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 Hank: The Short Life and Long Country Road of Hank Williams by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book One Nation Under Gold: How One Precious Metal Has Dominated the American Imagination for Four Centuries by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Once a Wolf: The Science Behind Our Dogs' Astonishing Genetic Evolution by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Local Souls by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Reynard the Fox: A New Translation by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Late Parade: Poems by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments: A Stone Reader by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War by Rüdiger Safranski
Cover of the book Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story 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