Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : A.A. Knopf, 1940.
Description
Thomas Mann, fascinated with the concept of genius and with the richness of German culture, found in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe the embodiment of the German culture hero. Mann's novelistic biography of Goethe was first published in English in 1940. Lotte in Weimar is a vivid dual portrait--a complex study of Goethe and of Lotte, the still-vivacious woman who in her youth was the model for Charlotte in Goethe's widely-read The Sorrows of Young Werther. Lotte's thoughts, as she anticipates meeting Goethe again after forty years, and her conversations with those in Weimar who knew the great man, allow Mann to assess Goethe's genius from many points of view. Hayden White's fresh appraisal of the novel reveals its consonances with our own concerns.… (more)
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1939
Physical description
x, 453 p.; 20 cm
Notes/Finding Aids
Limited Edition: #256 of 395 printed. Autographed by the author. Deluxe edition (all rag paper).
DDC/MDS
| 813.5 MAN |
User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
The premise for this book is the recorded fact that Charlotte Kestner, the woman who was famously the original of the heroine of Werther, made a visit to Weimar in the autumn of 1816, during which she met Goethe again for the first time in 44 years. Mann ingeniously uses this rather flimsy hook as
As you would expect from Mann, the form of the book is far from conventional. It's written, quite literally, in the language of Goethe: not only does Mann choose to use early-19th-century idioms, spelling, and grammatical forms throughout, but most of the time he also has his characters talk like characters in an early-19th-century novel - only more so. The speeches are long-winded, theatrical (in a good way), and deeply thoughtful. Worthy of Weimar, in every way. Fortunately, Mann has the very un-Weimarish and practical widow Lotte on hand to interrupt them and pull them back to earth when they get too full of their own hot air.
We only meet Goethe face to face about two-thirds of the way through the book: before that, Lotte has had long conversations with several peripheral figures: the Irish celebrity-hunter "Miß Cuzzens", the secretary Dr Riemer, Adele Schopenhauer, and Goethe's son August. And missed her lunch with the sister she has come to visit. So we get to see Goethe in the first place through the eyes of the people (including Lotte) whose lives take place largely in his shadow. When we do actually meet him, Mann surprises us by shifting to a modernist stream-of-consciousness style (though more than ever sticking to Goethe's own language - he constantly seems to be paraphrasing his own work) as we encounter the great man waking up, itemising his old man's aches and pains, launching into his duties of the day, and studiously avoiding showing any excitement about the sudden reappearance of his long-lost love.
Not exactly light reading, but fascinating, very clever, and unexpectedly modest and witty at the same time.
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the support for a complicated historical novel exploring Goethe and his relationships with his creative talent, with his family and entourage, with the court and people of Weimar, and with German politics and culture. Like all historical novels, it seems to be as much about the time it is written in as the time it is set in: Mann's strong identification with Goethe's role as a literary and political celebrity, his ageing and ill-health, and his troublesome family, are very obvious, whilst the reflections on Germanness Mann puts into Goethe's mouth sometimes risk turning him into the prophet who foretold the rise of Hitler. (This element of the book notoriously got Mann into trouble later on, when the prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, Sir Hartley Shawcross, quoted one of Goethe's prescient speeches from the novel thinking he was quoting Goethe's own words.)As you would expect from Mann, the form of the book is far from conventional. It's written, quite literally, in the language of Goethe: not only does Mann choose to use early-19th-century idioms, spelling, and grammatical forms throughout, but most of the time he also has his characters talk like characters in an early-19th-century novel - only more so. The speeches are long-winded, theatrical (in a good way), and deeply thoughtful. Worthy of Weimar, in every way. Fortunately, Mann has the very un-Weimarish and practical widow Lotte on hand to interrupt them and pull them back to earth when they get too full of their own hot air.
We only meet Goethe face to face about two-thirds of the way through the book: before that, Lotte has had long conversations with several peripheral figures: the Irish celebrity-hunter "Miß Cuzzens", the secretary Dr Riemer, Adele Schopenhauer, and Goethe's son August. And missed her lunch with the sister she has come to visit. So we get to see Goethe in the first place through the eyes of the people (including Lotte) whose lives take place largely in his shadow. When we do actually meet him, Mann surprises us by shifting to a modernist stream-of-consciousness style (though more than ever sticking to Goethe's own language - he constantly seems to be paraphrasing his own work) as we encounter the great man waking up, itemising his old man's aches and pains, launching into his duties of the day, and studiously avoiding showing any excitement about the sudden reappearance of his long-lost love.
Not exactly light reading, but fascinating, very clever, and unexpectedly modest and witty at the same time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SusieBookworm
I can't believe I actually finished reading this. Lotte in Weimar is probably one of the most boring books I've ever read, mostly because I managed to finish it where similar books would have been back on the shelf weeks before. My reason: I don't do well with dialogue, and the novel is pretty much
It wasn't all bad and boring, though. Thomas Mann is a great writer and did a really nice job with telling the tale of Lotte's later life and dealings with Goethe, it's just that my teenage mind kept zoning out of the interminable discussions. I'm sure a seventy-page view of Goethe's inner mind is fascinating, but I can't focus on his ramblings for that long. I was able to identify some with Lotte, though she's several decades older than myself. The feeling of love with another person being avoided by a few twists of everyday fate, the wondering of the what-could-have-been, the longing to see and talk to the other person some, even if just within your own mind, can be universal across ages. I also caught the reflection upon the sacrifices other people make to the "genius" of an author, which reminded me of Sofia Tolstoy's diary. Mann's Goethe bore similarities in temperament and "genius" to Sofia Tolstoy's images of her famous husband, which makes me glad that Lotte did not further engage herself with Goethe and end up in a position similar to that of Sofia. The novel also re-emphasized my dislike of the whiny, selfish Werther of Goethe's novel and how, whatever his immediate desires, Werther's want to be with Lotte could never have ended up well in the long run. So, Thomas Mann, I will happily revisit your novel later when I feel more up to the task of dealing with all that talking.
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all dialogue, for all four hundred fifty pages. Dear Thomas Mann: It's not you, it's me. So sorry I didn't like your book that much.It wasn't all bad and boring, though. Thomas Mann is a great writer and did a really nice job with telling the tale of Lotte's later life and dealings with Goethe, it's just that my teenage mind kept zoning out of the interminable discussions. I'm sure a seventy-page view of Goethe's inner mind is fascinating, but I can't focus on his ramblings for that long. I was able to identify some with Lotte, though she's several decades older than myself. The feeling of love with another person being avoided by a few twists of everyday fate, the wondering of the what-could-have-been, the longing to see and talk to the other person some, even if just within your own mind, can be universal across ages. I also caught the reflection upon the sacrifices other people make to the "genius" of an author, which reminded me of Sofia Tolstoy's diary. Mann's Goethe bore similarities in temperament and "genius" to Sofia Tolstoy's images of her famous husband, which makes me glad that Lotte did not further engage herself with Goethe and end up in a position similar to that of Sofia. The novel also re-emphasized my dislike of the whiny, selfish Werther of Goethe's novel and how, whatever his immediate desires, Werther's want to be with Lotte could never have ended up well in the long run. So, Thomas Mann, I will happily revisit your novel later when I feel more up to the task of dealing with all that talking.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Thomas Mann admired Goethe tremendously, wrote essays about him and gave lectures on this author. It is safe to say that Mann was fascinated by the author. This novel portrays Goethe as a difficult, irritating, selfish aging man who is devoted primarily to his own special interests and pursuits.
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The psychology of a man like this is plumbed with the acuity of the great writer that Mann was by the late nineteen-thirties. The character of Goethe is delineated through the perspectives of Lotte, Goethe's son August, and Adele Schopenhauer. The views of Goethe of each of these in turn seem to mirror their perspectives. Filled with scenes from Goethe's life his character is gradually revealed, his genius as a writer is plumbed, and his works are revealed through interpolated quotations. The novel is an interesting experiment in style that differs in many ways from other of Mann's works I have read, while still maintaining the voice of the author. Show Less