The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774
Letters follow a young man's growing love for Charlotte, who is promised to another man. He first sees her cutting bread for her younger brothers and sisters.
156 pages 3h 1m reading time
- A founding novel of the German Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") movement, and one of the first European bestsellers.
- Puts strong feeling at the center of a life, letting a young man's passion, moods, and despair speak for themselves through his own letters.
- Shows how a sensitive person can feel trapped by a rigid, rank-conscious society that leaves no room for his emotions.
- Started "Werther Fever" across Europe, with young men copying the hero's blue coat and yellow vest, and its fame helped shape the Romantic movement that followed.
- Gave its name to the "Werther effect," the term researchers use for copycat suicides that can follow widely publicized ones.
Real pistols, real rival
Goethe's friend Karl Jerusalem shot himself with pistols borrowed from the fiancé of the woman Goethe loved.
Drawn from his own heartbreak
In 1772 Goethe fell for Charlotte Buff, who was already engaged to his friend Johann Christian Kestner.
Written in a rush
Goethe later said he wrote the novel in about four weeks, almost as if sleepwalking.
Banned in Leipzig
Leipzig banned the book in 1775, fearing it would lead young readers to take their own lives.
Translated from German by R. Dillon Boylan