these reasons: for its language, and because it is good for us to occasion...more
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Thackeray wrote this very glib verse synopsis of the tale:
Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And, for all the wealth of Indies,
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
So he sighed and pined and ogled,
And his passion boiled and bubbled,
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And no more was by it troubled.
Charlo...more
Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And, for all the wealth of Indies,
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
So he sighed and pined and ogled,
And his passion boiled and bubbled,
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And no more was by it troubled.
Charlo...more
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Read in April, 2008
When The Sorrows came out it got the reputation of having inspired a number of copy-cat suicides (not true), but I've wondered for awhile what I would find inspiring in it. Werther sees so much in people, in nature, but his obsession with feeling, his infatuation with the sublime, his complete impatience with the everyday is totally exhausting. You could say it's depressing, but what really makes it a tough read is the sensitivity of Goethe's feeling for the soul state of someone working himse...more
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recommends it for:
Germans, tragic teenagers who think "you just don't understand!"
Sometimes I give a book one star because it was bad, or I hated it, or it was bad and I hated it. Not so with sorrowful young Werther, mein Bruder or Schwester. I don't think it was a bad book. I don't hate it. I just think that this book is SO of-its-time that now it seems silly and overblown. I do think it's interesting that just after it was written many German students killed themselves (for love and the sorrows of the world) just as Werther did. "Ach, meine liebe Gott, Annelise does no...more
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Read in October, 2007
werther's descent is incredible to behold and i understand now why barthes was so keen on citing his behavior. i'd also never read goethe before and was floored by the use of language, which ( even though i finished this a few weeks ago) i recall as solid and lush all at the same time.
short, morbid, and a good preview for Madame Bovary, even though I went out of order.
*******************************************************************************************
bought this to keep from...more
short, morbid, and a good preview for Madame Bovary, even though I went out of order.
*******************************************************************************************
bought this to keep from...more
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Caution of terminal Romanticism.
*shakes fist at fatal longing*
My idol of that era is Bettina Brentano...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/book...
*cuts 'n' pastes*
"Who," asked Napoleon Bonaparte, "is that fuzzy young person?" She was Elisabeth Brentano, known simply as Bettina. Actually, Napoleon was not among her conquests, nor was he her type.
She did not jump into ...more
*shakes fist at fatal longing*
My idol of that era is Bettina Brentano...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/book...
*cuts 'n' pastes*
"Who," asked Napoleon Bonaparte, "is that fuzzy young person?" She was Elisabeth Brentano, known simply as Bettina. Actually, Napoleon was not among her conquests, nor was he her type.
She did not jump into ...more
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The story reminds me a little of dearly beloved Dostoevsky; poor sod in a love fit over a girl. Dosotevsky distracts this story line with depth, but Goethe does the opposite. Werther, pathetic and pitiful. Just get over it! But he doesn't.
Goethe was before the advent of psychology, and I'm surprised no one quotes this book. Werther is fixated, not in love. She's a tool in his puer complex. He cannot face reality, so she's a safe excuse to commit suicide.
Goethe was before the advent of psychology, and I'm surprised no one quotes this book. Werther is fixated, not in love. She's a tool in his puer complex. He cannot face reality, so she's a safe excuse to commit suicide.
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Read in July, 2008
I don't think I've been this annoyed by a main character since "The Catcher in the Rye." Werther is probably one of the most irritating, whiney bitches in the history of literature. I never once felt an ounce of pity for this obsessive, creepy guy, and I can understand completely why the girl pushes him away. A very unattractive personality, and I don't know what the hell was going on at the time to make readers swoon for his "sorrows." I kept waiting for him to finally s...more
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
people with sharp objects at a safe distance
The Sorrows Of Young Werther is the precursor for all of today's teenage rants on internet blogs about love and its hardships, and it is an utterly enthralling read. Geothe has really been denied his proper acknowledgement as an author, where usually the only required reading of his tends to be a sample of Faust at college level. Sorrows is written through a series of letters from Werther to someone at his home, his correspondance with his roots. Though tragic, Sorrows should rather be themed mo...more
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You know I really wanted to read Goethe- I read a lot of his quotes and such, and they were really good insights. Plus there's the fact that I'm German. However, this is painful to read, you keep hoping he'll get 'over it' (it's supposed to be based on his own life). I mean at first I felt bad, then I just wanted to put a foot in his ass! I think if I would have read this younger I might have had more sympathy- but I guess my 'Germanness' also looks down on 'weakness'.
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Bad translation. I mean really bad. I enjoyed the story when it was getting mangled by the jerkoff hired to translate into English. At the fucking climax of the book the translator stops giving you the original material and just gives you a 2 bit play by play of how things unfold. I've never read anything more anticlimactic than that.
I wish I understood German so I could read this how it was supposed to be read and then I'm pretty sure I would vote 5. Even getting the story filtered t...more
I wish I understood German so I could read this how it was supposed to be read and then I'm pretty sure I would vote 5. Even getting the story filtered t...more
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Read in January, 2004
I read a good translation of this, a more recent one that isn't this particular version. Regardless, this is one of the most romantic stories that I've ever read. The romance was misguided and is a model not to be followed, but I thought that the story was engaging. You began to feel bad for Werther, even though you know that everything he does is completely wrong. Such sympathy would not have been possible without the verbal skills of Goethe, so he should get a nod as well. So, there you have i...more
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Read in April, 2006
Rather shockingly, my former book group picked this one. I thought it was a rather odd choice -- what book group reads German Romantic literature? Well, this one did, I guess.
Maybe I should have read this one in German (sure, like my German is really good enough), but I think unless you've steeped yourself in the Romantic period, it's a little hard to read this one without involuntarily superimposing a modern gloss, and as a result, it's probably hard to appreciate properly. (I can give you ...more
Maybe I should have read this one in German (sure, like my German is really good enough), but I think unless you've steeped yourself in the Romantic period, it's a little hard to read this one without involuntarily superimposing a modern gloss, and as a result, it's probably hard to appreciate properly. (I can give you ...more
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En la adolescencia la lectura de este libro, con toda su hipersensibilidad y su romanticismo, me impactaron notablemente. Hoy en día me conviene leerlo desde cierta distancia, con cierta ironía, porque sino seguro que me resultaría indigesto y ridículo. Aún así, cualquier libro que promueva una ola de suicidios merece ser tenido en cuenta. En serio, creo que conviene leerlo como el resultado de cierta moda de cierto tiempo para que tenga validez y resulte satisfactorio.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.75 (1461 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.75 (1046 ratings) number of reviews: 145popular shelves
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"Say what you will of fortitude, but show me the man who can patiently endure the laughter of fools when they have obtained an advantage over him. 'Tis only when their nonsense is without foundation that one can suffer it without complaint."
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