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The Sorrows of Young Werther
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This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. Written in diary form, it tells the tale of an unhappy, passionate young man hopelessly in love with Charlotte, the wife of a friend - a man who he alternately admires and detests. 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' became an important part of the 'Sturm und Drang movement, and greatly influenced later 'Romanticism'. The work is
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Paperback, 149 pages
Published
February 8th 2005
by Modern Library
(first published September 29th 1774)
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Elisabeth Winkler
Check other translations because the version I read showed only Werther’s sympathy for other vulnerable people.
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This is s dangerous book. For anyone who has suffered from that unrequited love that burns like a fever will be able to relate uncannily well with this book. Unfortunately the ending is such that it inspired many people to use it like a template for their own lives when faced with a similar situation. While finishing up this book I wondered whether Goethe was ever aware or thought about the painful actions his book inspired.
This is a fictionalized autobiography of Goethe's own experience of bei ...more
This is a fictionalized autobiography of Goethe's own experience of bei ...more
I couldn't help but imagine young Werther as a high school, tweeting about all his troubles to the ether. So, without further ado, I present to you: The Tweets of Young Werther.
This is the kind of book that high school teachers should be making self-absorbed teenagers read. They can totally relate, both to the intense feelings of emotion and the complete conviction that no one in the world has ever felt the same way before. I couldn't relate that well, because really Werther just needs to man up ...more
This is the kind of book that high school teachers should be making self-absorbed teenagers read. They can totally relate, both to the intense feelings of emotion and the complete conviction that no one in the world has ever felt the same way before. I couldn't relate that well, because really Werther just needs to man up ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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959. Les souffrances du jeune werther = The sorrows of young Werther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A Autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774.
عنوانها: رنجهای ورتر جوان؛ غمهای ورتر جوان؛ اثر: یوهان ولفگانگ فون گوته؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و هشتم ماه می سال 2003 میلادی
عنوان: رنجهای ورتر جوان - یوهان ولفگانگ فون گوته، ترجمه: فریده مهدوی دامغانی؛ تهران، نشر تیر، 1381؛ در 255 ص؛ شابک: 9646581536؛ چاپ دوم 1385، چاپ سوم: 1387؛ موضوع: ادبیات کلاسیک آلمان - قرن 18 م
عنو ...more
A Autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774.
عنوانها: رنجهای ورتر جوان؛ غمهای ورتر جوان؛ اثر: یوهان ولفگانگ فون گوته؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و هشتم ماه می سال 2003 میلادی
عنوان: رنجهای ورتر جوان - یوهان ولفگانگ فون گوته، ترجمه: فریده مهدوی دامغانی؛ تهران، نشر تیر، 1381؛ در 255 ص؛ شابک: 9646581536؛ چاپ دوم 1385، چاپ سوم: 1387؛ موضوع: ادبیات کلاسیک آلمان - قرن 18 م
عنو ...more
Nov 19, 2016
°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
"Α,εσείς οι λογικοί άνθρωποι! Πάθος! Μέθη! Παραφροσύνη! Κάθεστε εκεί ήρεμοι και απαθείς, εσείς οι ενάρετοι, κατακρίνετε τον πότη, απεχθάνεστε τον τρελό, προσπερνάτε σαν τους ιερείς, και, σαν τους Φαρισαίους, ευχαριστείτε το Θεό που δεν σας έκανε όμοιους μ' εκείνους. Έχω μεθύσει πολλές φορές, τα πάθη μου ποτέ δεν απείχαν πολύ από την τρέλα και δεν μετανιώνω ούτε για το ένα ούτε για το άλλο, γιατί, στο μέτρο των δυνατοτήτων μου, έμαθα να κατανοώ ότι όλους τους ξεχωριστούς ανθρώπους, αυτούς που πρα
...more
مگر میشود رنج های ورتر جوان را بخوانی و از زیبایی عشق متحیر نشوی. قطعا به خود خواهی گفت : این یک مساله به غایت جدی ست.
It’s taken me well over a year to get through the saga of Young Werther’s love for his Lotte even though it’s quite a short little book. I plead mitigating circumstances. I had no thought of reading this novel until I came across a pair of characters called Goethe and Lotte in Christine Brooke-Rose’s Textermination, and checked out their real-life story. The trail led to a fictional version of the same story in Young Werther. I was tempted to try reading Young Werther in his own language so I bo
...more
Dec 29, 2012
Rowena
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
banned-book-challenges,
german-lit
"I have been intoxicated more than once, my passions have never been far off insanity."
Although I have some sympathy for unrequited love, it was hard for me to understand Werther. My feelings toward him went back and forth between sympathy and frustration. At times I admired his love, at other times I found it to be very obsessive. Yes, he was sensitive and romantic, but the woman of his dreams did not lead him on in any way so I did find the way he behaved quite incomprehensible.
This was my f ...more
Although I have some sympathy for unrequited love, it was hard for me to understand Werther. My feelings toward him went back and forth between sympathy and frustration. At times I admired his love, at other times I found it to be very obsessive. Yes, he was sensitive and romantic, but the woman of his dreams did not lead him on in any way so I did find the way he behaved quite incomprehensible.
This was my f ...more
I would not be mistaken if I think that many of us would have just eschewed this book by just seeing the first few words of the title. SORROW: the very word instigates a sense of a confused horror in us. Sorrow is one of the emotions which every great men cannot escape in their lives, as Dostoevsky says. Sorrow brings a state of helplessness from which the unfortunate weak ones cannot free themselves. Though the events of this story can be considered as unfortunate for our Werther but it can be
...more
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Most beautiful book I've ever read. Goethe's style and prose is incredible. I'm not sure how well it translates to English, having read it in Dutch and German, but I'm sure there are many competant translators out there. Anyone who's not read this is really, really missing out as it's of an unequalled beauty.
“Lo clásico es salud, lo romántico es enfermedad”, dijo Goethe una vez. Cuando el Romanticismo explotó originariamente en Alemania, lo hizo para romper la delicada armonía que imponía el movimiento del Clasicismo.
A partir de ese torbellino que se llamó “Sturm und Drang” (Tormenta e Ímpetu), los hombres ya no fueron los mismos. Y Werther fue el punto de partida del sentimiento romántico. Ser romántico, además de un modelo literario o un estilo pictórico, era una forma de vida. Se vivían las pasi ...more
A partir de ese torbellino que se llamó “Sturm und Drang” (Tormenta e Ímpetu), los hombres ya no fueron los mismos. Y Werther fue el punto de partida del sentimiento romántico. Ser romántico, además de un modelo literario o un estilo pictórico, era una forma de vida. Se vivían las pasi ...more
Wertherin değişken yapısı beni çok yordu.
No doubt there were shimmers of brilliance in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774); however, for such a short book, it took me a long time to complete it. At one level, it's not difficult to relate to Werther and the pain he experiences (he is in love with a woman who is unavailable, i.e. already married). Still, experiencing this pain (and wallowing with Werther in his anguish) is not enough to move the narrative forward.
Wolfgang Goethe when he wrote The Sufferings of the Young Werther did not believe that his novel would be so successful. In German Literature, before the novel, there was still no romanesque work at Werther's height. All the romances that preceded him, which dealt with cards, were mostly neutral or cold. They emphasized more those who wrote to the narrator than the narrator himself. In Werther, for the first time, one sees a first-person narrator, an outstanding self. Werther suffers for love an
...more
رنج هاى خواننده ى "ورترِ جوان"
فكر كنم اواخر رمان بود كه مصمم شدم با دقت و قدرتى كه در خود مى ديدم،كتاب را به سمت ديوار رو به رويم پرتاب كنم تا از شرّش خلاص شوم(حيف كه امانت كتابخانه بود).اين كتاب "بد" يا به لحاظ تكنيكى ضعيف نيست،توسط نويسنده ى بى سواد يا بى استعدادى هم نگاشته نشده؛مشكل اصلى اينجاست كه آنقدر براى من غير قابل باور است كه هندى ترين فيلم ها و كتاب ها را در جيبش ميگذارد و قطعا بايد در ژانر تخيلى دسته بندى شود.
گوته ى دلپسند
كتاب مجموعه اى از نامه هاى ورتر است كه شرح حال خودش را از عشقى ...more
فكر كنم اواخر رمان بود كه مصمم شدم با دقت و قدرتى كه در خود مى ديدم،كتاب را به سمت ديوار رو به رويم پرتاب كنم تا از شرّش خلاص شوم(حيف كه امانت كتابخانه بود).اين كتاب "بد" يا به لحاظ تكنيكى ضعيف نيست،توسط نويسنده ى بى سواد يا بى استعدادى هم نگاشته نشده؛مشكل اصلى اينجاست كه آنقدر براى من غير قابل باور است كه هندى ترين فيلم ها و كتاب ها را در جيبش ميگذارد و قطعا بايد در ژانر تخيلى دسته بندى شود.
گوته ى دلپسند
كتاب مجموعه اى از نامه هاى ورتر است كه شرح حال خودش را از عشقى ...more
تأتينا هذه الرواية من القرن الثامن عشر من أعظم كتاب ألمانيا، رواية رومانسية حالمة في غاية العذوبة والشاعرية والجمال ، ساحبة معها كل مشاعر القارىء، جارفة معها طوفاناً من العواطف والأشجان، لا أتحدث عن الحب فقط، بل الطبيعة، النفس البشرية، الروح الصوفية، الخطيئة، والحب المستحيل ..
تستظل الرواية بعبق من أجمل الكلمات المختارة من لغة ذلك العصر، من بهجة الحب ، من الطبيعة الساحرة، رواية كأنها قصيدة أو ديوان شعر ، تفضح الروح الضعيفة للإنسان، تستولي على دهشة القارئ، لم تكن رواية مربكة على الإطلاق، بل حزينة ...more
تستظل الرواية بعبق من أجمل الكلمات المختارة من لغة ذلك العصر، من بهجة الحب ، من الطبيعة الساحرة، رواية كأنها قصيدة أو ديوان شعر ، تفضح الروح الضعيفة للإنسان، تستولي على دهشة القارئ، لم تكن رواية مربكة على الإطلاق، بل حزينة ...more
It's definately a masterpiece of its age, but I can't count how many times throughout the book I wanted to shake Werther by the arm or better so, slap him it the face. The characters are just unbelievablly stupid. I know that the times were different, but still they should know better. And the fact that the book caused a lot of people to commit suicide doesn't help at all.
I can't believe Goethe wasted his talent on such a wortless novel.
I can't believe Goethe wasted his talent on such a wortless novel.
I am proud of my heart alone, it is the sole source of everything, all our strength, happiness and misery. All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
If one doesn’t drown oneself in its indulgent water, sorrow can deepen, can humanize and connect a person to humanity. Werther realizes this idea at different levels of self-indulgence, self-destruction and emotional dissipation. He is dreamy, sensitive, emotional, vulnerable, very romantic, made for love, t ...more
I read this book in high school. So, I don't remember much of it, except the crying. I loved the story, I could relate to many of his thoughts about unrequited love and its tragic consequences, and feeling like it was the end of the world because I wasn't with that special someone and, well. High school: Maths and lovesickness.
I cried quite a bit while reading this book, Bambi's-mother-shooting kind of tears. I probably wouldn't react that way now, I'd just think about how much easier it would ...more
I cried quite a bit while reading this book, Bambi's-mother-shooting kind of tears. I probably wouldn't react that way now, I'd just think about how much easier it would ...more
Sep 28, 2016
Edward
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really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
literary-fiction,
2016
The Sorrows of Young Werther is a beautiful and emotionally accurate depiction of romantic love: its consuming nature, and the devastation it has the potential to inflict. As a novel it is striking (especially for its time) in the way it subverts the traditional format, by connecting an epistolary structure with an overarching narrative from an unnamed "editor". The language is so wonderfully romantic and personal, one really is made to feel as Werther felt throughout his ordeal.
I especially lov ...more
I especially lov ...more
احساسات متناقضی نسبت به داستان دارم، اگر بخوام فقط به سیر حوادث و خلاصهی داستان و شرح آنچه بر ورتر و لوته و بقیهی شخصیتها گذشت توجه کنم باید بگم که دوستش نداشتم و برای همه داستانی تکراری محسوب میشه،تکراری و نچسب و کسالتآور، حتی شرح احساسات ورتر هم نظرم رو جلب نکرد(مشکلم باورپذیر نبودن یا شدت این احساسات نیست، چون که چرا احساسی رو فقط چون به نظرمون بیش از حدیست که نرمال تعیین شده، نباید باورش کنیم؟)اما با همهی این دوست نداشتنها و جذب نشدنها(اصلا جذب شدن اهمیتی داره؟) باز هم چیزی بود که حسی در من
...more
Sturm and Drang: Self-Destruction, a Tragedy of Temperament
Mostly epistolary, this short novel thrusts the reader into the province of Young Werther's psyche by manner of his letters, which are replete with verbal ejaculations, disconnected sentences and fervid flights of fancy, as he moves from summit to summit to deepening valleys.
The three main characters are Lotte, Werther and Albert, who is Lotte's older fiance' then husband. The men are nearly diametrically opposed: the latter is older, se ...more
Mostly epistolary, this short novel thrusts the reader into the province of Young Werther's psyche by manner of his letters, which are replete with verbal ejaculations, disconnected sentences and fervid flights of fancy, as he moves from summit to summit to deepening valleys.
The three main characters are Lotte, Werther and Albert, who is Lotte's older fiance' then husband. The men are nearly diametrically opposed: the latter is older, se ...more
Jul 03, 2007
Clare
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
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 belie
...more
رواية رومانسية كلاسيكية شاعرية حزينة من تأليف جوتة عن الشاب فارتر الذي أحب حبا مستحيلا
يقال أن كثير من الشباب تأثروا بها في ذاك الزمن و انتحروا على إثرها
يبدو لي أن شباب أيام زمان كانوا مرهفين زيادة و يحبون بكيانهم كله، السؤال هو لماذا انقرضت هذه النوعية من الشباب هذه الأيام
:/
بأية حال الرواية لا بأس بها، و أظن أنها ستعجب كثيرا أؤلئك الذين يحلقون مع الكلام الجميل الشاعري
و أحمد حسن الزيات ترجمته شعرية و جميلة، مع أنها ترجمة للمعنى و ليست دقيقة
الطبعة طبعة مصرية عتيقة مصفرة الأوراق مهترئة منزوعة الغلا ...more
يقال أن كثير من الشباب تأثروا بها في ذاك الزمن و انتحروا على إثرها
يبدو لي أن شباب أيام زمان كانوا مرهفين زيادة و يحبون بكيانهم كله، السؤال هو لماذا انقرضت هذه النوعية من الشباب هذه الأيام
:/
بأية حال الرواية لا بأس بها، و أظن أنها ستعجب كثيرا أؤلئك الذين يحلقون مع الكلام الجميل الشاعري
و أحمد حسن الزيات ترجمته شعرية و جميلة، مع أنها ترجمة للمعنى و ليست دقيقة
الطبعة طبعة مصرية عتيقة مصفرة الأوراق مهترئة منزوعة الغلا ...more
Jul 13, 2016
Foad
rated it
it was ok
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review of another edition
Shelves:
داستان-خارجی,
صد-رمان-برتر-دیلی-تلگراف
مقدمه ای بر مابعدالطبیعه ی انتحار
زندگی ما، از دید ما، نقطه ی پایانی ندارد. زندگی ما البته پایان دارد که همانا مرگ است. اما مسئله ی مهم، این است که ما هرگز لحظه ی مرگ خود را، لحظه ی نیست شدن خود را ادراک نمی کنیم. ما تا یک لحظه مانده به مرگ را ادراک می کنیم، اما نه لحظه ی مرگ را. در نتیجه، چنان که ویتگنشتاین هم می گوید، مرگ جزئی از زندگی ما نیست، مرگ هر فرد واقعه ای در زندگی خود او نیست، واقعه ای در زندگی اطرافیان و شاهدان است.
به این ترتیب بسیاری از خودکشی ها از نظر عقلانی واهی هستند. البته خودکش ...more
زندگی ما، از دید ما، نقطه ی پایانی ندارد. زندگی ما البته پایان دارد که همانا مرگ است. اما مسئله ی مهم، این است که ما هرگز لحظه ی مرگ خود را، لحظه ی نیست شدن خود را ادراک نمی کنیم. ما تا یک لحظه مانده به مرگ را ادراک می کنیم، اما نه لحظه ی مرگ را. در نتیجه، چنان که ویتگنشتاین هم می گوید، مرگ جزئی از زندگی ما نیست، مرگ هر فرد واقعه ای در زندگی خود او نیست، واقعه ای در زندگی اطرافیان و شاهدان است.
به این ترتیب بسیاری از خودکشی ها از نظر عقلانی واهی هستند. البته خودکش ...more
It breaks my heart to speak ill of a book written by Goethe; but when one thinks of the countless men and women who have read this book throughout the years, weeping tears of compassion for Werther and men of his elk, it no longer comes as a surprise how misogyny and domestic violence still haunts our women to this day.
Mar 18, 2010
David Gallagher
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
books-i-own
"The things I know, anyone can know - but my heart is mine and mine alone."
This has got to be one of my all-time favorite books. Haunting, devastating, soul-stirring, a fist to the stomach. All the tragedy of true love in a Goethe masterpiece. The descriptive majesty of the book is beyond comprehension. A truly amazing book, one that I am happy to have read in my lifetime and one I would suggest to everyone, especially those who have loved someone more than themselves.
This has got to be one of my all-time favorite books. Haunting, devastating, soul-stirring, a fist to the stomach. All the tragedy of true love in a Goethe masterpiece. The descriptive majesty of the book is beyond comprehension. A truly amazing book, one that I am happy to have read in my lifetime and one I would suggest to everyone, especially those who have loved someone more than themselves.
Oct 13, 2018
peiman-mir5 rezakhani
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Shelves:
داستان-و-رمان
دوستانِ گرانقدر، این داستانِ عاشقانه و غم انگیز را میتوانیم یکی از شاهکارهایِ گوته به شمار آوریم... داستان در موردِ جوانی به نامِ <ورتر> است که از یک ماجرایِ عشقی میگریزد و به شهرِ دیگری سفر میکند.. آنجا با دختری زیبارو به نامِ <شارلوت> که دخترِ فرماندار است، آشنا میشود و به او دل میبندد. ولی در ادامه با خبر میشود که شارلوت نامزدی به نامِ <آلبر> دارد که در سفر است.. با این وجود، دوستی ورتر و شارلوت روز به روز بیشتر میشود، تا آنکه آلبر از سفر بازمیگردد و ورتر تصمیم میگیرد تا به
...more
Now truth be told, the general thematics, as well as the writing, the stylistics of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther are evocative and tragically beautiful, a novel of intensity of feeling, of all encompassing anguish, the tragedy of unrequited, or perhaps more to the point, impossible, unasked for love (and for the 18th century, almost palpably modern, presenting both psychological and neurological allusions and musings that are well beyond its historic time, and often
...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catching up on Cl...: The Sorrows of Young Werther - SPOILERS | 65 | 65 | Sep 20, 2018 02:36PM | |
| Catching up on Cl...: The Sorrows of Young Werther - NO spoilers | 11 | 58 | Aug 04, 2018 10:55AM | |
| Warum Emilia Galotti? | 2 | 25 | Apr 19, 2017 05:10AM | |
| Portugal: Melhor edição? | 1 | 54 | Feb 08, 2016 03:13AM | |
| Was Werther selfish? | 5 | 147 | May 12, 2015 09:41PM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: The Sorrows of Young Werther | 3 | 38 | Nov 17, 2014 08:43PM | |
| Suicide, what are your thoughts about it? | 2 | 56 | Nov 05, 2014 09:19AM |
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include h
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“The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”
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“I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing.”
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