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German poet, novelist, playwright and natural philosopher, one of the greatest figures in Western literature. Throughout his life Goethe was interested in a variety of studies and pursuits, he made important discoveries in connection with plant and animal life, and evolved a new theory of the character of light. In literature his most famous work was the poetic drama in two parts, FAUST.
Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main, as the first child of a lawyer Johann Caspar Goethe, and Katherine Elisabeth Textor, daughter of a mayor of Frankfurt. He was law student at Leipzig University (1765-68), he studied also drawing with Adam Oeser, and after a period of illness, resumed his studies in Strassburg (1770-71). Goethe practiced law in Frankfurt (1771-72) and Wetzlar (1772). He contributed to Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen (1772-73), and in 1774 he published his first novel, self-revelatory DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHERS. It was more or less directly depicted his hopeless affair with Lotte Buff, the fiancée of a colleague. In the novel ill-fated Werther, who romantically commited suicide, become the prototype of the Romantic hero.
Goethe's youth was emotionally hectic to the point that he sometimes feared for his reason. He was recognized as a leading figure in the Sturm and Drang, which celebrated the energetic Promethean quality of the individual in opposition to the rational idealistic ideal of the Enlightenment. Goethe's poem 'Prometheus', with its insistence that man must believe not in gods but in himself, might be seen as motto for the whole movement. After a relaxing trip to Switzerland, Goethe made a decisive break with his past. In 1775 he was welcomed by Duke Karl August into the small court of Weimar, where worked in several governmental offices. He was council member and member of war commission, director of roads and services, and managed the financial affairs of the court. His great love in this period was Charlotte von Stein, but the relationship was platonic.
However, Goethe's scientific researches were more successful. He discovered the human intermaxilarry bone (1784), and formulated a vertebral theory of the skull. In 1786-88 he made a journey to Italy, which inspired his play IPHIGENIE AUF TAURIS, and RÖMISHE ELEGIEN, sensuous poems relating partly to Christiane Vulpius, who became Goethe's mistress in 1789. The journey significantly influenced his growing commitment to classical view of art. From this point, his emotional dependence on Charlotte also ended. Goethe was released from day-to-day governmental duties, but he was still general supervisor for arts and sciences, and director of the court theatres (1791-1817).
In the 1790s Goethe contributed to Friedrich von Schiller´s journal Die Horen, published WILHELM MEISTERS LEHRJAHRE in 1795-96, and continued his writings on the ideals of arts and literature in his own journal Propyläen. (Note: Goethe was buried near Schiller in the ducal vault at Weimar.)
Goethe remained creative during his last period. He married in 1806 Christiane Vulpius, with whom he had lived nearly 18 years, and compeleted the novel WILHELM MEISTERS WANDERJAHRE (1821-9), and his masterwork Faust (part I, 1808; part II, 1832). Goethe had worked for the most of his life on this drama. It was based on Christopher Marlowe's Faust, and depicted a disillusioned scholar, who makes a pact with Satan. The original figure in the Faust legend was Gregorius Faustus (or Gregorius Sabellicus, Fautus Junior, c 1480-1510/1). His true identity is not known, but he claimed to be an astrologer, expert in magic, and a alchemist. This legend attracted Christoper Marlowe, who offered in his play a psychological study of the battle between good and evil. Goethe's story created a new persona for the Devil - Mephistoteles was a sarcastic gentleman, who had salon acceptable behavior. The character was willingly adapted in literature, music, dance, popular art and other areas.
From 1791 to 1817 Goethe was director of the court theatres. He edited Kunst and Altertum (1816-32) and Zur Naturwissenschaft (1817-24). Goethe died in Weimar on March 22, 1832. He and Schiller, who died over a quarter of a century earlier, are buried together, in a mausoleum in the ducal cemetary. The Goethe House and Schiller House stand in the town, and their two statues are outside the National Theatre.
For further reading: Unterirdische Gänge. Goethe, Freimaurerei und Politik by W. Daniel Wilson (1999); Das Gosthe-Tabu by W. Daniel Wilson (1999); Christiane un Goethe by Sigrid Damm (1999); Goethes "Werther": Kritik und Forschung by Peter Hans Herrmann (1994); Wilhelm Meister: Das Ende der Kunst und die Wiederkehr des Mythos by Hannelore Schlaffer (1989); "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Martin Swales (1987); Goethe's Novels by Hans Reiss (1969); Goethe's "Die Wahlverwandtschaften": A Literary Interpretation by Harry George Barnes (1967); Goethe-Bibliographie (1955-, serial); Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" by Karl Schlechta (1953); The Life and Works of Goethe by G.H. Lewes (1855); Gespräche mit Goethe by Johann Eckermann (1836)
Museums: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's House (Goethehaus), Am Frauenplan 1. Goethe lived there for fifty years. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Summerhouse, im Park an der Ilm. Goethe started there Iphigènie - In Weimar is a copy of Goethe's Gartenhaus; also the furniture and other details follow the original.
Faust - first part published 1808, the second 1832. - In Heaven Mephistoteles obtains permission to try to effect the ruin of the soul of Faust, an old scholar who is disillusioned with the world. Faust enters into compact to become Mephistoteles's servant if he should exclaim, 'Stay, thou art so fair.' Faust seduces a young girl Gretchen, she brings him a child, but panics and drowns it, and in the end waits for her execution for the crime, refusing to flee with Faust. The second part is extremely complex. Helen, symbolizing perfect beauty, is recalled from Hades. Faust attempts to justify his existence by reclaiming land from the sea in order to found an ideal sociaty, but his plan fails. Faust soul is finally rescued by a angels.
Faust versions: Gotthold Lessing's (1729-1781) lost play Faust, Don Juan/Don Giovanni (perhaps best known from the Opera by Lorenzo Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorothy L. Sayers's play The Devil to Pay (1939), Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus (1947). - Film adaptations: 1926, dir. by F.W. Murnau; film All That Money Can Buy, 1941, dir. by William Dieterle, based on Stephen Vincent Benét work; 1949, dir by René Clair (La Beauté du Diable); 1974, dir. by Brian DePalma (Phantom of the Paradise, based loosely on Gaston Leroux's novel Phantom of the Opera).- Opera: Gounod's Faust (1859), Buïto's Mefistotele (1866), Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (1893), Busoni's Doktor Faust (1925) - Animation: 1994, dir.by Jan Svankmaijer - English translations of Faust among others by Isaiah Berlin
Selected works:
Information supplied by the Goethe Institut , London
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