Love, Life, Goethe by John Armstrong
831.6 GOE

In the nineteenth century, Johann Von Goethe became a bestselling author when his first book, The Sorrows of Young Werther, about an extremely sensitive young man who killed himself over unrequited love, came out. Young men dressed like Werther, used ‘Eau de Werther’ cologne, took long walks in the wood like Werther, and in some cases, even killed themselves like Werther. Not many of his readers seem to have realized that the novel was a case study in how not to live. Goethe’s interest was rather to discover how best, given the world’s limitations, each person can live a good life according to his own nature. He thought deeply on that subject his whole life, and his insights are as valuable today as they were in his time.