{"product_id":"magnificent-rebels-isbn-9780525657118","title":"Magnificent Rebels","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER\u003c\/i\u003e ESSENTIAL READ • From the best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e comes an exhilarating story about a remarkable group of young rebels—poets, novelists, philosophers—who, through their epic quarrels, passionate love stories, heartbreaking grief, and radical ideas launched Romanticism onto the world stage, inspiring some of the greatest thinkers of the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e • \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Make[s] the reader feel as if they were in the room with the great personalities of the age, bearing witness to their insights and their vanities and rages.” —Lauren Groff, best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eMatrix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen did we begin to be as self-centered as we are today? At what point did we expect to have the right to determine our own lives? When did we first ask the question, How can I be free?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt all began in a quiet university town in Germany in the 1790s, when a group of playwrights, poets, and writers put the self at center stage in their thinking, their writing, and their lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel; the contentious Schlegel brothers; and, in a wonderful cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. And at the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, who sparked their dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe French revolutionaries may have changed the political landscape of Europe, but the young Romantics incited a revolution of the mind that transformed our world forever. We are still empowered by their daring leap into the self, and by their radical notions of the creative potential of the individual, the highest aspirations of art and science, the unity of nature, and the true meaning of freedom. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfillment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our responsibilities toward our community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book is the extremely modern tension between the dangers of selfishness and the thrilling possibilities of free will. | \u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e Essential Read • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times • The New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e • \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eThe Chicago Tribune • The Times\u003c\/i\u003e (UK) \u003ci\u003e• Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e • \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e • \u003ci\u003eThe New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e • \u003ci\u003eThe Spectator • Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e • An \u003ci\u003eEconomist\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book on Culture and Ideas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An engrossing chronicle of the early German Romantics … Wulf, who has a novelistic eye for the telling detail, provides a riveting account of how raptures gave way to ruptures.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Review of Books \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Wulf] spins a lively yarn. . . . A century ago Anglophone intellectuals were more aware of German ideas than they are today. Ms Wulf is to be thanked for bringing some neglected thinkers vividly to life.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Her real subjects are the relationships among these writers—their friendships and feuds, love affairs and professional rivalries, about which she writes vividly and well.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Republic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a buoyant work of intellectual history. . . . Wulf’s story, as the movie ads used to say, has everything. . . . [A] fine and thorough book.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Engaging and often profound. . . . [\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e] presents a thrilling picture of university life. . . . Wulf paints a moving collective portrait of these intellectuals as they struggled to embody their revolutionary ideals. . . . Wulf also shows how important were the women in this intellectual circle, who lived out their own experiments in liberation. . . . At its most ambitious, \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e concerns the relationships between philosophy and politics, thought and action. It explores the tension between the inwardness of Romantic philosophy and the ethical or political aspirations of its practitioners, nearly all of whom supported the French Revolution. . . . Despite the complex arguments developed by its main characters, the book vividly conveys the drama of ideas. It captures the unique pleasures of communal thinking … as well as the suffering and the sense of betrayal that mark a community’s dissolution.\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eThere\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eis plenty of erotic drama here too, since the rebellion Wulf describes was sexual as much as anything. For the Romantics, as we see in detail, free thinking and free love were inseparable, and the personal consequences were often excruciating. . . . \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e shows with great lucidity how the Romantic desire to liberate the self still shapes our sense of who we are — or who we might strive to be.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“[An] exuberant narrative. . . . This ‘Jena Set’ undoubtedly saw themselves as magnificent rebels — gloriously free spirits bent on centering the self, in all of its sublime subjectivity, and throwing off the shackles of a stultifying, mechanistic order. . . . There are a number of colorful characters in this book who compete for our attention. . . . Wulf offers vibrant portraits of them all. . . . As Wulf’s nimble storytelling vividly shows, part of what made the Romantics so fascinating and maddening was their refusal to be pinned down.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“[Wulf] finds kindred spirits in the proudly independent, unconventional prodigies of Jena. . . . A collective biography of talented and productive men and women who worked brilliantly together, apart, and in opposition.” \u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This compelling account of ‘the first Romantics’ is very welcome, and long overdue. . . . The book is beautifully produced, with contemporary maps, engravings, and portraits of its stellar cast. . . . Andrea Wulf’s group biography of ‘the Jena Set’ is an impeccable piece of writing, putting the many lives into context both intellectually and in their personal relations, with an emphasis on the lives of the women. . . . Wulf’s narrative ends with a clear and cogent account of the influence of the work of these pioneering Romantics on American and European thought and literature. . . . \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is one of those rare books that is truly an intellectual landmark, expanding the reader’s literary knowledge by introducing a fascinating new context.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eIrish Obeserver\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Exhilarating. . . . This is indeed an electrifying book, in its illuminated portraits, its dynamic narrative and its sparking ideas. Wulf writes clear, flowing prose, which is a pleasure to read. It’s informed by scholarship without being bogged down by jargon.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian \u003c\/i\u003e(UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A vivid portrait of the German coterie who launched Romanticism. . . . Ambitious, engaging, and effusive. . . . Wulf is excellent at this kind of descriptive prose, evoking the sights and sounds of the city with an almost classical \u003ci\u003eenargia\u003c\/i\u003e. We feel the excitement of living through the period alongside her vivid characters. . . . Wulf’s book reads as much like a novel as a novel as an intellectual biography. . . . [\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e] is a considerable achievement.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e (UK) \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Wonderful. . . . In a gripping account of what she calls the ‘Jena Set’ (which was intellectually and emotionally as complex as the Bloomsbury Group), Wulf brings the dramatis personae compellingly to life.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“With narrative verve buttressed by scrupulous research, Andrea Wulf has tracked this history [of the Jena Set] in unfailingly lucid fashion. . . . Avoiding metaphysical warrens and blind alleys, Wulf keeps a firm grasp on this broader historical context as well as the narrower intellectual controversies, but her primary interest is the personal interaction of a set of supremely intelligent men and women whose intense friendships and feuds, collaborations and affairs, can aptly be compared to that of the Bloomsbury Group or the Parisian modernists. . . . [Wulf’s] book has an irresistible panache marvelously appropriate to the story of these high-pitched personalities, and it is rich in telling anecdotes.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a magnificent book: a revelation which could easily become an obsession.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Spectator \u003c\/i\u003e(UK) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Delightful and invigorating . . . a worthy successor to [Wulf’s] acclaimed study of [Alexander] Von Humboldt, \u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e. . . . \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a triumph of unseen toil, hardly suspected by the reader, in the midst of the sociable whirl of the main narrative. But all the time you realise Wulf has been sweating away out of sight, in the dim caverns of archives and the flickering, unvisited galleries of notes and appendices. Triumphantly, the book is not touched with one speck of archival dust, nor does it sag with any sign of exhaustion in the academic salt mines. The reader is simply presented with bright jewels of anecdote.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Times \u003c\/i\u003e(UK) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a thrilling intellectual history that reads more like a racy but intelligent novel or even a very superior soap opera where the characters are almost all oddballs, but geniuses. . . . The little town of Jena blazed with a youthful, daring and intellectual creativity rarely matched elsewhere and \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e captures this brilliantly.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Sunday Times \u003c\/i\u003e(UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An extensively researched, gorgeously written, vibrant, multifaceted, and richly elucidative portrait of a group that ‘changed our world.’”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Booklist \u003c\/i\u003e*starred review*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A spirited re-creation of the world of the German founders of the post-Enlightenment movement. . . . An illuminating exploration of the life of the mind and the sometimes-fraught production of art.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Kirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e*starred review*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An engrossing group biography of the late-18th-century German intellectuals whose 'obsession with the free self' initiated the Romantic movement and led to the modern conception of self-determination. . . . [Wulf] explains heady philosophical concepts in clear prose. . . . The result is a colorful and page-turning intellectual history.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Jena Set was a late-eighteenth-century group of philosophers, artists, and thinkers so earthquakingly brilliant that we feel the tremors their ideas set off under our feet today. Nobody but Andrea Wulf, with her exquisite grasp of ideas and personalities, with her meticulous, sensitive, and acutely observed prose, could make the reader feel as if they were in the room with the great personalities of the age, bearing witness to their insights and their vanities and rages. Her storytelling had me immediately in her thrall.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Lauren Groff, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eMatrix\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e thrums with all the redhot frenzy, wild passion, and radical ideas of a free new world created out of poetry, sex, music, and romanticism! Wulf's superb group biography of the German Romantics is elegantly written, deeply researched, and totally gripping.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Simon Sebag Montefiore, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebest-selling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Romanovs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Truly extraordinary ... An intellectual history, group portrait, and elegy to Romanticism, which at points reads like a prizewinning novel. You feel you’re there in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Germany, experiencing the debates, disputations, and deep emotional interconnections between the most profound philosophers and greatest writers of the era as they grapple with the birth of the modern.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Andrew Roberts,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003ebest-selling author of\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNapoleon: A Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A magnificent book, fascinating in its focus and breathtaking in its scope and sweep. . . . \u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a work of formidable scholarship worn lightly; of complex intellectual history told evocatively, absorbingly, compellingly. Wulf’s superb prose draws us deeply into the lives and minds of this remarkable circle of people, who together explored the breathtaking possibilities — and tremendous risks — of free will, individual creativity and liberty.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Robert Macfarlane\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eUnderland\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Andrea Wulf is that rare historian who makes the past feel present and turns distant lives into gripping stories of the human heart. Without doubt, Magnificent Rebels is the best book I’ve read all year. It is an absolute masterpiece: mesmerizing, heartbreaking and incredibly timely, it is an important reminder that the desire to be true to oneself transcends time and borders.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Amanda Foreman\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eA World on Fire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“After her triumphant open-air biography of the explorer Alexander Humboldt who traversed half the globe, Andrea Wulf brings that same passionate gaze to bear upon a single, tiny, late-eighteenth-century university town in Germany. The result is a big, thrilling and constantly surprising book – an extraordinarily intimate and down to earth group biography. Wulf’s astonishingly vivid and bustling narrative, moves swiftly from lecture halls and libraries to kitchens and bedrooms, producing an amazing polyphony of youthful ideas and impassioned voices. . . . Brilliantly orchestrating a mass of original letters, diaries, and archival documents, Wulf revives a whole world of intense friendships, shifting intellectual alliances, furious philosophical arguments, inspirational suppers (including the cooking), theatrical first nights, seductive carriage journeys, hypnotic candlelit lectures and, of course, non-stop love affairs and betrayals (including the ecstatic love-making and equally ecstatic rows) ... It is a glorious piece of work, both thought-provoking and magical, and I loved it.” \u003cb\u003e—Richard Holmes, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Wonder\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMagnificent Rebels\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautiful group biography, celebrating the lives and loves of Germany’s most brilliant minds: Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Novalis, Schlegel, Schelling and Hegel. At the centre of their group in the small university town of Jena was a free-spirited, thrice married, single-mother named Caroline Michaelis-Böhmer-Schlegel-Schelling. She carried her father’s and husbands’ names but her life was entirely her own. Caroline is Andrea Wulf’s soulmate. This is a perfect pairing of author and subject – a joyful, life-affirming, freedom-loving tour de force.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ruth Scurr, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eNapoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e | ANDREA WULF was born in India and moved to Germany as a child. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eFounding Gardeners, Brother Gardeners, \u003c\/i\u003eand the New \u003ci\u003eYork Times \u003c\/i\u003ebest seller \u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Nature, \u003c\/i\u003ewhich has been published in twenty-seven languages and won fifteen international literary awards. Wulf has written for many newspapers and magazines, including \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Guardian, \u003c\/i\u003ethe \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic. \u003c\/i\u003eShe is a member of PEN America and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in London. | PART  I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArrival\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow  at  last  we’ve  overcome  all  the  obstacles  in  our  path,  and left them behind us too, on rails as smooth as the ones you’ve been on for so long. And alongside yours, too. I’m unspeakably happy  . .   .  and  this  valley  is  already  a  dear  friend.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCaroline  Schlegel  to  Luise  Gotter,  11  July  1796\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A  happy  event’ \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSummer  1794:  Goethe  and  Schillers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn 20 July 1794 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe heaved himself into the saddle and rode from his house in the centre of Weimar to Jena, where he planned to attend a botanical meeting of the recently founded  Natural  History  Society.  It  was  a  hot  summer  that  would soon  turn  into  a  glorious  autumn  –  long  sunbaked  months  during which  pears,  apples,  sweet  melons  and  apricots  ripened  four  weeks early and the vineyards produced one of the century’s greatest vintages. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn  the  fifteen-mile  ride  from  Weimar  to  Jena,  Goethe  passed farmers scything wheat in golden fields and great haystacks awaiting storage  as  winter  fodder  in  the  barns.  After  a  couple  of  hours  of riding through flat farmland, the countryside began to change. Little villages  and  hamlets  snuggled  into  gentle  dips,  and  then  the  forest closed  in  and  the  fields  disappeared.  The  land  became  more  hilly. Shellbearing limestone cliffs rose to the left, exposing the geological memory  of  the  region  when  this  part  of  Germany  had  been  a landlocked  sea  some  240  million  years  ago.  Just  before  he  reached Jena,  Goethe  crossed  the  so called  Snail,  the  steep  hill  named  after the  serpentine  road  that  wound  up  to  its  top. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen,  finally,  he  saw  Jena  beneath  him,  nestled  in  a  wide  valley and held in the elbow of the Saale River with the jagged outline of the forested mountains behind. These were more hills than mountains, perhaps, but the views were spectacular – and the reason why Swiss students in Jena lovingly called the surrounding area ‘little Switzerland’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGoethe was the Zeus of Germany’s literary circles. Born in Frankfurt in  1749  to  a  wealthy  family,  he  had  grown  up  amidst  comfort  and privilege. His maternal grandfather had been the mayor of Frankfurt and his paternal grandfather had made his wealth as a merchant and tailor. Goethe’s father didn’t have to work and had instead managed his  fortunes,  collected  books  and  art,  and  educated  his  children. Though a lively and bright child, Goethe had not shown any excep-tional  talents.  He  loved  to  draw,  was  proud  of  his  immaculate handwriting and enjoyed the theatre. When the French had occupied Frankfurt in 1759 during the Seven Years War and their commander had  been  billeted  at  the  Goethes’  house,  young  Goethe  had  made the  best  of  it  by  learning  French  from  the  occupying  forces. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe  had  studied  law  in  Leipzig  and  worked  as  a  lawyer,  but  also began to write. In the mid-1770s he had been thrust into the public eye  with  the  publication  of  his  novel\u003ci\u003e The  Sorrows  of  Young Werther \u003c\/i\u003e– the story of a forlorn lover who commits suicide. Goethe’s protagonist  is  irrational,  emotional  and  free.  ‘I  withdraw  into  myself  and find  a  world  there,’  Werther  declares.  The  novel  captured  the  sentimentality of the time and became the book of a generation. A huge international bestseller, it was so popular that countless men, including Carl  August,  the  ruler  of  the  small  Duchy  of  Saxe-Weimar,  had dressed like Werther – wearing a yellow waistcoat and breeches, blue tailcoat  with  brass  buttons,  brown  boots  and  a  round  grey  felt  hat. Chinese  manufacturers  even  produced Werther porcelain  for  the European  market. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt  was  said  that Werther had  caused  a  wave  of  suicides,  and  forty years  after  its  publication  the  British  poet  Lord  Byron  joked  with Goethe  that  his  protagonist  ‘has  put  more  individuals  out  of  this world than Napoleon himself ’. The Sorrows of Young Werther had been Goethe’s  most  vivid  contribution  to  the  so-called Sturm  und  Drang –  the  Storm  and  Stress  movement  –  which  had  elevated  feelings above  the  rationalism  of  the  Enlightenment.  In  this  period,  which had  celebrated  emotion  in  all  its  extremes,  from  passionate  love  to dark melancholy, from suicidal longings to frenzied delight, Goethe had  become  a  literary  superstar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe eighteen-year-old Duke Carl August had been so enraptured by  the  novel  that  he  had  invited  Goethe  to  live  and  work  in  the duchy  in  1775.  Goethe  was  twenty-six  when  he  moved  to  Weimar; and he knew how to make an entry, arriving dressed in his Werther uniform. During those early years the poet and the young duke had roistered through the streets and taverns of the town. They had played pranks on unsuspecting locals and flirted with peasant girls. The duke loved  to  gallop  across  the  fields  and  to  sleep  in  hay  barns  or  camp in the forest. There had been drunken brawls, theatrical declarations of love, naked swimming and nightly tree climbing – but those wild years were long gone and Goethe had turned his back on his Sturm und  Drang phase. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn  time,  both  poet  and  ruler  calmed  down,  and  Goethe  had become  part  of  the  duchy’s  government.  The  small  state  had  just over  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  –  tiny  in  comparison  to  the five million people of nearby Prussia, or other powerful states such as Saxony, Bavaria or Württemberg. With a mostly agrarian economy –  grain,  fruit,  wine,  vegetable  gardens  as  well  as  sheep  and  cattle  – the  Duchy  of  Saxe-Weimar  had  little  trade  and  manufacturing,  yet it  maintained  a  bloated  court  of  two  thousand  courtiers,  officials and soldiers, all of whom had to be paid. The town of Weimar itself had a provincial feel. Most of the seven hundred and fifty houses had only one storey and such small windows that they felt gloomy and cramped inside. The streets were dirty, and there were only two busi-nesses in the market square that sold goods which could be classed as luxury items – a perfumery and a textile shop. There wasn’t even a  stagecoach  station.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGoethe  became  Carl  August’s  confidant  and  his  privy  councillor – so trusted that it was rumoured that the duke didn’t decide anything without the poet’s advice. In time, Goethe took charge of the royal theatre  and  of  rebuilding  the  burned down  castle  in  Weimar,  in addition to several other well-paid administrative positions, including the  control  of  the  duchy’s  mines.  He  also  worked  closely  with  his colleague  in  the  Weimar  administration,  minister  Christian  Gottlob Voigt.  A  diligent  worker,  Goethe  was  never  idle  –  ‘I  never  smoked tobacco, never played chess, in short, I never did anything that would have  wasted  my  time.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1794, Goethe was forty-four and no longer the dashing Apollo of his youth. He had put on so much weight that his once beautiful eyes  had  disappeared  into  the  flesh  of  his  cheeks  and  one  visitor compared him to ‘a woman in the last stages of pregnancy’. His nose was aquiline, and like so many contemporaries, his teeth were yellowed and crooked. He had a penchant for stripy and flowery long waist-coats,  which  he  buttoned  tightly  over  his  round  belly.  Unlike  the younger  generation,  who  often  wore  fashionable  loose fitting  trousers,  Goethe  preferred  breeches.  He  wore  boots  with  turned-down tops and always his tricorne. He kept his hair coiffed and powdered, with  two  carefully  pomaded  curls  over  his  ears  and  a  long,  stiff ponytail. Knowing that everybody was watching him, he always made sure to be properly dressed and groomed when he went out. Ennobled by the duke in 1782, he was now Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and lived in a large house in Weimar, where he often tried and failed to work  amid  a  constant  stream  of  strangers  knocking  on  his  door to gawp at the famous poet. He loathed these disruptions almost as much as he hated noise, in particular the rattling of his neighbour’s loom  and  the  skittle  alley  in  a  nearby  tavern.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGoethe  might  have  turned  his  back  on  the Sturm  und  Drang era, but  it  seemed  as  if  his  creativity  had  done  the  same  to  him.  For years  he  had  failed  to  produce  anything  remarkable  and  his  plays were no longer widely staged. He fussed over his writings for years. More than two decades earlier, he had begun to work on his drama Faust but  only  a  few  scenes  had  been  published.  He  had  rewritten and  changed  his  tragedy Iphigenia  in Tauris so  many  times  –  from prose  to  blank  verse,  back  to  prose,  to  its  final  version  in  classical iambic  verse  –  that  he  called  it  his  ‘problem  child’.  And  though  he was the director of the Weimar theatre, he preferred to stage popular plays  by  his  contemporaries  rather  than  his  own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBotany  was  now  Goethe’s  favourite  subject,  and  the  reason  he often  came  to  Jena.  He  was  overseeing  the  construction  of  a  new botanical garden and institute in Jena. Originally founded in 1548 as a medicinal garden, the university’s existing botanical garden had been used to train physicians, but Duke Carl August had asked Goethe to extend  and  move  it  to  a  new  location,  just  north  of  the  old  town walls.  Goethe  enjoyed  every  aspect  of  the  project  because  it  united his  deep  love  of  nature  and  beauty  with  scientific  rigour.  He  was looking  forward  to  the  meeting  of  the  Natural  History  Society.","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303214239973,"sku":"NP9780525657118","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525657118.jpg?v=1767732117","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/magnificent-rebels-isbn-9780525657118","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}