Goethe: The Poet and the Age

Abstract Volume 3 of Boyle’s biography of Goethe covers the years from 1803 to 1809, during which Napoleon extended his rule over the German-speaking world and Goethe published some of the major works which gave him his European reputation: notably Faust. Part One, Theory of Colour, and Elective Affinities. By establishing in greater detail than ever before the political and personal context in which Goethe was working this volume is able to offer new interpretations of his entire literary, scientific, and graphic output of the period. Political developments treated include the defeat of Prussia at the battle of Jena, and of Austria at Wagram, the treaty of Tilsit, the occupation of Weimar, the duchy’s accession to the Confederation of the Rhine, and its participation in Napoleon’s Spanish and Austrian campaigns. Personal matters include Schiller’s death, Goethe’s marriage to Christiane Vulpius, the education of their son, August, Goethe’s sentimental relationships with ‘Minna’ Herzlieb, Silvie von Ziegesar, and Bettina Brentano, his conversations with Napoleon in 1808, and the beginning of a regular pattern of summer vacations spent writing in Carlsbad. His intellectual dealings with Germaine de Staël, Hegel, Zacharias Werner, and Heinrich von Kleist are given particular attention. His foundation of the Jenaische Allgemeine Literaturzeitung and sustained innovative direction of the Weimar theatre exemplify his determination to maintain Weimar’s cultural standing, but his discontinuation of the Weimar Art Competition and his unavailing struggles on behalf of Jena University point to a disillusion with German public life that will only grow with time.