Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Biography

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 his numerous poems, the "Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" and the epistolary novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides 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 is the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, Arabic literature, amongst others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense. Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be 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 whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work in optics. Bibliography: 1771: "Heidenröslein" ("Heath Rosebud"), poem 1773: "Prometheus", poem 1773: Götz von Berlichingen, drama 1774: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), novel 1774: "Der König in Thule", poem 1775: Stella, tragedy in five acts 1782: "Der Erlkönig" ("The Alder King"), poem 1787: Iphigenie auf Tauris (Iphigenia in Tauris), drama 1788: Egmont, drama 1790: Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären (The Metamorphosis of Plants), scientific text 1790: Torquato Tasso, drama 1790: Römische Elegien (Roman Elegies), poetry collection 1793: Die Belagerung von Mainz, (The Siege of Mainz), non-fiction 1794: Reineke Fuchs, fable 1795: Das Märchen (The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily), fairy-tale 1794–95: Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten, novella, which also includes the fairy tale Das Märchen 1795–96 (in collaboration with Friedrich Schiller): Die Xenien (The Xenia), collection of epigrams 1796: Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), novel 1797: "Der Zauberlehrling" (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), poem (which was later the basis of a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas, which in turn was animated by Disney in Fantasia) 1797: "Die Braut von Korinth"[1] ("The Bride of Corinth"), poem 1798: Hermann und Dorothea (Hermann and Dorothea), epic poem 1798: Die Weissagungen des Bakis (The Soothsayings of Bakis) 1798/01: Propyläen, periodical 1799: " The First Walpurgis Night", poem 1803: Die Natürliche Tochter (The Natural Daughter), play originally intended as the first part of a trilogy on the French revolution 1805: "Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert" ("Winckelmann and His Century") 1808: Faust Part One, closet drama 1809: Die Wahlverwandtschaften (Elective Affinities), novel 1810: Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colours), scientific text 1811–1830: Aus Meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (From my Life: Poetry and Truth) autobiographical work in 4 volumes 1813: "Gefunden" ("Found"), a poem 1817: Italienische Reise (Italian Journey), journals 1819: Westöstlicher Diwan, variously translated as The West-Eastern Divan, The Parliament of East and West, or otherwise; collection of poems in imitation of Sufi and other Muslim poetry, including that of Hafez. 1821: Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, oder Die Entsagenden (Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, or the Renunciants/Wilhelm Meister's Travels), novel 1823: "Marienbad Elegy", poem 1828: Novella, novella 1832: Faust Part Two, closet drama 1836: Gespräche mit Goethe (Conversations with Goethe) also translated as: Conversations with Eckermann