Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann [Paperback]

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Author), Johann Peter Eckermann (Author), J. K. Moorhead (Editor), John Oxenford (Translator), Havelock Ellis (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 1998

German poet, dramatist, novelist, translator, scientist, and musician, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was the last universal genius of the West and a master of world literature, the author of The Sorrows of Young Werther, Wilhelm Meister, and Faust. Nowhere else can one encounter a more penetrating, many-sided, and personal Goethe than in the extraordinary Conversations (1836) by Johann Peter Eckermann (1792–1854), a German author and scholar as well as Goethe's friend, archivist, and editor. Although only thirty-one when first meeting the seventy-four-year-old literary giant, Eckermann quickly devoted himself to assisting Goethe during his last nine years while never failing to record their far-ranging discourse. Here are Goethe's thoughts on Byron, Carlyle, Delacroix, Hegel, Shakespeare, and Voltaire, as well as his views on art, architecture, astronomy, the Bible, Chinese literature, criticism, dreams, ethics, freedom, genius, imagination, immortality, love, mind over body, sculpture, and much more. Eckermann's Conversations—comparable to Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson—allows Goethe to engage the reader in a voice as distinct as it is entrancing.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (August 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306808811
• ISBN-13: 978-0306808814
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading; the mind of the Universal Genius revealed, January 7, 2001

By 

Ramon Kranzkuper (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann (Paperback)

For those who do not know anything about Goethe at all, 'Conversations' may not be a good place to start - but for those who are a little familiar with Goethe, 'Conversations of Goethe' makes for fascinating reading.

Very rarely do we have the life of a genius so well and closely documented. This book is not a record of formal interviews; it is a record by Eckermann, Goethe's good friend, who took the trouble to write down the great man's words almost every day, it seems. The book reads like a diary of Eckermann's, filled with Goethe - there is one entry for almost every day for a few weeks, then a break, and so on.

Eckermann seems to have written down almost everything he remembered from his conversations - and some of what Goethe said here may be edifyong, some not so much; but all of it is significant for one trying to get an insight into Goethe's mind - how it worked, how he thought, how he did things - right from the grand projects down to the simple pleasures.

One comes away from this book with an "insiders glimpse" of the Goethe's mind and world - and that really helps when reading his works.

The idea of Goethe as the complete, the perfect man, the universal genius - sticks with the reader years after reading this book. We live in an age when the really good things do not matter; Goethe reminds us of all the things that can, and do matter - and those things that can refresh, change, and enliven.

Nietzsche called this "the greatest book in German there is".

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A friend between the covers. . ., December 4, 2002

By 

Martha Ann Kennedy (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann (Paperback)

I love Goethe's creative works and his scientific theories, but most of all I love this book. I travel with it, look in it for advice and conversation. As an artist Goethe was incomparable; as a scientist he was curious, alive, observant, questioning -- but as a man who lived a life with a conscious intention to make his life a work of his own mind and heart he is the master and that master is found in the pages of this book. When I need a wise friend, I turn here and find, beside the wisdom, a silly person who thought spectacles were an affectation, an attempt on the part of someone to be something he was not. . .

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It should be required reading for artists and biographers., January 29, 2004

By 

Bob "prog45be" (Mobile, Alabama United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann (Paperback)

Here Goethe shares his opinions on drama, poetry, music, painting, philosophy, and prominent figures of the day.

What makes this book so much better than a mere interview is that instead of getting a load of useless answers in response to imbecilic questions, we get impromptu pearls of wisdom, straight from the master, interspersed among stretches of his daily life.

Eckermann is a master biographer here, because he's close enough to the subject to elicit candor, but not so close that he is oblivious to the subject's flaws. Furthermore, he was adept enough to get the old man to speak at length with almost no questioning at all!

I won't say any more, because words just can't do it justice.