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Ritchie Robertson
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Goethe: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions Book 462) Illustrated Edition, Kindle Edition

by Ritchie Robertson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 37 ratings
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In 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: 'Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times... because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man.'

In this Very Short Introduction Ritchie Robertson covers the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): scientist, administrator, artist, art critic and supreme literary writer in a vast variety of genres. Looking at Goethe's poetry, novels and drama pieces, as well as his travel writing, autobiography, and essays on art and aesthetics, Robertson analyses some of the key themes in his works: love, nature, religion and tragedy. Dispelling the misconception of Goethe as a
sedate Victorian sage, Robertson shows how much of his art was rooted in turbulent personal conflicts, and draws on recent research to present a complete portrait of the scientific work and political activity which accompanied Goethe's writings.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0199689255
  2. Edition
    Illustrated
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    OUP Oxford
  5. Publication date
    January 28, 2016
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    2070 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ritchie Robertson is Taylor Professor of German in the University of Oxford. He is Research Director for the Modern Languages Faculty, co-director (with Carolin Duttlinger and Katrin Kohl) of the Oxford Kafka Research Centre, convenor of the Bithell Series of Dissertations in German, and editor of the series Germanic Literatures. He is the author of The 'Jewish Question' in German Literature, 1749-1939: Emancipation and its Discontents, Mock-Epic Poetry from Pope to Heine, and Kafka; A Very Short Introduction. He has translated several German authors into English for the Oxford World's Classics and Penguin Classics series, and has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2004.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0189EO8SS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ OUP Oxford; Illustrated edition (January 28, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 28, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2070 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0199689253
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 37 ratings

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Ritchie Robertson

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
37 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2016
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excellent book.
4 people found this helpful
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Gstaffel
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book if you are aiming to know who Goethe is.
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2019
Verified Purchase
Robertson does a good job of organizing the details of Goethe’s life and integrating his significant work. He offers good insights on Goethe’s motivations. Particularly well done is how he ties-in his personal relationships. It is sometimes difficult to separate Robertson’s somewhat jaundiced view of Christianity from Goethe’s.
2 people found this helpful
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E. Silverstone
5.0 out of 5 stars Goethe, The Band and Dylan
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2017
Not only is the author, Richie Robertson, a very good scholar and critic, I have loved his music with The Band for many years. It would have been interesting to hear Robertson and Dylan discuss Goethe in the basement of the house in Woodstock. But since they have never released "Goethe The Basement Tapes", we have to be satisfied with this book.
5 people found this helpful
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Stanley Hauer
3.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly difficult book: certainly not a biography
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021
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I had the wrong expectations for this short book. I thought it would mostly be a biography of Goethe. It most certainly is not that. (We need a good one in English, as neither Safranski nor Boyle will do, though for different reasons.) Robertson is a very fine scholar. I thought he would bring his considerable expertise to an introduction that would be both enjoyable and helpful. This brief, but surprisingly tough, book is rather series of philosophical and literary essays sampling Goethe's oeuvre. It makes for quite a slog that seems longer than its modest length should dictate. It that's what you want, you've come to the right place. If you wanted a biographical introduction to (say) the 12-vol Princeton collection of Goethe's work, look elsewhere.
5 people found this helpful
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robin friedman
4.0 out of 5 stars Goethe In The Very Short Introductions Series
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2020
The Very Short Introductions Series of Oxford University Press aims to provide "stimulating ways into new subjects". Ritchie Robertson's 2016 book for the series on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1789 -- 1832) takes a life of extraordinary complexity and achievement and crystallizes it less than 150 dense pages. Robertson, Taylor Professor of German at Oxford, has written prolifically on German literature and on the Enlightenment. He is an ideal choice for writing this short introduction on Goethe for the benefit both of new readers and for those readers wishing a brief summary of scholarly thinking about the Sage of Weimar. In his Preface, Robertson states that he has endeavored to write a "personal book, in which, without forcing my presence on the reader, I have tried to express my own views on why Goethe matters and why his main works remain endlessly rewarding." He succeeds well in this aim.

This book concentrates on Goethe's writings and accomplishments more than on the details of his life. However, there is considerable treatment of his many erotically charged relationships with women and with his frequent tendency to fall in love with unattainable women. Robertson ties in well the romantic experiences of Goethe's life with many of his writings.

The book is in six chapters organized by subjects, including love, nature, classical art and world literature, politics, tragedy, and religion. Robertson tries to give an account of Goethe's views on these broad matters and to relate them to his writings and work. The figures that stand out for me in this book include Plato, Enlightenment thinkers, and, Spinoza. Robertson also places Goethe within the context of the historical events of his time in his discussions of the French Revolution, Napoleon, the Holy Roman Empire, and, always, the Enlightenment.

The book begins with a study of Goethe's famous early novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther" which it uses as a point of entry to his work as a whole to explore the question of classicism and romanticism in Goethe. Throughout the book, Robertson discusses Goethe as a lyric poet with many brief examples from his large output. The book will impress the reader with the breadth of Goethe's output as Robertson discusses "Faust" "The Sorrow of William Meister", "William Meister's Apprenticeship" "Egmont", "Elective Affinities" and more. It is an embarrassment of riches to treat in a short book. The work is informative and succinct and left me wanting to know more.

The book gives attention to Goethe's interest and work in the natural sciences and to his political and governmental activities in Weimar. Robertson points out the limitations of Goethe's approach to science, together with his accomplishments. He also stresses Goethe's political conservatism, which was notable even in the context of the Germany of his day. In many ways, Goethe left his politics behind in the complexity and nuances of his writing.

I did not come to Goethe for the first time in reading this book. Robertson taught me a great deal and showed me how much I didn't know. One of the ways I have known Goethe is through listening to German lieder, including songs by Schubert, Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and others who set Goethe's poems. Goethe had little use for Schubert and brushed his work aside on two occasions. When I finished this book, I turned to listen to a CD of some of Schubert's settings of Goethe, including the famous "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel" and his many "Mignon" songs from "William Meister". Thus I supplemented what I had learned from Robertson by returning to learn of the genius of Goethe through the different genius of Schubert.

Robertson's book offers an excellent introduction Goethe's work and thought. The book includes a list of recommended translations, a bibliography of studies of recommended studies of Goethe in English, and a chronology of Goethe's life and works.

Robin Friedman
6 people found this helpful
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Chase M. Johnson
2.0 out of 5 stars About his life, not his ideas
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2018
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Little more than a really long preface. More about the life of Goethe than his ideas.
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Top reviews from other countries

Neill Brierley
5.0 out of 5 stars Great range of books
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2018
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Been curious about this guy for a number of years since first hearing him mentioned in Prisoner episode Hammer into Anvil. Have eight now in total. All impressive and worthy of collecting at price.
2 people found this helpful
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katie angermeyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2018
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good summary
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