Goethe: Life as a Work of Art

Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Goethe: Life as a Work of Art by Rüdiger Safranski, Liveright
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rüdiger Safranski ISBN: 9780871404916
Publisher: Liveright Publication: May 16, 2017
Imprint: Liveright Language: English
Author: Rüdiger Safranski
ISBN: 9780871404916
Publisher: Liveright
Publication: May 16, 2017
Imprint: Liveright
Language: English

This “splendid biography” (Wall Street Journal) of Goethe presents his life and work as an essential touchstone for the modern age.

A masterful intellectual portrait, Goethe: Life as a Work of Art is celebrated as the seminal twenty-first-century biography of the writer considered to be the Shakespeare of German literature. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), a remarkably prolific poet, playwright, novelist, and—as Rüdiger Safranksi emphasizes—a statesman and naturalist, first awakened not only a burgeoning German nation but the European continent with his electrifying novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Safranski has scoured Goethe’s entire oeuvre, relying exclusively on primary sources, including his correspondence with contemporaries, to produce a “fresh and authentic” (Economist) portrait of the avatar of the Romantic era. Skillfully blending “artistic analysis with swift, sharp renderings” of the great political and intellectual figures Goethe encountered, “[Safranski’s] portrait of the prolific genius leaves the reader with lasting awe, even envy” of a monumental legacy (The New Yorker). As Safranski ultimately shows, Goethe’s greatest creation, even in comparison to his masterpiece Faust, was his own life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This “splendid biography” (Wall Street Journal) of Goethe presents his life and work as an essential touchstone for the modern age.

A masterful intellectual portrait, Goethe: Life as a Work of Art is celebrated as the seminal twenty-first-century biography of the writer considered to be the Shakespeare of German literature. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), a remarkably prolific poet, playwright, novelist, and—as Rüdiger Safranksi emphasizes—a statesman and naturalist, first awakened not only a burgeoning German nation but the European continent with his electrifying novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Safranski has scoured Goethe’s entire oeuvre, relying exclusively on primary sources, including his correspondence with contemporaries, to produce a “fresh and authentic” (Economist) portrait of the avatar of the Romantic era. Skillfully blending “artistic analysis with swift, sharp renderings” of the great political and intellectual figures Goethe encountered, “[Safranski’s] portrait of the prolific genius leaves the reader with lasting awe, even envy” of a monumental legacy (The New Yorker). As Safranski ultimately shows, Goethe’s greatest creation, even in comparison to his masterpiece Faust, was his own life.

More books from Liveright

Cover of the book The Double Life of Paul De Man by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Sentenced to Life: Poems by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Annotated African American Folktales by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Phantoms: A Novel by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Patsy: A Novel by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Fabliaux by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour through America's Food by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Forged Through Fire: War, Peace, and the Democratic Bargain by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Baudelaire: His Prose and Poetry by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Tulips and Chimneys by Rüdiger Safranski
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy