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Goethe

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

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Goethe

By: A. N. Wilson
Narrated by: A.N. Wilson
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Bloomsbury presents Goethe, written and read by A. N. Wilson

Goethe remains one of the most influential figures in modern literature and thought.

Goethe was the inventor of the psychological novel, a pioneer scientist, great man of the theatre and a leading politician. As A. N. Wilson argues in this groundbreaking biography, it was his genius and insatiable curiosity that helped catapult the Western world into the modern era.

A N. Wilson tackles the life of Goethe with characteristic wit and verve. From his youth as a wild literary prodigy to his later years as Germany’s most respected elder statesman, Wilson hones in on Goethe’s undying obsession with the work he would spend his entire life writing – Faust.

Goethe spent over 60 years writing his retelling of Faust, a strange and powerful work that absorbed all the philosophical questions of his time as well as the revolutions and empires that came and went. It is his greatest work, but as Wilson explores, it is also something much more - it is the myth of how we came to be modern.©2023 A. N. Wilson (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Art & Literature Authors Europe Middle Ages
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Critic reviews

Rich and full and passionate and intelligent and deeply needed for these murky times. (Ben Okri)
characteristically provocative and accessible… Splendid on the social detail and the facts of Goethe’s life. (Literary Review)
Exuberant and wide-ranging (Miranda Seymour, author of The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys)
Wilson’s Goethe is a serious work in an increasingly trivial time, a book that sheds light – mehr Licht! – as the age darkens. For that much, and for the so much more that it offers, it is to be treasured. (John Banville, the New Statesman)
A. N. Wilson’s biography of the German polymath is wild, brilliant and has all the intelligence to rival its subject (Frances Wilson, the Telegraph)
[...] this is a wonderful book. You really will understand Faust better after reading it. (Ferdinand Mount, The Oldie)
All stars
Most relevant
A. N's delivery is very emersive like he's having a conversation with you rather than reading his book.

im loving this!

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This is not at all a biography but more of a meditation on Goethe's life and contribution, culminating in his completion of Faust at the age of 82. I am that person who has never read Goethe apart from a few poems but I was aware of his huge cultural significance and wanted to understand more. A N Wilson delivered on this. His own narration is calm but expressive and it is like having a very erudite friend holding forth on the topics. I was ill for several days and listening to this lifted my spirits considerably.

Absorbing and wide ranging account

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