Overview

A new intellectual biography of Goethe, examining the paradox of his thought. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) was a poet, a novelist, a scientist and an essayist on a dizzying range of topics. In the nineteenth century, he was widely regarded as one of the most important thinkers of modern Europe. In this important and ambitious work, Matthew Bell offers a wide-ranging intellectual biography of Goethe, tracing the evolution of his thought and reassessing its value. Bell examines the full spectrum of Goethe's writing, from his most well-known works, including the dramatic poem Faust and the novels Wilhelm Meister and The Sorrows of Young Werther, to lesser-known essays and reviews. Throughout, Bell draws on Goethe's letters and diaries, most of which are still only available in German, embedding Goethe's thought in his lived experience and in the cultural and intellectual life of Europe from the 1750s to the 1830s. Bell presents new interpretations of Goethe's work as one of the first evolutionary biologists, describing discoveries that anticipated Darwin's, and of his political ideas, which pervade his literary work in ways that have not been fully recognised. Bell offers an original and illuminating explanation for the paradox of Goethe's thought, exploring how a radical individualist who espoused liberal and innovative ideas in some areas in particular, religion, sexuality and science could remain consistently conservative and authoritarian in his political outlook. Rereading Goethe through this new lens, Bell shows, reveals new dimensions of work we thought we knew well. 'The great scholarly achievement of this book lies in its synthesis of Goethe's personal writing (especially his letters) with his public work... An epic reassessment of the founder of modern German life and letters.' Kirkus Reviews,starred review

Full Product Details

9780691153957

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The great scholarly achievement of this book lies in its synthesis of Goethe’s personal writing (especially his letters) with his public work. . . . An epic reassessment of the founder of modern German life and letters."" * Kirkus Reviews, starred review * ""Bell’s book is a monument to academic investigation.""---Terry Potter, The Letterpress Project ""This deeply learned, crisply written biography. . .will be among the indispensable studies of Goethe.""---Ritchie Robertson, Literary Review  ""Bell’s brilliant biography does full justice to this greatest of German Dichter und Denker, a poet and thinker with plenty to say to our times of Sturm und Drang.""---Daniel Johnson, The Critic ""Biographies necessarily look back in time, but the best of them invite us to see the present anew. This is surely one of the chief virtues of Matthew Bell’s insightful study.""---David E. Wellbery, Times Literary Supplement

""The great scholarly achievement of this book lies in its synthesis of Goethe’s personal writing (especially his letters) with his public work. . . . An epic reassessment of the founder of modern German life and letters."" * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *

Author Information

Matthew Bell is professor of German and comparative literature at King's College London. He is the author of Goethe's Naturalistic Anthropology; The German Tradition of Psychology in Literature and Thought, 17001840; and Melancholia: The Western Malady; and the editor of The Essential Goethe (Princeton).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available