Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) was Germany’s greatest literary figure.

Poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic, and amateur artist, Goethe was the central and unsurpassed representative of the Romantic movement.

Goethe’s education was irregular; he went to no school, and his father stimulated rather than instructed him. But the atmosphere in which he was surrounded gave him, perhaps, the best education he could have received.

His home was a cultivated one. From his father he derived the steadfastness of character which enabled him to pursue an independent career of self-culture and devotion to art; from his mother he inherited the flow of language and love of narration, without which he could not have been a poet.

By the age of eight he had a grasp of Greek, Latin, French, and Italian and at sixteen he went to Leipzig University to study law.

Already a successful playwright, at the age of 25 the publication of his novel ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ brought him world-wide success, and cemented his literary career.

His masterpiece, ‘Faust’, still one of the most famous works of European literature, became a life-long project. Starting work on it at the age of twenty-three, it wasn’t ready for publication until after his death.

Oscar Browning’s classic biography explores Goethe’s fascinating life, using biographical details to analyse his literature. This short biography is the perfect starting point for anybody interested in Goethe’s life and works.

Oscar Browning (1837 –1923) was an English writer, historian, and educational reformer. His greatest achievement was the cofounding, along with Henry Sidgwick, of the Cambridge University Day Training College in 1891. This was one of the earliest institutions in Great Britain to focus on the training of educators, preempted only by the founding of the Cambridge Teaching College for Women by Elizabeth Hughes in 1885.

Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.