Who is Goethe? Marriage or another romance

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a philosopher, thinker, natural scientist, educator and, most importantly, a great and brilliant German poet, was born in Frankfurt am Main on August 28, 1749. His parents were wealthy and respectable people: his father was an imperial adviser, a lawyer, his mother was a noblewoman, the daughter of a Frankfurt elder.

Already as a child, Johann began to show amazing abilities for science. Already at the age of seven he knew several languages, in addition, at this age he began to write his first poems and compose plays. The talented child read a lot and tried to replenish his knowledge as much as possible.

In 1765, Goethe became a student at the University of Leipzig, where he was supposed to study jurisprudence. Finding himself free from parental care and moralizing, Goethe boldly burst into the literary life of the city, and in 1767 he wrote a collection of poems - “Annette”, the works of which are full of lyricism and convey his experiences of first love.

His studies at the university were interrupted by a serious illness, due to which Goethe went home for a year and a half. The father was against his son’s literary activities and insisted on continuing his studies at the university, as a result of which in 1770 John moved to Strasbourg. In addition to jurisprudence, Goethe studied chemistry, medicine, philology, continuing to be interested in literature.

After meeting and becoming acquainted with the critic and thinker Gottfried Herder, Goethe’s worldview radically changes, and he becomes an active member of the literary group “Sturm und Drang,” whose members opposed conventions and feudal orders.

During the period of graduation from the university, the first historical drama was created - “Götz von Berlichingen”, the main character of which enters the fight against the feudal order.

In 1772, Goethe moved to the city of Wetzlar to practice law. It is in this city that the poet experiences the pangs of unrequited love for his friend's fiancée, Charlotte Buff. Goethe depicted his deep experiences and torment in his work “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - this novel made the poet famous.

In 1775, Goethe, at the invitation of Duke Karl August, moved to the city of Weimar, where he became a manager. Occupying the position of Privy Councilor and performing a host of varied duties, Goethe soon became a minister in the government. Successful public service did not interfere with his literary activities. During this period, he worked on the dramas “Egmont” and “Iphigenia in Tauris”, began working on “Faust”, wrote poetry and ballads. He also does not neglect the study of physics, botany and natural sciences. In 1784, Goethe discovered the human intermaxillary bone, and in 1790, the treatise “An Experience in the Metamorphosis of Plants” was published.

When Goethe was almost sixty years old, he had a civil marriage with Christiana Vulpius, his lover and mother of his children, despite the fact that she was a commoner, and this caused public protest.

Goethe's work is also influenced by his collaboration with Friedrich Schiller. Following his advice, the writer resumes work on Faust, and in 1808 the first part of this tragedy is published. The end of work on Faust occurred in 1831.

The brilliant writer passed away on March 22, 1832, leaving his brilliant legacy in the form of many poems, ballads, plays, novels, scientific works in the field of anatomy, geology, mineralogy, and physics.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(German) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) - the largest poet and universal genius of German literature, statesman, thinker and natural scientist.

He called his work “fragments of a huge confession.” His autobiographical works, incl. Poetry and Truth (Dichtung und Wahrheit), telling the story of the poet's childhood and youth up to 1775; Travel to Italy (Italienische Reise), an account of a trip to Italy in 1786–1788; The French Campaign of 1792 (Die Campagne in Frankreich 1792) and the Siege of Mainz in 1793 (Die Belagerung von Mainz, 1793), as well as the Annals and Diaries (Annalen and Tag- und Jahreshefte), covering the period from 1790 to 1822, were all published in the firm belief that it is impossible to appreciate poetry without first understanding its author.
Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 in Frankfurt am Main. “My stern / way of life, physique took after my father; / My mother always has a lively disposition / And an attraction to stories” (translated by D. Nedovich), he wrote in one of his later poems. Goethe's first poetic experiments date back to the age of eight. Not too strict home schooling under the supervision of his father, and then three years of student freedom at the University of Leipzig left him enough time to satisfy his craving for reading and try out all the genres and styles of the Enlightenment, so that by the age of 19, when a serious illness forced him to interrupt his studies , he had already mastered the techniques of versification and dramaturgy and was the author of quite a significant number of works, most of which he later destroyed. The collection of poems by Annette (Das Buch Annette, 1767), dedicated to Anna Katharina Schönkopf, the daughter of the owner of the Leipzig inn where Goethe usually dined, and the pastoral comedy The Whims of a Lover (Die Laune des Verliebten, 1767) were specially preserved.
In Strasbourg, where Goethe completed his legal studies in 1770–1771, and in the next four years in Frankfurt, he was the leader of a literary revolt against the principles established by J. H. Gottsched (1700–1766) and the theorists of the Enlightenment.
In Strasbourg, Goethe met with J. G. Herder (1744–1803), a leading critic and ideologist of the Sturm und Drang movement, filled with plans to create great and original literature in Germany. Herder's enthusiastic attitude towards Shakespeare, Ossian, the Monuments of Ancient English Poetry by T. Percy and the folk poetry of all nations opened new horizons for the young poet, whose talent was just beginning to unfold. He wrote Götz von Berlichingen and, using Shakespeare's "lessons", began work on Egmont and Faust; helped Herder collect German folk songs and composed many poems in the manner of folk songs. Goethe shared Herder's conviction that true poetry should come from the heart and be the fruit of the poet's own life experience, and not rewrite old models. This conviction became his main creative principle throughout his life. During this period, the ardent happiness that filled him with his love for Friederike Brion, the daughter of a Sesenheim pastor, was embodied in the vivid imagery and sincere tenderness of such poems as Date and Parting (Willkommen und Abschied), May Song (Mailied) and With a Painted Ribbon (Mit einem) bemalten Band); reproaches of conscience after parting with her were reflected in scenes of abandonment and loneliness in Faust, Goetz, Clavigo and in a number of poems. Werther's sentimental passion for Lotte and his tragic dilemma: love for a girl already engaged to another is part of Goethe's own life experience. Poems to Lili Schönemann, a young beauty from Frankfurt society, tell the story of his fleeting infatuation.
Eleven years at the Weimar court (1775–1786), where he was a friend and adviser to the young Duke Karl August, radically changed the poet's life. Goethe was at the very center of court society - a tireless inventor and organizer of balls, masquerades, practical jokes, amateur performances, hunts and picnics, a trustee of parks, architectural monuments and museums. He became a member of the Ducal Privy Council and later a minister of state; was in charge of road construction, recruiting, government finance, public works, mining projects, etc. and spent many years studying geology, mineralogy, botany and comparative anatomy. But what benefited him the most was his continued daily communication with Charlotte von Stein. The emotionalism and revolutionary iconoclasm of the Sturm und Drang period are a thing of the past; now Goethe's ideals in life and art become restraint and self-control, balance, harmony and classical perfection of form. Instead of great geniuses, his heroes become quite ordinary people. The free stanzas of his poems are calm and serene in content and rhythm, but little by little the form becomes harsher, in particular Goethe prefers the octaves and elegiac couplets of the great “troika” - Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.
Goethe's numerous official duties seriously hampered the completion of the major works he had begun - Wilhelm Meister, Egmont, Iphigenie and Tasso. Taking a year and a half vacation, he goes to Italy, sculpts there, makes more than a thousand landscape sketches, reads ancient poets and the history of ancient art by I. I. Winkelman (1717–1768).
Upon returning to Weimar (1789), Goethe did not immediately switch to a “sedentary” lifestyle. Over the next six years, he made a second trip to Venice, accompanied the Weimar Duke on his trip to Breslau (Wroclaw), and participated in the military campaign against Napoleon. In June 1794, he established friendly relations with F. Schiller, who asked for help in publishing the new magazine "Ory", and after that he lived mainly in Weimar. Daily communication between poets, discussion of plans, joint work on such ideas as the satirical Xenia (Xenien, 1796) and ballads of 1797 were an excellent creative stimulus for Goethe. The works that were lying in his desk were published, incl. Roman elegies (Römische Elegien), the fruit of nostalgia for Rome and love for Christiane Vulpius, who became Goethe’s wife in 1806. He completed the Years of Study of Wilhelm Meister (Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, 1795–1796), continued work on Faust and wrote a number of new works, incl. Alexis and Dora (Alexis und Dora), Amyntas (Amyntas) and Hermann and Dorothea (Hermann und Dorothea), an idyllic poem from the life of a small German town against the backdrop of the events of the French Revolution. As for prose, Goethe then wrote a collection of stories, Conversations of German Emigrants (Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten), which also included the inimitable Tale (Das Märchen).
When Schiller died in 1805, thrones and empires shook - Napoleon was reshaping Europe. During this period he wrote sonnets to Minna Herzlieb, the novel Elective Affinity (Die Wahlverwandtschaften, 1809) and an autobiography. At the age of 65, wearing the oriental mask of Hatem, he created the West-östlicher Diwan, a collection of love lyrics. The Zuleika of this cycle, Marianne von Willemer, was herself a poetess, and her poems were organically included in the Divan. Parables, insightful observations and wise reflections on human life, morality, nature, art, poetry, science and religion illuminate the poems of the West-East Divan. The same qualities are manifested in Conversations in prose and verse (Sprüche in Prosa, Sprüche in Reimen), Orphic first verbs (Urworte. Orhisch, 1817), as well as in Conversations with I.P. Eckerman, published in the last decade of the poet’s life, when he finished Wilhelm Meister and Faust.
Goethe died in Weimar on March 22, 1832.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
MAIN WORKS
Götz von Berlichingen with an Iron Hand (Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, 1773), inspired by the historical chronicles of Shakespeare, gives a vivid realistic picture of Germany in the 16th century, depicting the conflict between the old imperial order, represented by its knighthood and peasantry, and new forces, the conflict of princes and cities that are destined to define modern life. Clavigo's play (Clavigo, 1774) is based on an episode from the memoirs of P.O.K. Beaumarchais; in contrast to Goetz, this is a compositionally simple modern tragedy from the life of the middle class, raised by Goethe to the level of a problem play, where each character is right in his own way. The Hero of Egmont (Egmont, 1788) is a Dutch stadtholder (governor) from the time of Philip II, executed by the Spaniards during the struggle of the Netherlands for liberation from the Spanish yoke. Freedom is the main theme of the tragedy. The use of an orchestra accompanying the allegorical vision of the Goddess of Liberty in the last act caused sharp criticism at that time, but later Schiller also resorted to this technique - this was the first step towards Wagnerian musical dramas; Beethoven's overture to Egmont continued this tradition. Iphigenie in Tauris (Iphigenie auf Tauris, 1787) is a truly beautiful hymn to Goethe’s woman. In contrast to Euripides' Iphigenia, a cunning intriguer, Goethe's heroine, having set herself the high goal of lifting the family curse, achieves this goal by renouncing blood feud, under no circumstances does she betray herself and lives a pure, sinless life, confident that the gods approve of her love of humanity. . Torquato Tasso (1790) is stunning to the core and, with all the limitations imposed by the sublimity of poetic language and classical form, a realistic and convincing tragedy of a genius threatened by madness. The novel Selective Affinity (Die Wahlverwandtschaften, 1809) examines the problems of divorce in detail and impartially.
Published in 1774, the sentimental psychological novel in letters The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) brought the author worldwide fame. Its first part contains more or less exact circumstances of Goethe's unhappy love with Charlotte (Lotte) Buff, the bride of his friend G.K. Kästner, in the summer of 1772 in Wetzlar. The second part is based on the unlucky fate of K.V. Jerusalem, the Brunswick Plenipotentiary Secretary: despised by the aristocratic society of the Trial Chamber, harassed by his superiors and in love with the wife of a colleague, he committed suicide in October 1772. The crystallization of these materials and characters, however, took place under the influence of a painful incident that happened to Goethe in February 1774 in the house of Maximiliana Brentano’s jealous husband.
The unprecedented success of the novel cannot be attributed solely to the unsurpassed skill with which Goethe puts an ordinary love story into epistolary form. Here is the credo of an entire generation that rebelled against the primitive optimistic rationalism of their fathers, who saw the operation of speculative laws in the wondrous abundance of nature, in its mysterious Creator - a kind of watchmaker, in the events of life - a set of moral rules, and in the roundabout paths of losses and gains - a well-trodden path to happiness achievable by reasonable behavior. Despite all this, Werther proclaimed the right of the heart.
Wilhelm Meister is the main character of Goethe's dilogy Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre and Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre. The genre is a novel of education (Bildungsroman), revealing the organic spiritual development of the hero as he accumulates life experience. The first edition of the novel - Wilhelm Meister's Theatrical Vocation (Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung, written in 1777-1786) - was discovered in Switzerland in 1910 and was published in 1911. The novel is remarkable for its realistic description of the life of an actor, the life of burghers and aristocrats and is truly unique in the assessments of German, French and English playwrights, in particular Shakespeare. Wilhelm Meister's years of study (1795–1796) were inspired by Schiller's friendly participation; six books of Theatrical Vocation were included in the first four books of the new edition, but were revised from a more mature position of the author. According to the new plan, the Meister had to be brought to a more universal, humanistic concept of life, which could only be achieved by communicating with the aristocrats. Theater certainly retains its educational value, but only as a detour towards the ideal, and not as a goal in itself. Years of Wandering, written in the last years of his life (published 1829), again demonstrates the changes in philosophy and style of writing that are characteristic of Goethe, who always sought to keep pace with the changing times. The Industrial Revolution, far more important in its consequences than the short-lived French Revolution, confirmed how radically times had changed since the end of the Years of Learning. It is noteworthy that at the end of his European travels, Wilhelm emigrated with his family and a group of friends to America, where they intended to create a democratic brotherhood of workers.
Faust is the central figure of many legends, appearing more than once in the history of literature. It took Goethe more than 60 years to complete the treatment of the legend according to the master plan drawn up in 1770. The first part was published only in 1808. The second part - with the exception of the magnificent tragedy of Helen in Act III, begun in 1800 and published in 1827 - was mainly creativity of the last years of the writer’s life (1827–1831); completed shortly before Goethe's death and published in 1833.
The two great antagonists of the mystery tragedy are God and the devil, and the soul of Faust is only the field of their battle, which will certainly end in the defeat of the devil. This concept explains the contradictions in Faust’s character, his passive contemplation and active will, selflessness and selfishness, humility and audacity - the author masterfully reveals the dualism of his nature at all stages of the hero’s life.
The tragedy can be divided into five acts of unequal magnitude, corresponding to the five periods of the life of Doctor Faustus. In Act I, which ends with an agreement with the devil, Faust the metaphysician tries to resolve the conflict between two souls - contemplative and active, which symbolize the Macrocosm and the Spirit of the Earth, respectively. Act II, the tragedy of Gretchen, which concludes the first part, reveals Faust as a sensualist in conflict with spirituality. Part two, which leads Faust into the free world, to higher and purer spheres of activity, is thoroughly allegorical, it is like a dream play, where time and space do not matter, and the characters become signs of eternal ideas. The first three acts of the second part form a single whole and together constitute act III. In them, Faustus appears as an artist, first at the court of the Emperor, then in classical Greece, where he is united with Helen of Troy, a symbol of harmonious classical form. The conflict in this aesthetic realm arises between the pure artist, who makes art for art's sake, and the eudaimonist, who seeks personal pleasure and glory in art. The culmination of Helen's tragedy is her marriage to Faust, in which the synthesis of classicism and romanticism, which both Goethe himself and his beloved student J. G. Byron sought, finds expression. Goethe paid poetic tribute to Byron, endowing him with the features of Euphorion, the offspring of this symbolic marriage. In Act IV, which ends with Faustus's death, he is presented as a military leader, engineer, colonist, business man, and empire builder. He is at the pinnacle of his earthly accomplishments, but his inner discord still torments him, because he is unable to achieve human happiness without destroying human life, just as he is unable to create a paradise on earth with abundance and work for everyone without resorting to bad means. The devil, always present, is actually necessary. This act ends with one of the most impressive episodes created by Goethe's poetic fantasy - Faust's meeting with Care. She announces his imminent death, but he arrogantly ignores her, remaining a willful and unreasonable titan until his last breath. The last act, the ascension and transfiguration of Faust, where Goethe freely used the symbolism of Catholic heaven, concludes the mystery with a majestic finale, with the prayer of the saints and angels for the salvation of Faust's soul by the grace of the good God.
Faust's influence on German and world literature is enormous. Nothing compares with Faust in poetic beauty, and in integrity of composition - perhaps Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Divine Comedy.

Name: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Age: 82 years old

Activity: poet, statesman, thinker, philosopher, naturalist

Marital status: was married

Johann Goethe: biography

Johann Wolfgang Goethe is a German writer, playwright and poet who entered the history of world literature. The works of this author are immortal and of a philosophical nature. The creator of the famous “Faust” was a kind and mysterious man, knowledgeable in science and advocacy.

The German genius of classical literature was born on August 28, 1749 in Germany, in the prosperous trading city of Frankfurt am Main. The talented boy spent his childhood in a quiet and cozy house near Oleniy Ravine, which in the future will become the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Museum.

The writer's parents had a noble position: Kaspar Goethe was a lawyer and imperial adviser, and Katharina Elisabeth Goethe was the daughter of the chief city judge Johann Wolfgang Textor. It is worth saying that Kaspar’s wife is 21 years younger than him, the girl was married to a lawyer at a young age, and initially she did not have love feelings for him.

Kaspar Goethe lived in prosperity and did not deny himself or his family anything, thanks to the inheritance he received from Friedrich Georg, who was his father. The writer’s grandfather earned a huge fortune on his own, working his way up from a tailor to a tavern owner. Johann's father was an intelligent man with a strong character, but with a limited outlook and a strict character.

The head of the family did not work, since the money received was enough to last his entire life. Instead of painstaking work, Caspar traveled a lot, and he especially liked Italy and the culture of Rome. He also collected a home library, which the young future author of Faust carefully studied. About two thousand books accumulated on Friedrich’s bookshelves - a whole literary fortune.

At the age of six, little Johann begins to become interested in religious issues. After the earthquake in Lisbon, a boy wonders if there is a God. If he exists, then why did he take the innocent virtuous people who died during the natural disaster? Johann had a sister, Cornelia, with whom his brother maintained a warm relationship. In addition to the boy and girl, Katarina gave birth to four more children, but they died in infancy.

The writer’s mother is the complete opposite of her husband: Katarina was a cheerful and smiling woman who tried to look at all aspects of life from an optimistic perspective. Because of Katharina’s perky character, little Johann loved her more than his father, but the boy also developed a friendship with Friedrich, despite the frequent quarrels and hot-tempered nature of the elder Goethe.

Katharina did not receive a secondary education, which was not uncommon for women in these times, but the keeper of the Goethe family hearth also loved to read and was interested in theaters. Little Johann was very fond of the fairy tales that his mother read to him at night: Katharina composed them herself. True, the woman acted cunningly: the future writer told his grandmother about his experiences, and she, in turn, conveyed the “secret” of her grandson to his mother. Thus, Katarina understood what to tell her son in the next story.

The future German literary figure Johann Goethe grew up in a cozy environment, full of love and understanding. Although the boy’s parents were wealthy, Goethe was not a spoiled child and from an early age he became addicted to literature and became acquainted with the Metamorphoses and the Iliad. When the boy was 4 years old, he received a luxurious gift from his grandmother - a small dollhouse. Little Goethe loved to play with the toy theater and come up with miniature scenes. Johann begins writing poetry from the age of ten. Since then, the future great writer calls himself a poet.

From 1756 to 1758, young Goethe went to high school, and then was transferred to home schooling. Friedrich spared no expense on the education of his children, so only the best private teachers taught Johann and Cornelia. The boy studied foreign languages, natural sciences and was fond of drawing. In addition, home schooling included horseback riding, fencing, dancing, and playing the piano and cello.

Classes in French, Greek, English, Latin, etc. help young Goethe write a poetic novel about brothers and sisters who send letters to each other in different languages. The boy writes his first work out of boredom, because he is tired of doing his homework.

In the fall of 1765, Goethe entered the University of Leipzig, which is considered one of the best in Germany. Friedrich wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, so he sent the teenager to the Faculty of Law. However, Johann is reluctant to attend law classes, preferring philosophy, natural science and literature. Goethe loved to listen to lectures by the German poet and philosopher Christian Gellert, and during his student years, during drawing lessons, he met Johann Winckelmann, whom he considered his mentor.

While in "Little Paris", Goethe lived on Neumarkt Street, in a house called "Fireball". Young Goethe was a sociable student; he was surrounded by many fellow classmates with whom the future writer organized friendly meetings, and also attended the theater, played the piano and played cards. Johann Goethe was dressed immaculately. But initially the student came to the city in the “simple attire of a provincial” and caused ridicule.

The caring Friedrich, who spared no expense on Johann’s entertainment and clothing, sent the student 100 guilders every month, which was a good fortune in those days.

Despite his intelligence and diligence in his studies, Goethe fails to graduate from college. Due to an exacerbation of tuberculosis in the summer of 1768, the young man had to return to his hometown. Due to the fact that Johann returned to Frankfurt without a diploma, disagreements begin between father and son.

Literature

After arriving from Leipzig, Goethe was ill for a long time and sat at home. While on sick leave, the young man writes his first work – the comedy Die Mitschuldigen (“Accomplices”)

In 1770, Goethe, in the hope of receiving a legal education, went to the city of Strasbourg: in a new place, the future writer began to be interested in chemistry, medicine, and also philology. There he meets the German writer and theologian Johann Herder, who had a positive influence on the young man.

In the new city, young Goethe develops himself as a poet and relates to the flow of Sturm und Drang. This is practically the same as sentimentalism in Europe: classical figures of reason are replaced by admirers of emotional feelings.

In Strasbourg, Goethe falls in love with Friederike Brion, and the young poet dedicates lyric poems to her: “Steppe Rose”, “May Song”, etc. After a while, Goethe writes to Brion that his feelings for the girl have cooled.

In 1773, Goethe wrote a play about the Swabian knight “Götz von Berlichingen with an Iron Hand,” which brought popularity to the young writer in the manifesto of Sturm und Drang.

In 1772, at the insistence of his father, Goethe went to Wetzlar to practice law. In an ancient city, a young man falls passionately in love with Charlotte Bouffe after meeting her at a dance party. The poet was captivated by the beauty of the charming girl. After spending the evening surrounded by Goethe, Charlotte does not reciprocate young Johann’s feelings, which causes the writer to become depressed.

But it is worth paying tribute to this fleeting meeting, because thanks to it, in 1774, Goethe gave birth to the brilliant work “The Sorrow of Young Werther,” in which Charlotte was the prototype of Lotte. The novel in letters tells about a young man who fell unrequitedly in love and committed suicide. This plot outcome was inspired by Goethe’s friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem, who in 1772 shot himself in his apartment because of his feelings for a married woman.

The novel about Werther's unrequited love gained popularity and brought fame to Goethe, but a war of suicides based on unrequited love broke out in Germany: young Germans took Goethe's work too close to their hearts. Therefore, in some cities, Johann’s book was even banned.

"Faust"

On the bookshelves of the Goethe family library there was a book about Johann Georg Faust. This man, who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries, was a mysterious person in whom many poets of subsequent times were interested. And, of course, interest in the mystical warlock did not bypass Goethe, who loved to study occult science and alchemy.

Johann Goethe worked on the poem “Faust” for most of his life, starting at the age of 20. This work is brilliant in structure and content, and also reflects the poet’s literary views, which changed over the course of his writing years.

An excerpt from Faust was first published in 1808, and the entire book, consisting of fragments, was published in 1832.

Goethe's tragedy has been translated into many languages ​​of the world and is still considered a cultural heritage. Translation into Russian was carried out by Anatoly Mamontov, Alexander Strugovshchikov and others. But the most famous Russification of the work belongs to.

The quote from the evil spirit from the poem is an epigraph to the novel “The Master and Margarita”:

“I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good,” said Mephistopheles, whom the Russian writer makes the prototype of Woland in his book.

Another popular mystical work by Johann Goethe is the ballad “The Forest King,” written in 1782. The plot tells of a supernatural being who killed a child: Goethe draws an analogy with the boy’s illness. Was the hero of “The Forest King” delirious or did he meet an evil king?

This ballad has become a recognizable work by Goethe; it can easily be classified as a folk epic. Also, poetry in the future was reflected in literature and music: he writes the novel “Pale Fire”, and the German group Rammstein performs the song “Dalai Lama”.

Personal life

Goethe was a charming and kind man who managed to master any knowledge. Due to his interest in art and literature, Goethe developed his character from childhood by reading the immortal classics.

Despite his sociability, Johann Wolfgang was known as a mysterious person; some historians believe that part of the character of Henry Faust from Goethe’s work was inherent in the author of the poem.

Even in photographic portraits of Johann Goethe, a certain mysticism can be traced; his brown eyes seem to keep a certain secret that he himself knew.

Goethe was popular with women, and there are not enough books to describe the love affairs of the German classic. And only Christiana Vulpius fell in love with the poet for thirty years.

Christiane was not a beauty, like the writer’s first love Charlotte, but she captivated Goethe with her simplicity and sincerity. They met by chance on the street, the girl gave a letter to her future chosen one. The poor peasant woman charmed Johann Wolfgang so much that he immediately invited the young girl to settle on his estate. Most of the poet's mistresses considered the choice of a writer who preferred a “simple girl” to be an insult. Goethe and Christina had five children, although the German classic also had children from other women.

In his spare time, Goethe grew violets and collected minerals.

Death

In the spring of 1832, Goethe caught a cold while walking in an open carriage, and the illness sharply worsened the health of the 82-year-old writer. On March 22, the great poet died due to cardiac arrest. The last words of the author of Faust:

"Please close the window."

Quotes

• “Humanity could achieve incredible success if it were more sober”
• “Faith is a rainbow bridge between heaven and earth, for the joy of everyone, but among wanderers, everyone sees it differently, depending on the place where they are”
• “Whoever does not believe in the hereafter is dead to this life...”
• “God is everything if we stand high; if we stand low, he is the complement of our wretchedness"
• “A fool in love is full of stupidity: / And he will give the sun, and the moon, and the stars / For fireworks - for the beauty’s fun!”

Bibliography

• "The Sorrow of Young Werther" (1774);
• “Iphigenia in Tauris” (1787);
• "Roman Elegies" (1788);
• "Torquato Tasso" (1790);
• "Metamorphoses of Plants" (1790);
• "The Years of Wilhelm Meister's Study" (1796);
• "Faust" (1808-1831);
• "Marienbad Elegy"
• "The Magic Flute";
• “The Doctrine of Color”;
• “Materials for the history of the doctrine of color”;
• "West-Eastern Divan" (1819);

In 1775, at the invitation of Karl August, the future Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach, Goethe moved to Weimar. Since 1779, Privy Councilor, from 1782 - President, in the same year he was elevated to the nobility. Actually, artistic creativity for Goethe at this time faded into the background: simultaneously with administrative and economic activities in Weimar, Goethe was engaged in the natural sciences: his range of interests included zoology and botany [“Metamorphosis of Plants” (“Die Metamorphose der Pflanzen”, 1790)], osteology and anatomy (in 1786 Goethe discovered the premaxillary bone in humans), optics and color theory (“Beiträge zur Optik”, 1791-92; “Zur Farbenlehre”, Bd 1-2, 1810), meteorology, geology and mineralogy. The idea of ​​the world as a living integrity is revealed in such concepts of Goethe’s natural philosophy as “morphology” [the term he first introduced to denote the study of form (Gestalt), formation and transformation (“metamorphosis”) of organic bodies, plants and animals], “proto-phenomenon” “[the essence of a whole class of similar phenomena found in the appearance of a specific thing (for example, “ancestral plants”)], “polarity” (the dynamic unity of opposite forces in their interdependence). Addressing natural philosophical problems led to changes in his lyrics: in the poems “Winter Trip to the Harz” (“Harzreise im Winter”, 1777), “The Divine” (“Das Göttliche”, 1782), “Ilmenau” (“Ilmenau”, 1783) , two “Night Songs of the Wanderer” (1776, 1780), the subjective principle gives way to the cosmic feeling of man’s subordination to nature. The mysterious magic of nature was glorified by Goethe in the famous ballads “The Fisherman” (“Der Fischer”, 1778) and “The Forest King” (“Erlkönig”, 1782).

Tired of the difficult relationships at the Weimar court, Goethe secretly went on a trip to Italy on September 3, 1786. The impressions from this trip formed the basis of the aesthetics of Weimar classicism; they were also reflected in the “Roman Elegies” (“Römische Elegien”, published in 1795), inspired by the love lyrics of ancient Roman poets (Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid) and associated with Christiana Vulpius, whom Goethe met upon his return from Italy in 1788 ( became Goethe's wife in 1806). In 1788, the tragedy "Egmont" was completed and published; in 1790, the drama "Torquato Tasso" was published, which, like the tragedy "Iphigenie auf Tauris", 1787), a clear indication of Goethe’s appeal to the ideal “beautiful humanity.” The second Italian journey (1790) brought disappointment, which was manifested in the ironic and polemical “Venetian Epigrams” (“Venezianischen Epigramme”, 1796). The French Revolution was initially perceived by Goethe in a comical vein [the comedy “The Great Jacket” (“Der Groß-Cophta”), 1792; “Citizen General” (“Der Bürgergeneral”), “Rebels” (“Die Aufgeregten”), both 1793]. In the poetic epic “Hermann and Dorothea” (“Hermann und Dorothea”, 1797), Goethe combined idyllic pictures of rural life with a depiction of the dramatic fate of emigrants. The greatness of the revolution as an event that opened a new period in world history was realized by Goethe during the military campaign in France in 1792-93. Goethe recorded his thoughts about the French campaign in his autobiographical essays “Campagne in Frankreich 1792” and “The Siege of Mainz” (“Belagerung von Mainz”, both 1822). In 1794, Goethe received an invitation from F. Schiller to take part in the new magazine "Die Horen", which led to a fruitful friendship between the two poets. In the same year, the satirical animal epic “Reineke Fuchs” was published. In 1794-95, Orach published a novel in short stories, “Conversations of German Emigrants” (“Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten”), based mainly on the treatment of traditional European narrative plots.

In the novel “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahren” (“Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahren”, published in 1795-96), which caused a heated discussion (with the participation of F. Schiller, K.W. von Humboldt, K.G. Kerner, F. Schlegel, Novalis , Jean Paul), a classic example of the German “novel of education” is given, recreating the history of the social and moral development of the individual. In 1797, Goethe and Schiller published the scathing Xenien, an example of the literary polemics of Weimar classicism. In 1797, Goethe wrote and published a number of world-famous ballads: “The Treasure Hunter” (“Der Schatzgräber”), “The Magician’s Apprentice” (“Der Zauberlehrling”), “The Corinthian Bride” (“Die Braut von Korinth”), “God and Bayadere" ("Der Gott und die Bajadere"). Following the example of Schiller, Goethe published the magazines “Propylaea” (“Propyläen”, 1798-1800) and “On Art and Antiquity” (“Über Kunst und Alterthum”, 1816-28), from 1804 - the “Jena General Literary Newspaper” (“ Jenaische Allgemeine Literaturzeitung").

In 1808, Goethe took part in the Erfurt Congress and talked with Napoleon I. At the same time, despite unfavorable external circumstances (wartime hardships caused by Napoleon’s invasion of Germany), the first part of the tragedy “Faust” was completed (published in 1808 ), the novel “Selective Affinity” (“Die Wahlverwandtschaften”, Bd 1-2, published in 1809); The autobiographical work “Poetry and Truth” has begun. From my life” (“Dichtung und Wahrheit. Aus meinem Leben”, Bd 1-4, published in 1811-33). In “Selective Affinities,” Goethe gave a new, symbolic interpretation of the problem of marriage and relations between the sexes: a subtle psychological analysis is shaded by analogies from chemical science. Poetry and Truth covers Goethe's early life (before moving to Weimar), critically assessing the subjectivity and rebellion of Sturm und Drang. Since 1813, Goethe has been working on a new autobiographical work - “The Italian Journey” (“Die Italienische Reise”, Bd 1-3, published in 1816-29), in the center of which is the idea of ​​​​Goethe’s “rebirth”, awareness of himself as an artist, an artist and writer. From 1814 to 1819, Goethe, inspired by Hafiz in J. von Hammer’s translation and love for Marianne von Willemer, created the poetic cycle “West-östlicher Divan” (“West-östlicher Divan”, published in 1819), accompanying it with remarks and comments ( "Noten und Abhandlungen zu besserem Verständnis des West-östlichen Divans", 1819). The oriental theme, largely coming from the romantics, was interpreted by Goethe in the spirit of bringing together the cultures of the West and the East. No less important is the autobiographical motive of the poet in love gaining a second youth (the images of Hatem and Zuleika). The idyllic, patriarchal East - “the land of love, wine and song” (“Hijra”) - appears in Goethe as a living, harmonious unity of love, poetry and religion. Since 1816, Goethe returned to work on Faust (2nd part). In 1823, love for Ulrike von Lewetzow led to the creation of “Marienbad Elegy” (“Elegie von Marienbad”, 1823) - a masterpiece of Goethe’s late lyricism, which generally gravitates towards natural philosophical abstraction, irony and didactics [“First Verbs. The Teaching of the Orphics" ("Urworte. Orphisch", published in 1820); “Dornburg Poems” (“Dornburger Gedichte”, 1828, published posthumously in 1833)]; it shows a tendency towards cyclization [“Chinesisch-deutsche Jahres- und Tageseiten”, 1827, published in 1830]. In 1829, the novel “The Wandering Years of Wilhelm Meister” (“Wilhelm Meisters Wanderahren, oder Die Entsagenden”) was published, in which the most important themes for Goethe are closely intertwined: practical collective activity for the benefit of society, wandering, renunciation of subjective desires and aspirations that accompany the process active education, spiritual growth of the individual. The journalism of late Goethe is distinguished by an exceptional breadth of interests: he responds to the main events of the literary life of Europe, corresponds with leading European magazines, is interested in various national literatures, highly appreciating the work of J. Byron, T. Carlyle, F. R. de Chateaubriand, V. Hugo, P. Merimee, A. Manzoni, V. A. Zhukovsky and others. The intensive literary contacts of mature and late Goethe led him to the formation of the concept of world literature as a single “circulatory system” of modern culture. Goethe's idea of ​​world literature is connected with his concept of classical-romantic synthesis, which he understood as a dispute and dialogue between two types of creativity. In general, not accepting romanticism as tendentious, mannered, “sick” art, Goethe owes the romantics not only his interest in the East, but also his passion for medieval German art and architecture (collaboration in the 1810s with the collector and writer S. Boisseret).

In 1831, Goethe completed the 2nd part of Faust, creating one of the most significant works of world literature. Goethe perceived the well-known story about a warlock and a magician through the prism of folk books of the 16th-17th centuries and plays for the puppet theater, changing the interpretation of the central character under the influence of the Enlightenment: Goethe’s Faust is justified by the unconditional will to create. Throughout the entire tragedy, the active Faust is served by the demonic, magical forces of nature, embodied in the figure of Mephistopheles, who, with his denial and skepticism, is called upon to disturb and encourage Faust to new achievements and self-overcoming. Compositionally, the tragedy consists of “Dedication”, “Theatrical Introduction”, “Prologue in Heaven” and two parts. The 1st, Gothic-medieval, part of the tragedy includes two main storylines: the story of Faust as a scientist (motives of dissatisfaction with scholastic medieval learning, the search for new life wisdom; satire on philistines from science in the image of Wagner) and the love story of Faust and Gretchen (motives of the collision with traditional morality, immersion in the world of elementary instincts, search for the “eternally feminine”). The 2nd part of the tragedy, consisting of five acts, takes the heroes into the vastness of world history, allowing Faust, with the help of Mephistopheles, to realize his daring thoughts. The marriage with Elena - a symbolic reflection of the idea of ​​​​classical-romantic synthesis - ends tragically: the son of Elena and Faust, Euphorion (one can discern Byron's features in him), Elena leaves Faust, returning to the unattainable world of the classical, ancient ideal. In the 5th act, Faust, having received a piece of land on the seashore as a gift from the emperor, strives to realize the ideal of “free labor on a free land”, simultaneously dooming the patriarchal-idyllic couple - Philemon and Baucis - to death. Blinded by Care, Faust continues to direct the construction work to the end; the final scene represents the disgrace of Mephistopheles and the triumph of Faust, which has been interpreted in various ways: as a manifestation of Divine grace, the triumph of the “eternally feminine,” “universal salvation” in the spirit of Origen’s theological concept, or as evidence of the author’s creative failure.

Goethe's works have been translated in Russia since 1780 (“Klavish” translated by O. P. Kozodavlev). Among the translators of Goethe are V. A. Zhukovsky, M. Yu. Lermontov, F. I. Tyutchev, K. S. Aksakov, N. P. Ogarev, A. A. Fet, A. K. Tolstoy, K. D. Balmont, I.F. Annensky, Vyach. I. Ivanov, V. Ya. Bryusov, M. A. Kuzmin, S. M. Solovyov, B. L. Pasternak, N. A. Zabolotsky, D. S. Samoilov and others. The most famous translations of “Faust” belong to N. . A. Kholodkovsky (1878) and B. L. Pasternak (1st part - 1949, 2nd part - 1952); it was also translated by A. A. Fet (1882-83) and V. Ya. Bryusov (1919-20).

Works: Werke. Weimar, 1887-1919. Bd 1-133; Collection essay by M.; L., 1932-1949. T. 1-13; Die Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft. Weimar, 1947-2005. Abt. 1. Bd 1-11. Abt. 2. Bd 1-10; Selected philosophical works. M., 1964; About art. M., 1975; Collection essay M., 1975-1980. T. 1-10; Sämtliche Werke. Briefe, Tagebücher und Gespräche. Fr./M., 1987-1999. Abt. 1. Bd 1-27. Abt. 2. Bd 1-12; West-east sofa. M., 1988; Correspondence: In 2 vols. M., 1988.

Lit.: Gundolf F. Goethe. V., 1916. N. Y., 1971; Simmel G. Goethe. M., 1928; Durylin S.N. Russian writers with Goethe in Weimar // Literary Heritage. M., 1932. Issue. 4/6; Strich F. Goethe und die Weltliteratur. Bern, 1954; Spranger E. Goethe. Seine geistige Welt. Tüb., 1967; Kanaev I.I. Goethe as a natural scientist. L., 1970; StaigerE. Goethe. 6. Aufl. Z., 1970-1981. Bd 1-3; Keller W. Goethes dichterische Bildlichkeit. Münch., 1972; Mandelkow K. R. Goethe in Deutschland. Rezeptionsgeschichte eines Klassikers. Münch., 1980-1989. Bd 1-2; Zhirmunsky V. M. Goethe in Russian literature. L., 1982; Svasyan K. A. Goethe’s philosophical worldview. Er., 1983; Mikhailov A.V. Goethe and reflections of antiquity in German culture at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. // Context-1983. M., 1984; Bakhtin M. M. Time and space in the works of Goethe // Bakhtin M. M. Aesthetics of verbal creativity. M., 1986; Eckerman I.P. Conversations with Goethe in the last years of his life. M., 1986; Wilpert G. von. Goethe-Lexikon. Stuttg., 1998; Danilevsky R. Yu. Pushkin and Goethe. St. Petersburg, 1999; Lagutina I. N. Goethe’s symbolic reality. M., 2000; Turaev S.V. Goethe and his contemporaries. M., 2002; Goethe-Handbuch. Stuttg.; Weimar, 2004. Bd 1-5; Yakusheva G.V. Faust in the temptations of the 20th century. M., 2005; Zhitomirskaya 3. V. I. V. Goethe: Bibliographic index of Russian translations and critical literature in Russian. 1780-1971. M., 1972.

In Goethe's biography, his date of birth is August 28, 1749. It was on this day that a son was born to the imperial adviser Kasper and the daughter of the city judge of Frankfurt am Main, Katharina Elisabeth Goethe. From childhood, Johann did not need anything, which he owed to his grandfather, who during his life turned from a tailor into an inn owner.

Goethe's father traveled a lot and collected an impressive library, books from which young Johann often read. One day he became acquainted with the contents of a book about the mysterious warlock Johann Georg Faust, which many years later would bring him worldwide fame.

At the age of 6, he became interested in religion and wondered about the existence of God. Johann attended school for two years, after which he was transferred to home schooling, where he received a comprehensive education.

University years

In 1765, Goethe was enrolled at the University of Leipzig. Although his father's desire was to become a lawyer, Goethe became increasingly interested in literature and philosophy. He loved listening to the poems of Christian Gellert, and during drawing lessons he met Johann Winckelmann.

Goethe often held meetings in his house, loved to go to the theater and play card games. In 1768, Goethe fell ill with tuberculosis and was forced to quit his studies to return home. On this basis, he begins to quarrel with his father.

Life and creativity

While on sick leave, Goethe wrote his first literary work, the comedy “Accomplices.” In 1770, he tries to complete his studies and goes to Strasbourg, but there his interest in chemistry, medicine and philology awakens. There, the theologian I. Herder had a great influence on the formation of Goethe’s personality.

In Strasbourg, Johann entered into the Sturm und Drang movement, which preached the veneration of emotions instead of reason. In the wake of this trend, he falls in love with Friederike Brion and writes her the poems “Steppe Rose”, “May Song” and others. However, soon the love faded and they separated.

In 1773, his play “Goetz von Berlichingen with an Iron Hand” was published, which brought popularity to the author in the Holy Roman Empire. A year later, he consolidates his success with the work “The Sorrow of Young Werther,” in which a young man in love, not meeting reciprocal feelings, commits suicide.

In 1782, Goethe wrote the mystical ballad “The Forest King,” which tells about a mysterious creature that took the life of a sick child.

At the age of 20, Goethe began work on the main work of his life - the poem "Faust". It is unique in its structure and content, and also reflects the dynamics of the development of the author’s personality. The first excerpt of the book was published in 1808, and it was published in full 24 years later. He considered the main character of this work to be the devil, who appeared in the world under the name of Mephistopheles - part of a mysterious force who always wants evil, but is doomed to do good. This work has been translated into many languages ​​of the world and is considered a property of world culture.

Personal life

Studying the short biography of Goethe Johann Wolfgang, it can be noted that he was a mysterious person. Some literary scholars consider the main character of Faust to be the prototype of Goethe.

He was popular among women and often had love affairs. Only Christiane Vulpius managed to capture him for thirty years. Goethe loved simplicity and sincerity in her.

In his free time from literary creativity, the philosopher grew violets and replenished his collection of minerals.

The cause of the philosopher's death was cardiac arrest. The poet's last words were "Please close the window." In many cities, monuments have been erected in honor of the German writer and some space objects have been named.