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Goethe

A Life in Ideas
  • Matthew Bell
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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About this book

A new intellectual biography of Goethe, examining the paradox of his thought

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) 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 stll 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 recognized. 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.

Reviews

"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 --- "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 --- "This deeply learned, crisply written biography. . .will be among the indispensable studies of Goethe."---Ritchie Robertson, Literary Review  --- "Bell’s book is a monument to academic investigation."---Terry Potter, The Letterpress Project --- "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."

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Acknowledgements

    ix
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    Permissions

    xi
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    Introduction: The Compromise

    1
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    1 Hometown: Frankfurt, 1749–1765

    15
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    2 ‘I’m Not a Christian’: Leipzig, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, 1765–1771

    33
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    3 ‘Moses! Prophet! Evangelist! Apostle, Spinoza or Machiavelli’: Frankfurt and Wetzlar, 1771–1775

    63
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    4 The Intellectual Love of God: Weimar, 1775–1786

    126
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    5 ‘In Conversation with Things’: Italy, 1786–1788

    207
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    6 Transformations: Weimar, 1788–1794

    236
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    7 Church Militant: Weimar, 1794–1805

    305
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    8 ‘My Emperor’: Weimar, 1805–1814

    414
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    9 ‘What More Could Grandpa Want?’: Weimar, 1814–1825

    505
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    10 ‘These Very Serious Jokes’: Weimar, 1825–1832

    580
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    Note on Translations, Editions, and Referencing

    659
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    List of Abbreviations

    661
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    Notes

    665
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    References

    725
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    General Index

    741
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    Index of Goethe’s Works

    751
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    A NOTE ON THE TYPE

    757
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 9, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9780691275161
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691275161
eBook ISBN: 9780691275161
Keywords for this book
Faust; Nature; Human; Wilhelm; Colour; Art; Poem; Modern; Novel; Power; Law; History; Schiller; Weimar; Argument; Story; Revolution; Force; Essay; Love; Kant; Von; Frankfurt; Truth; Duke; Friend; Politics; Century; Herder; Und; Knowledge; Represents; Family; Religion; Theatre; Poet; Newton; Character; Mephistopheles; Death; Phenomena; Der; Greek; Napoleon; Freedom; Ancient; Letter; Winckelmann; Culture; Historical; Werther; Modernity; Language; Instance; Cultural; Gretchen; Government; Emperor; Ideas; Scientific; Version; Court; Carl; Eduard; Johann; Spirit; Relationship; Christian; Religious; Manner
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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