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A review by notwellread
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
5.0
This is a work of emotionally charged brilliance.
The Sorrows of Young Werther deals primarily with family, religion, artistry, and of course, unrequited love, which in the form of Werther’s feeling for Lotte (a semi-autobiographical one, no less) remains the focus. This is the sort of classic that is not massively exciting or eventful (and probably the sort of book that younger students complain ‘nothing happens in’), but is nonetheless a work of genius (in my opinion, of course) in its emotional bite, artistry combined with honesty, and the writing style, which allows this sort of passion to burst from its seams.
As well as this, there is a great deal of exploration between the artistic world and the everyday realities of existence, and the difficulties an artistic dreamer like Werther, aiming to live his life in a Romantic and idealised way, has trying and failing to reconcile the two. In the end it is not just his unrequited love, but his detachment from practical reality, that leads to his demise. There are few authors, classic or modern, that are willing to engage as directly with high emotion as Goethe does here (and I would interpret his later distancing himself from this work as a sign of embarrassment stemming from that, more so than the form and style of the work itself).
I essentially bought this book on a whim but from the premise I already expected to find it valuable, and it was far more so to me than I could have anticipated. It is difficult to articulate entirely how much it has affected me, but I am not easily emotionally moved or made to relate to the books I read, but this character’s story managed it at unprecedented levels. In terms of a ballad for the young and emotionally unstable, there does not seem to be anything like it.
The Sorrows of Young Werther deals primarily with family, religion, artistry, and of course, unrequited love, which in the form of Werther’s feeling for Lotte (a semi-autobiographical one, no less) remains the focus. This is the sort of classic that is not massively exciting or eventful (and probably the sort of book that younger students complain ‘nothing happens in’), but is nonetheless a work of genius (in my opinion, of course) in its emotional bite, artistry combined with honesty, and the writing style, which allows this sort of passion to burst from its seams.
As well as this, there is a great deal of exploration between the artistic world and the everyday realities of existence, and the difficulties an artistic dreamer like Werther, aiming to live his life in a Romantic and idealised way, has trying and failing to reconcile the two. In the end it is not just his unrequited love, but his detachment from practical reality, that leads to his demise. There are few authors, classic or modern, that are willing to engage as directly with high emotion as Goethe does here (and I would interpret his later distancing himself from this work as a sign of embarrassment stemming from that, more so than the form and style of the work itself).
I essentially bought this book on a whim but from the premise I already expected to find it valuable, and it was far more so to me than I could have anticipated. It is difficult to articulate entirely how much it has affected me, but I am not easily emotionally moved or made to relate to the books I read, but this character’s story managed it at unprecedented levels. In terms of a ballad for the young and emotionally unstable, there does not seem to be anything like it.