
author
1749–1832
A giant of German literature, this poet, novelist, and playwright helped shape European culture through works that still feel vivid today. Best known for Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther, he also brought a scientist’s curiosity and a statesman’s experience to his writing.

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![Faust: Dramatisch dichtstuk van Goethe [deel 1]](https://listenly.io/api/img/6638c98b972dc5c80ef7b7cc/cover.jpg)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![Faust: Eine Tragödie [erster Teil]](https://listenly.io/api/img/6637fcd9829d50c265d7ae7a/cover.jpg)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres](https://listenly.io/api/img/6637f9d3829d50c265d73a88/cover.jpg)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![[Einleitung zu:] Thomas Carlyle, Leben Schillers](https://listenly.io/api/img/6637fb7f829d50c265d77a7c/cover.jpg)
by Thomas Carlyle, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![Faust: a Tragedy [part 1], Translated from the German of Goethe](https://listenly.io/api/img/6637f9c3829d50c265d73816/cover.jpg)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
![Faust [première partie]](https://listenly.io/api/img/6638c422972dc5c80ef6ee40/cover.jpg)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Theodor Fontane, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gottfried Keller, Theodor Storm

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Anni Swan, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, James Macpherson

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gräfin zu Augusta Louise Stolberg-Stolberg

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1749, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe became the most influential writer in the German language and one of the defining literary figures of Europe. He studied law, but literature drew him in early, and his 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther made him famous across the continent while he was still a young man.
Goethe spent much of his career in Weimar, where he served in government as well as writing poetry, plays, novels, and criticism. His interests reached far beyond literature: he also worked on science, including studies of plants, color, and anatomy, which helps explain the unusual range and curiosity found in his books.
His masterpiece is often considered Faust, a work he developed over many years and completed late in life. He died in 1832, but his influence has never really faded; readers still return to him for the emotional force of Werther, the ambition of Faust, and the sense that one restless mind was trying to understand the whole world.