Goethe

Faust, Wilhelm Meister

The last universal man. Poet, novelist, dramatist, scientist, statesman — Goethe's range was Leonardesque. Faust, completed in the year of his death, is the defining myth of modern Western man: the restless striver who would trade his soul for knowledge and experience.

Key works

• Faust (Parts I & II)1808/1832— The myth of the modern West
• The Sorrows of Young Werther1774— Sparked a European sensation
• Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship1795— Prototype of the Bildungsroman

Connections

External