Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Thoughts and ideas from the versatile and brilliant German writer and statesman. The German author of Faust takes a detour from his usual literary endeavors and offers snippets of his musings on life, literature, science, nature, politics, and the human condition. Essential for fans of Goethe's works, it provides a unique insight into the mind of the last true Renaissance man. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability...

Beloved by the gods for his wisdom, the demigod Tantalus was once invited to their fellowship. Becoming boisterous whilst celebrating with them, he began to boast, and he stole the gods' nectar and ambrosia, their food of immortality. When the gods came to see Tantalus in turn, he tested their omniscience by offering his own son Pelops to them as their meal. Offended by the deception, the gods banished Tantalus from their community to Tartarus and...

In "Egmont", Goethe relates the fight of Count Egmont (1522-1568) against the despotic Duke of Alba. Egmont is a famous Dutch warrior and the Duke of Alba represents the Spanish invader. Though under threat of arrest, Egmont refuses to run away and give up his ideal of liberty. Imprisoned and abandoned because of the cowardice of his people, and despite the desperate efforts of his mistress Klaerchen, he is sentenced to death. Thus, faced with her...

German writer Johann Goethe's novella "Elective Affinities" is a singular book which attracts both creative minds and pragmatic minds. Romantics at heart will be drawn to the convoluted love affair; married couple Eduard and Charlotte invite two close friends to live with them on their idyllic estate for a short time. The innocent invitation takes an unexpected turn though, as each of the spouses become attracted to their guests. Eduard falls in love...

Short excerpt: "Were, then, these Switzers free? Free, these opulent burghers in their little pent-up towns-free, those poor devils on their rocks and crags? What is it that man cannot be made to believe, especially when he cherishes in his heart the memory of some old tale of marvel? Once, forsooth, they did break a tyrant's yoke, and might for the moment fancy themselves free; but out of the carcase of the single oppressor the good sun, by a strange...

Por más que Las confesiones de un alma bella constituya un texto de carácter literario, en él se encierra un interés filosófico, al menos a juzgar por la extensión del concepto de "alma bella" en la filosofía del siglo xviii, como se encuentra en Rousseau, Hegel, Schiller, entre otros. No obstante su origen se remonta hasta Platón, y de este a Plotino, de Plotino a san Agustín y de aquí a la mística alemana de la baja Edad Media y a la...

The original tale of moral destruction, in a brand-new translation: Faust is a man torn between the urges of the living world and the significance of moral living. He feels nothing, he lives for nothing, and thus engages in a wager with Mephistopheles, the devil himself. Goethe's master work shares the deep complexity of a human life, rife with pain, mistakes and dynamic complexity. With Faust, the lushly lyrical and philosophically brilliant drama...

Best known today as the author of Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) first exploded into the public consciousness with The Sorrows of Young Werther when he was twenty-four. He was already a respected poet by then; and in addition to these forms, he wrote travelogues, autobiographical sketches, essays, letters, and proverbs in rhyme and prose. This collection offers outstanding examples of each genre from the great German writer's prolific...

The Golden Goblet traces Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poetry from the idealism of youth to the liberation of maturity. In contrast to his rococo contemporaries, Goethe's poetry draws on the graceful simplicity of German folk rhythms to develop complex, transcendent themes. This robust selection, artfully translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner, explores transformation, revolution, and illumination in Goethe's lush lyrical style that...

The wavelength theory of light and color had been firmly established by the time the great German poet published his Theory of Colours in 1810. Nevertheless, Goethe believed that the theory derived from a fundamental error, in which an incidental result was mistaken for a elemental principle. Far from affecting a knowledge of physics, he maintained that such a background would inhibit understanding. The conclusions Goethe draws here rest entirely...