Today, 1749
Famous German thinker, writer and scientist
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born
Tonight
Let's revisit the classics
Feel life in the words of the great master
The Troubles of Young Werther (Excerpt)
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
May 4, 1771
I'm so glad I'm finally gone! My good friend, what the hell is going on with the human heart! I am so happy to leave the person I love so much, who once had to leave! I know you'll forgive me. Fate picked me up in a false entanglement, wasn't it just to frighten my heart? Poor Leonore! However, this is not my fault. What can I do when I am delighted to admire her sister's special charm, but her poor heart rises with passion for me? Yet – am I truly completely innocent? Haven't I nourished her feelings? Haven't I ever been complacent about her very sincere nature, and often joined everyone in making fun of her untold behavior? Haven't I — oh man, man, that man will only complain about himself! I am determined, dear friend, that I promise you that I will improve myself and that I will no longer chew on the little calamities that fate has always given me, as I have in the past; I will taste the present, and the past will have to let it fade. My good man, you're right, if people were less keen to use their imagination to reminisce about past misfortunes, but to treat the world with indifference, they would have suffered less. God knows why man is like this!
Paintings by Goethe
Please be sure to tell my mother that I will do my best to get her things done and tell her the situation as soon as possible. I had met my aunt and found that she was not the evil woman described in the house at all. She's an acute child with a good heart. I told her of my mother's anger at the deduction for part of the inheritance; she gave the reasons, the reasons and the conditions for doing so, and only under those conditions would she be willing to give the whole inheritance, and more than we asked for—in short, I do not want to write more now. Please tell my mother that everything is going well. Dear friend, this little thing has made me discover that misunderstanding and inertia may create far more mistakes in the world than treachery and black heart. At least the latter two are indeed rare.
Also, I feel good here. In this heavenly environment, loneliness is a medicine to heal my soul. This youth season filled my often trembling heart with its warmth. Flowers bloom on the trees and fences, and I wish to become a golden beetle floating freely in the fragrant sea of incense, sucking on all the nutrients.
The town itself is not cute, but the surrounding nature is amazingly beautiful. The late Count M was attracted to build his garden on a hill. Numerous small hills crisscross the colorful and colorful, forming a series of beautiful small canyons. The garden is very simple, and when people step into the garden, they immediately feel that the architectural design is not out of his own home, but from a sensitive heart, he wants to taste nature alone. In that small pavilion, which was already decadent, I shed tears of sympathy for the deceased, which was once his place of nostalgia and is now the place where I often go. Soon I was the owner of the garden. The gardener has expressed his trust in me in the past few days, and he will not be treated badly.
△ Paintings by Goethe
May 10
A wonderful joy permeated my whole soul, making it as sweet as the spring morning I was admiring. I am now alone, thankful that I have been able to live in an environment that seems to have been created for my soul. My good man, I was so happy, so immersed in the feeling of a quiet life, that I put my art aside. I can't paint at the moment, I can't do a single stroke, and in this instant I'm closer than ever to a greater painter. When the mist rises around the lovely valley, the high sun rests on the top of the dense and dark forest, only a ray of light sneaks into this sacred place in the forest, I lie in the lush grass by the babbling spring water, close to the ground to observe the various styles of the grass; when I feel the immeasurable little world of a small insect moth between the grass stems is close to my heart, I feel the existence of Almighty God, who created us according to his own imagination; I feel the breath of the Fraternal Father, He promises us to swim in eternal joy. Dear friend, when my eyes are blinded and the world and the sky around me are like the image of a lover has melted into my soul – I often long: Alas, if I could reproduce it, if I could write down such a rich and warm thing that is alive in your heart, how good it would be, it would become a mirror of your soul, as if your soul were a mirror of Almighty God! My friend, but I failed, and I was completely overwhelmed by the power of the magnificent spectacle of nature.
Excerpt from Chongqing Publishing House's "The Troubles of Young Werther" translated by Zhang Peifen
Reader: North Star
Goethe Characters
His parents gave him a correct outlook on life and good language skills
Goethe was born on 28 August 1749 in the German town of Frankfurt to a wealthy civic family. As a child, his father was very strict with him, teaching him riding and fencing, while his gentle and considerate mother tried to cultivate Goethe's correct understanding of literature.
Her mother often told Goethe all kinds of interesting stories, and her language skills were very strong and her vocabulary was very rich, and Goethe often listened to them like a mesmerizing. Perhaps inheriting this talent from his mother, Goethe, among his friends, was always known for knowing all kinds of funny jokes.
After Goethe became an adult, his mother was still his partner in the discussion of creation, which often stimulated his enthusiasm for creation. For her son's work, the mother is a must-read and can always give a proper comment.
Goethe said with deep feeling: "From my father, I got a strong physique and an upright outlook on life; from my mother, I inherited her optimistic character and ability to express language." ”
Two masterpieces: The Troubles of Young Werther and Faust
Under the influence of good family education, Goethe developed an early interest in literature. In 1765 he left Frankfurt to study jurisprudence in Leipzig. During his studies, he listened to the poetic lectures of the writer Gellert and learned gellert's writing style; he also came into contact with Shakespeare's works, which greatly expanded Goethe's spiritual vision.
In the four weeks from early February to March 1774, Goethe completed the epistolary novel "The Troubles of Young Werther" in one fell swoop.
"The Troubles of Young Werther" depicts the story of a young Werther who opposes feudal customs, hates bureaucratic aristocracy, is incompatible with the vulgar social reality, and is even more devastated by feudal forces in love and commits suicide in anger. Because it reflects the anti-feudal voice of a generation of young people, it is warmly welcomed by readers, and it also makes Goethe a world-renowned literary artist.
Speaking about the experience of creating The Troubles of Young Werther, Goethe said: "Like Que Peng, I fed that work with my own efforts. There is a great deal of it in my own heart, a great deal of feelings and thoughts, enough to write a novel 10 times longer than this one. ”
"Faust" almost consumed Goethe's life's energy, this great poetry drama he completed in his later years is based on the German legend of Dr. Faust in the 16th century, Goethe processed and transformed, he wrote Faust as an ideal figure who constantly pursues and advances, and writes his knowledge, love, politics, art, sideline business and other five major contents into the tragedy of the corruption of the feudal government, the disillusionment of the pursuit of classical beauty and the illusion of the blueprint of the "kingdom of reason", which has become the continuous exploration of advanced people in the rising period of the European bourgeoisie 3. The pursuit of artistic generalization.
This poetic drama not only has a magnificent structure and colorful colors, integrating realism, romanticism and symbolism into one, but also makes the entire thoughts, words and deeds of the main characters Faust and the devil Mephistopheles form a dialectical development relationship between good and evil, action and affection, success and failure.
This work is thus listed alongside Homer's Epic, Dante's Divine Comedy and Shakespeare's Hamlet as one of the four classical masterpieces of European literature.
On 22 March 1832, Goethe died of illness. His last words were only one sentence: "Give me more lights!" At the last moments of his life, the master remained optimistic.
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