The Literature Book

112

MAN ERRS TILL

HE HAS CEASED

TO STRIVE

FAUST (1808, 1832), JOHANN WOLFGANG

VON GOETHE

I

t was not until shortly before

his death in 1832 that Johann

Wolfgang von Goethe finally

completed the work for which he is

best remembered—Faust, a tragic

play in two parts, the first of which

was completed in 1808. Faust is

also the most notable achievement

of the movement known as Weimar

Classicism, a period of prolific

cultural and literary activity

centered on the German city of

Weimar, which began in the 1780s

and lasted for nearly 30 years.

The two writers most closely

associated with Weimar Classicism

are Goethe and his friend and

collaborator, the playwright

Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805).

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Weimar Classicism

BEFORE

1776 Under the auspices of

the young Goethe, German

philosopher Johann Gottfried

Herder comes to Weimar and

begins to write works on

literary aesthetics that hark

back to the values of the Greek

classics. His ideas provide the

philosophical underpinning

for the movement known as

Weimar Classicism.

1794 Friedrich von Schiller

writes to Goethe. Their

friendship, after they meet in

Weimar, forms the backbone

of Weimar Classicism.

1799 Schiller completes his

Wallenstein d ra m a t r i l o g y,

often said to be the greatest

historical drama in the

German language and a key

work of Weimar Classicism.

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