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Early Verse Drama and Prose Plays
Goethe's early plays bear witness to his urgent desire to enliven German theater--an ambition that followed him to the National Theater in Weimar, where he was named director in the early 1790s. This volume contains eight of these plays, written between 1771 and 1787. Not only do they demonstrate Goethe's unprecedented versatility in experimenting with new forms of dramatic expression, but they also give insight into his development from Sturm und Drang to classicism. These works include prose plays ( Goetz von Berlichingen with the Iron Hand and Egmont ), tragedies and comedies ( Clavigo , Stella , and Brother and Sister ), and dramatic verse forms ( Prometheus, Jery and Betty , and Proserpina ).
- GenresGerman LiteratureDrama
298 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1988
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13.4k books7,090 followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 25, 2017
Goetz von Berlichingen with the Iron Hand *** – This is a rambling play that, as a result, takes about six hours to perform. Though the writing is very good and the play is populated with interesting characters, one can see the novice playwright in Goethe using a whole scene (and additional characters) to make a small point that moves the plot only incrementally. And that’s how you end up with a six-hour stage epic and a cast of seemingly thousands (actually around 40 speaking parts and numerous walk-ons).
The play celebrates the free spirit of Goetz, with his famous statment, “Er aber, sag's ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken!” It’s hard not to like Goetz and Georg. The rest of the characters are interesting, but not as lively. Unless you have an interest in Goethe or German medieval history, you can probably skip this.
The play celebrates the free spirit of Goetz, with his famous statment, “Er aber, sag's ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken!” It’s hard not to like Goetz and Georg. The rest of the characters are interesting, but not as lively. Unless you have an interest in Goethe or German medieval history, you can probably skip this.
Displaying 1 of 1 review