Goethe's 1774 German novel follows young Werther's passionate, ultimately destructive obsession with the unattainable Charlotte. This influential work of Romantic fiction explores unrequited love and emotional turmoil through intimate letters, translated here by R. D. Boylan.
How happy I am that I am gone! My dear friend, what a thing is the heart of man! To leave you, from whom I have been inseparable, whom I love so dearly, and yet to feel happy! I know you will forgive me. Have not other attachments been specially appointed by fate to torment a head like mine? Poor Leonora! and yet I was not to blame. Was it my fault, that, whilst the peculiar charms of her sister afforded me an agreeable entertainment, a passion for me was engendered in her feeble heart? And yet am I wholly blameless? Did I not encourage her emotions? Did I not feel charmed at those truly genuine expressions of nature, which, though but little mirthful in reality, so often amused us? Did I not—but oh! what is man, that he dares so to accuse himself? My dear friend I promise you I will improve; I will no longer, as has ever been my habit, continue to ruminate on every petty vexation which …Continue reading →
This is the R. D. Boylan translation, a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
A towering figure of German literature and the Romantic movement, this 18th and 19th-century polymath mastered poetry, drama, and science with equal brilliance. His tragic masterpiece Faust and influential novel The Sorrows of Young Werther profoundly shaped European culture, while his scientific studies in botany and optics demonstrated his extraordinary intellectual range. All works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe →
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