A Review of Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther"
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- Nathrad Sheare
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A Review of Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther"
I wasn't expecting much more than the usual philosophical masterpiece, a funny thing to have thought, I see, now that I've written it down, no masterpiece being usual. It's typically slow moving with a nice punch somewhere around the middle to keep a reader paying attention, and a good kick at the end to keep him from thinking his time was wasted on it. In the case of the world's first bestseller, however, one of the few bestselling novels that can be called both notable works of art and miniseries delicious, the ball starts rolling almost immediately, and, even though the outcome has already been told us in roundabouts on the introductory page, we can't help but keep turning the pages, fascinated by the mind of the miserable guy who started the craze of dramatic young characters in fiction that still hasn't ended, much to our delight.
The rest of the cast isn't any less affecting. Goethe has seen to it that Lotte is a pretty girl with a sympathetic and balanced head, her affections for Werther seeming a little deeper than they're made out to be, so we are sorry for her when she falls entirely out of herself after learning Werther has shot himself through the eye, not that the great uproar within her thus that has everyone she knows fearing for her life prompts her to attend Werther's burial. We wonder if Albert doesn't know exactly what he's doing when he has her give Werther's servant the pistols Werther asks him for in a letter just before the close of the novel. He's, after all, well educated and shrewd, not oblivious to the fact that Werther is a passionate guy. By the time I reached the last page, the juice of the plot was dripping from my fingers!
The only thing to slow the action is a little bite of even older writings that, of course, any eighteenth century author in his right mind had to add in if he was to sell a book, because then just as now nobody thought anything written in their own age was any good. They consume about four pages and, if one is of the attitude for them, they can be interesting, all of them having mystical and melancholy elements. If not, one excuse I can offer in Goethe's behalf is the probability that, as he knew his work here was shorter than most, he supposed he needed something to keep the ending from seeming rushed, which he didn't have to worry about, the entire narrative being very appropriately and consistently paced.
In all, this is one of those classics anyone can enjoy. It's short enough that a casual reader doesn't have to worry about boredom and written well enough that any literature buff can say it's worthy to be called the first great tragic work of European fiction. The emotions it conveys are very real to everyone who has suffered the same fortunes in love we see Werther suffer throughout the novel, and any other sap will be pulled so deeply into Werther's frustrations and pains he'll feel they're his own. If that's the essence of any good book, then The Sorrows of Young Werther is truly exceptional.
-Edgar Allan Poe
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