About this title: "The Sorrows of Young Werther, explores the extremes of the subjective experience through the novel's depiction of a sensitive young man caught up in a love impossible to fulfill.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780679729518ISBN:0679729518
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Fine in Fine jacket. Vintage Classics, Papeback, in fine condition. Minimal shelwear clean copy. Thanks for helping a student! . read more
Description: Good+ A very good copy with moderately tanned text. Clean and tight, a nice unmarked copy. Good packing, prompt shipping. 4.5 X 7" Member, Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780486424552ISBN:0486424553
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 96 p. Dover Thrift Editions. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1990-06-16
ISBN-13:9780679729518ISBN:0679729518
Description: Very Good. This is a very nice paperback copy. Binding is tight and square. No names, no marks, no stickers. Text is clean and bright. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend PRIORITY MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Description: Very Good. 0679729518 16305 PB; spine smooth, text clean, cover has slight shelf wear-allow 21 business days for standard/media transit. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780679729518ISBN:0679729518
Description: Very Good. Softcover, no creases in spine, no slant, light edgewear, tight binding, two page corners folded down, clean and unmarked, 201 pages with a foreword from W. H. Auden, translation by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Mayer, Auden translated the poems. read more
Edition: 5th printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books; Vintage Classics Ser., New York
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780679729518ISBN:0679729518
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. xvi, 201 pp.; 21 cm. Translated from the German. Near fine. Tight, clean copy. Light edgewear to wraps. "A major work of German romanticism in a translation that is acknowledged as the definitive English language version. The Vintage Classics edition also includes NOVELLA, Goethe's poetic vision of an idyllic pastoral society. / Before he was thirty, Goethe had proven himself a master of the novel, the drama, and lyric poetry. But even more impressive than his ... read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780679729518ISBN:0679729518
Description: Very Good. Foreword by Auden, translation from the German by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Mayer, poems translated by Auden, no creases in spine, no slant, no age toning, unmarked text but a poem by Goethe written in ink inside back cover, tight and clean, 201 pages. read more
"It's definately a masterpiece of its age, but I can't count how many times throughout the book I wanted to shake Werther by the arm or better so, slap him it the face. The characters are just unbelievablly stupid. I know that the times were different, but still they should know better. And the fact that the book caused a lot of people to commit suicide doesn't help at all. I can't believe Goethe wasted his talent on such a wortless novel."
"The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Goethe is a book I must have been side-stepping for years. It seems like someone I know would have recommended it to me at some point as a "you need to read this... it's so you" suggestion. But alas, I'm left to wonder where this story has been all my life.
The basics: Boy meets Girl. Boy can't have Girl. Boy kills Self. Sure, I'm over-simplifying a bit, but that's the basic gist. As with all truly touching books, the plot is fairly basic at its core and the details are therefore allowed to emerge to the forefront and push you along in a tremendously heart-breaking way.
I was shocked by the end (not by the suicide, of course... that particular tragedy was even more obvious and expected than the one that ended my tenth grade relationship/first love. Sigh...) But I was fully appalled by the lack of attendants at the funeral. Where was beloved Lotte who (almost) gave into Werther's affections? Where was her somewhat understanding husband Albert who had claimed to pity Werther so much? Was there a sale on at the pistol store and they didn't want to miss their golden opportunity to replace the guns they'd... hu-hum, lent out? Or perhaps Lotte was simply exhausted with the effort of being admired. Balancing a stalker whom you keep around because he feeds your ego and keeps your life youthful with a relationship ripe in maturity, boredom, and comfort (all synonymous, by the way) is a tiring endeavour to say the least. I suppose I'll give Lotte a pass on this one. So she didn't show up to the funeral... she was likely more relieved to have it all over with than Werther himself.
Apparently Goethe essentially was Werther, having fallen in love in his youth with an untouchable woman (also named Charlotte). We can only assume that he wasn't brave or deeply rooted in his convictions enough to take his own life, so he did the next best thing - he created himself on the page and then killed that guy. (Complete review available at www.whatrefuge.blogspot.com)"
"This is a book which I want to recommend as strongly as I can, but I also want to be sure not to recommend it under any false pretenses. The story is one of the most clichéd ever: a young poet falls in love with a woman he can't have, drives himself mad over it and commits suicide.
I'll be up-front and blunt about this: many, many people will not understand "Werther," not because they're stupid or unfeeling, but because very few people know what it's like to live as Werther lives, for the simple reason that most people give up on uber-strong emotions as soon as their hormones stop raging and they become adults. Werther feels everything strongly, has opinions about everything, and deals only in absolutes; in short, his life and his passions are exhausting, and they ultimately consume him.
Also-heresy!-Charlotte, whom he supposedly kills himself over, is not important. Compared to him, she's a cardboard cutout-and Albert, her husband, is a mere shadow. Charlotte is only special because she has been refracted through Werther's distortional lens; if he had not fallen in love with her, he would have with someone or something else, and ultimately the result would have been the same.
The reason why I recommend this book to everyone is that it is the natural companion to books like Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich,"-only instead of singing a slow, painful dirge of death to the body, it shows the disintegration of a mind obsessed with and captivated by life. In "Ilyich," it is Ivan's body which betrays him; in "Werther," his mind consumes itself.
I read this book for the first time when I was only eleven years old, because I was struck by the dedication, which reads something like: ". . .let this little book be your friend, when through chance or your own fault you can find no better companion." Sometimes I like to pretend that the 20th century never happened, so that all the jaded insincerity that can get in the way of appreciating this book is cleared away. "Werther" deserves more understanding, because it *is* sincere.
Fortunately, it's also one of those books where you can tell within about two pages if you'll like it or not."
"I didn't care for the morose and often absurd sentimentality of Werther, but I suppose a reader's disgust is purposeful and meant as a warning. I also had reservations about the large portion of Ossian (considering Macpherson's deception); then I realized how a propos a fatuous bit of poetry can serve to reveal a fatuous scene. My inability to identify with Werther reminds me of my issues with the young main characters of Romeo and Juliet, who's end frustrates me. Werther, like R and J, never lack good advice and company, but still sulk and whine and vie for attention.
That said, the style of the epistolary rings true, as the character develops most fully by daily omissions in letter form. The introduction of the editor is necessary though slightly shaky. The psychological course of Werther's monomania is supported by the believability of his friends' reactions and especially of the object of his affection, Lotte.
Overall, it's short and easily understood, assuming a decent translation (this edition well-prefaced and trans. by BQ Morgan)."
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