THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE was born in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1749. He studied in Leipzig, where he showed interest in the occult, and in Strasbourg, where Herder introduced him to Shakespeare’s works and to folk poetry. He produced some essays and lyrical verse, and at twenty-four wrote Goetz von Berlichingen, a play which brought him national fame and established him in the current Storm und Drang movement. Werther, a tragic romance, was an even greater success. Goethe began work on Faust, and Egmont, another tragedy, before being invited to join the government at Weimar. His interest in the classical world led him to leave suddenly for Italy in 1786, and the Italian Journey recounts his travels there. Iphigenie auf Tauris and Torquato Tasso, classical dramas, were begun at this time. Returning to Weimar, Goethe started the second part of Faust, encouraged by Schiller. During this late period he finished the series of Wilhelm Meister books and wrote many other works, including The Oriental Divan and Elective Affinities. He also directed the State Theatre and worked on scientific theories in evolutionary botany, anatomy and colour. Goethe was married in 1806. He finished Faust before he died in 1832.

MICHAEL HULSE studied at the University of St Andrews, taught at the Universities of Erlangen, Eichstätt and Cologne in Germany and now works in publishing and television. Among his translations are Luise Rinser’s Prison Journal (Penguin 1989), Jakob Wassermann’s Caspar Hauser (Penguin Classics 1992) and fiction by W. G. Sebald, Botho Strauss and Elfriede Jelinek. An award winning poet, his most recent collection is Eating Strawberries in the Necropolis (1991) and in 1993 he co-edited The New Poetry.