Book cover of Goethe: His Faustian Life - The Extraordinary Story of Modern Germany, a Troubled Genius and the Poem that Made Our World

Book description

'Wild, brilliant and has all the intelligence to rival its subject. Five Stars.' - Frances Wilson, The Telegraph
'Exuberant and wide-ranging' - Literary Review
'Passionate' - The Times

A spellbinding recreation of Goethe's life and work from one of our greatest biographers.

Goethe was the inventor of the psychological novel,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Goethe as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I lived in Germany as a teenager and have only warm and exciting feelings for the country.

It seemed that everything from the food to the place itself was, somehow, far more interesting than England, my homeland. That was, no doubt, largely because it was not England and I was an agitated youth.

But this book also gave depth to my feeling because of Goethe’s presence in the German imagination, who is quite as important there as Shakespeare to England or Dante to Italy.

I am appreciative of this book for opening up the life and times, ideas and art,…

A much needed homage to a giant of European literature

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On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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