About this title: Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Though he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. The first great 'confessional' novel, it draws both on Goethe's own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of a close friend. The book was an immediate success and a cult rapidly grew up around it, resulting in numerous copycat deaths as well as violent criticism and suppression for its apparent support of suicide. Goethe's ...
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780679643081ISBN:0679643087
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780812969900ISBN:0812969901
Description: Acceptable. Moderate moisture damage to cover Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Description: New. Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas. GREAT BUY. Brand New From US Distributor. WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3, 500, 000 BOOKS SOLD. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 8/1/1989
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: New. Paperback. You are buying a Book in NEW condition with very light shelf wear to include very light edge and corner wear. Buy it Now! ! ! As always, thank you for buying this book from International Book Source, YOUR ONE source FOR ALL your BOOK related NEEDS. Please remember to CHOOSE carefully how QUICKLY you would like to RECEIVE this material FAST, or standard (on next page). Thanks again! ! ! ! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd., London, United Kingdom
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: Good. 5 x 7.75. Covers have heavy wear and chipping, corners lightly bumped, interior tight and clean, 144 pp including notes, classic story of a young man driven to suicide by an unhappy love affair. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780812969900ISBN:0812969901
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: IndyPublish
Date Published: 2002-11-11
ISBN-13:9781404331426ISBN:1404331425
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Viking Pr
Date Published: 1989-08-01
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780140445039. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 2005-02-08
ISBN-13:9780812969900ISBN:0812969901
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780812969900. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: Good. Page colour-Slightly discoloured in accordance with book age. Spine-Slightly worn in accordance with age and use. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780140445039ISBN:014044503X
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 144 pages. (144 pages) visiting an idyllic german village, werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured lotte. though he realizes that lotte is to marry albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. (Paperback) read more
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 9.26 by 8 inches. This book is printed on demand [allow 1-2 weeks for printing]. (00104 pages) lang=english accessory: no accessory (Paperback ) read more
Description: Fair. Ex-Library Book-will contain Library Markings. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Description: Very good. Appearance of only slight previous use. Cover and binding show a little wear. All pages are undamaged with potentially only a few, small markings. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! 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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