March 9 notes - March 9 2009 Sorrows of Young Werther...

March 9, 2009
 Sorrows of Young Werther  Epistolary novel  written primarily in the form of
letters
 allows reader to get private thoughts of people involved
 not official account
 get to know characters as they really are; moral character  what they reveal
about themselves in innermost private moments
 religious quality in Germany  personal writing style comes from Pietism
 radical form of Protestantism
 practice prayer & writing feelings in diary & autobiographical form
 Goethe takes religious style of writing & makes it secular
 Opening of Novel
 nature  description reflects Werther’s mood
 nature reflects his soul
 nature is where he finds God
 pagan
 Spinoza  philosopher who talks about God not being a thing but in the universe
 Goethe  against science; nature is not an object to dissect; to understand nature you
have to understand humans as a part of nature, not separate from it and analyzing it
 complaint: people who are at the court/in the government are trapped in their roles