Revisit the musings of the greatest writer in the German language
A new edition of “Conversations with Goethe” attests to his genius and charisma
Anyone who worries that the media spotlight kills true art is in good company. In 1824 Europe’s most revered writer complained that “our present generation of talents live their lives in the full glare of publicity”, which blights creativity like “toxic rain”. Yet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe uttered those remarks during interviews with a fan that would fill a vast, three-volume compendium of talk. By the 1820s the author of “Faust” and “The Sorrows of Young Werther” was venerated as the godfather of German literature. He may have damned upscale arts journalism, but Goethe still spent nine patient years helping invent the genre.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “In Goethe company”
Culture August 27th 2022
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From the August 27th 2022 edition
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