Pre-Italy

• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1749 into a high class family, as his father was a lawyer and his mother the daughter of the mayor.
• At the age of 16, Goethe left home to study law at Leipzig University where he wrote his first play The Lover’s Caprice in 1767.
• After a long period of illness – which some scholars believe to be syphilis – Goethe moved to the University of Strasbourg to continue his studies in law until 1771.
• He practiced law in Frankfurt and Wetzlar before the publication of his first novel, Die Leiden Des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther) in 1774. This book marked a milestone both in his writing career and in Western literature.
• Werther is written in the Sturm und Drang style, which places its main focus on the subjectivity of truth and the unease of people in modern society. Werther, the tragic young hero in the book, is also viewed as providing the archetype for the hero of later Romantic works: a young genius who rebels against the constraints of society and the neo-classical influences of the time.
• In 1775, Goethe was offered a position in the Weimer court by Duke Karl August. Goethe accepted the position, and took up work in a few government offices.