
The Man Who Was Goethe: Memoirs, Letters & Essays (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Memoirs, Letters, and Essays on Weimar Classicism, Romantic Europe, and the Cultivation of SelfBy Johann Wolfgang von GoetheLength79h 57m
About this audiobook
The Man Who Was Goethe: Memoirs, Letters & Essays gathers the self-revealing prose through which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe becomes not merely a monument of German letters but an active, searching mind. Through recollection, correspondence, criticism, and reflection, the volume traces his intellectual range: art, science, friendship, politics, love, and the discipline of literary creation. Its style moves between classical poise and intimate immediacy, situating Goethe within Weimar Classicism while also illuminating the Romantic age he helped provoke and resist. Goethe's long life made him uniquely fitted to such a book. Born in 1749, he became famous with The Sorrows of Young Werther, later reshaped European drama with Faust, served as statesman in Weimar, and pursued studies in botany, optics, and morphology. His memoirs and letters reflect a writer for whom experience, observation, and Bildung—the cultivation of the self—were inseparable principles. This collection is recommended to readers seeking the living Goethe behind the canonical works. It offers students, scholars, and general readers a refined entry into his personality, method, and age, revealing why his thought remains central to modern European culture.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions.
- The Author Biography highlights personal milestones and literary influences that shape the entire body of writing.
- A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation.
- A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists.
- A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths.
- Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts.
- Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
Audiobook details
GenreBiography and Memoir
Length79 hrs 57 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateApr 18, 2019
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
106XXIII. Conditions of the Increase of Colour
2Introduction
107XXIV. Explanation of the Foregoing Phenomena
3Author Biography
108XXV. Decrease of the Appearance of Colour
4Historical Context
109XXVI. Grey Objects
5Synopsis (Selection)
110XXVII. Coloured Objects
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6The Man Who Was Goethe: Memoirs, Letters & Essays
111XXVIII. Achromatism and Hyperchromatism
7Biography
112XXIX. Combination of Subjective and Objective Experiments
8Life of Johann Wolfgang Goethe
113XXX. Transition
9Chapter I.
114XXXI. Catoptrical Colours
10Chapter II.
115XXXII. Paroptical Colours
11Chapter III.
116XXXIII. Epoptical Colours
12Chapter IV.
117PART III. CHEMICAL COLOURS
13Chapter V.
118XXXIV. Chemical Contrast
14Chapter VI.
119XXXV. White
15Chapter VII.
120XXXVI. Black
16Chapter VIII.
121XXXVII. First Excitation of Colour
17Chapter IX.
122XXXVIII. Augmentation of Colour44
18Chapter X.
123XXXIX. Culmination45
19Chronological List of Works
124XL. Fluctuation
20Autobiography and Memoirs
125XLI. Passage through the Whole Scale
21Truth and Poetry: From My Own Life
126XLII. Inversion
22Author's Preface
127XLIII. Fixation
23PART THE FIRST
128XLIV. Intermixture, Real
24First Book. Childhood—the City of Frankfort
129XLV. Intermixture, Apparent
25Second Book. The New Paris—Frankfort Citizen
130XLVI. Communication, Actual
26Third Book. Occupation of Frankfort by the French
131XLVII. Communication, Apparent
27Fourth Book. Studies—The Bible—Frankfort Characters
132XLVIII. Extraction
28Fifth Book. Gretchen—Coronation Ceremonies
133XLIX. Nomenclature
29PART THE SECOND.
134L. Minerals
30Sixth Book. Illness and Recovery—Leipzig
135LI. Plants
31Seventh Book. Leipzig (continued)—German Literature
136LII. Worms, Insects, Fishes
32Eighth Book. Art—Dresden—Return from Leipzig
137LIII. Birds
33Ninth Book. Strasbourg
138LIV. Mammalia and Human Beings
34Tenth Book. Strasbourg (continued)—Herder—Tour in Alsace and Lorraine—Frederika
139LV. Physical and Chemical Effects of the Transmission of Light through Coloured Mediums
35PART THE THIRD.
140LVI. Chemical Effect in Dioptrical Achromatism
36Eleventh Book. Frederica (continued)—Return from Strasbourg
141PART IV. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
37Twelfth Book. Merck—Wetzlar; the Imperial Chamber—Charlotte
142The Facility with which Colour Appears
38Thirteenth Book. Goetz von Berlichingen and Werther
143The Force of Colour
39Fourteenth Book. Lenz—Lavater and Basedow—Cologne
144The Definite Nature of Colour
40Fifteenth Book. Moravians—"The Wandering Jew"—Zimmerman—"Clavigo"
145Combination of the Two Principles
41PART THE FOURTH.
146Augmentation to Red
42Sixteenth Book. Spinoza—Jung (Stilling)
147Junction of the Two Augmented Extremes
43Seventeenth Book. Lili—Betrothal—Ulrich von Hutten
148Completeness the Result of Variety
44Eighteenth Book. Hans Sachs—The Stolbergs—Switzerland
149Completeness the Result of Variety in Colour
45Nineteenth Book. Lavater—"Egmont"
150Harmony of the Complete State
46Twentieth Book. Kraus—Daemonic Influence—Heidelberg—Departure for Weimar
151Facility with which Colour may be made to tend either to the Plus or Minus Side
47Maxims and Reflections
152Evanescence of Colour
48Translator's Preface
153Permanence of Colour
49II
154PART V. RELATION TO OTHER PURSUITS—RELATION TO PHILOSOPHY
50III
155Relation to Mathematics
51Life and Character
156Relation to the Technical Operations of the Dyer
52II
157Relation to Physiology and Pathology
53III
158Relation to Natural History
54IV
159Relation to General Physics
55V
160Relation to the Theory of Music
56VI
161Concluding Observations on Terminology
57VII
162PART VI. EFFECT OF COLOUR WITH REFERENCE TO MORAL ASSOCIATIONS
58Literature and Art
163Yellow
59Science
164Red-Yellow
60Nature: Aphorisms
165Yellow-Red
61From Carlsbad to the Brenner
166Blue
62From the Brenner to Verona
167Red-Blue
63From Verona to Venice
168Red
64Venice
169Green
65From Ferrara to Rome
170Completeness and Harmony
66Rome
171Yellow and Blue
67Naples
172Yellow and Red
68Sicily
173Blue and Red
69Palermo (pt. 1)
174Yellow-Red and Blue-Red
70Palermo (pt. 2)
175Combinations Non-Characteristic
71Letters from Switzerland (pt. 1)
176Relation of the Combinations to Light and Dark
72Letters from Switzerland (pt. 2)
177Considerations Derived from the Evidence of Experience and History
73Correspondence with K. F. Zelter
178Æsthetic Influence
74Eckermann’s Conversations with Goethe (pt. 1)
179Chiaro-Scuro
75Eckermann’s Conversations with Goethe (pt. 2)
180Tendency to Colour
76Theory of Colours
181Keeping
77Translator's Preface
182Colour in General Nature
78Preface to the First Edition of 1810
183Characteristic Colouring
79Introduction
184Harmonious Colouring
80PART I. PHYSIOLOGICAL COLOURS.
185Genuine Tone
81I. Effects of Light and Darkness on the Eye
186False Tone
82II. Effects of Black and White Objects on the Eye
187Weak Colouring
83III. Grey Surfaces and Objects
188The Motley
84IV. Dazzling Colourless Objects
189Dread of Theory
85V. Coloured Objects
190Ultimate Aim
86VI. Coloured Shadows
191Grounds
87VII. Faint Lights
192Pigments
88VIII. Subjective Halos
193Allegorical, Symbolical, Mystical Application of Colour
89Pathological Colours. Appendix
194Concluding Observations (pt. 1)
90PART II. PHYSICAL COLOURS.
195Concluding Observations (pt. 2)
91IX. Dioptrical Colours
196Criticism on Goethe & His Works
92X. Dioptrical Colours of the First Class
197Winckelmann and His Age
93XI. Dioptrical Colours of the Second Class.—Refraction
198Introduction to the Propyläen
94XII. Refraction without the Appearance of Colour
199Goethe: The Writer (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
95XIII. Conditions of the Appearance of Colour
200Byron and Goethe (Giuseppe Mazzini)
96XIV. Conditions under which the Appearance of Colour Increases
201The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust' (H. B. Cotterill)
97XV. Explanation of the Foregoing Phenomena
202Preface
98XVI. Decrease of the Appearance of Colour
203I. The Old Faust-Legend
99XVII. Grey Objects Displaced by Refraction
204II. Goethe's 'Faust'. Part I
100XVIII. Coloured Objects Displaced by Refraction
205III. Goethe's 'Faust'. Part II
101XIX. Achromatism and Hyperchromatism
206Goethe's Farbenlehre: Theory of Colors (I&II) (John Tyndall)
102XX. Advantages of Subjective Experiments.—Transition to the Objective
207Analysis
103Objective Experiments
208Reflection
104XXI. Refraction without the Appearance of Colour
209Memorable Quotes
105XXII. Conditions of the Appearance of Colour