Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1749–1832
Librarian’s score8.0Claude · AI
Readers—Shown after five ratings
A young man’s letters about nature, a woman engaged to someone else, and a feeling he will not let go. Goethe wrote it in his twenties, and its success across Europe made it one of the first literary sensations. Its intensity is real and its prose is lovely, though the hero’s self-absorption is now easier to see than to share.