One of the towering figures of world literature, Goethe has
never held quite as prominent a place in the English-speaking world
as he deserves. This collection of his four major works, together
with a selection of his finest letters and poems, shows that he is
not only one of the very greatest European writers: he is also
accessible, entertaining, and contemporary.
The Sorrows of Young Werther
is a story of self-destructive love that made its author a
celebrity overnight at the age of twenty-five. Its exploration of
the conflicts between ideas and feelings, between circumstance and
desire, continues in his controversial novel probing the
institution of marriage, Elective Affinities. The cosmic drama of
Faust goes far beyond the realism of the novels in a poetic
exploration of good and evil, while Italian Journey, written in the
author’s old age, recalls his youth in Italy and the impact of
Mediterranean culture on a young northerner.