Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre: ein Roman [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: A Novel] (German)
Title
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre: ein Roman [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: A Novel] (German)
Text Read
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre: ein Roman [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: A Novel] (German)
Author
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Original Source
Frankfurt & Leipzig: 1800
Digitized by
HathiTrust
Publication Date
1800
Date(s) of Reading
- 1854-11-08
- 1854-11-09
- 1854-11-15
- 1855-10-01
Evidence
1854-11-08: "Wednesday 8. Began translating Spinoza's Ethics. Wrote to Mrs. Robert Noel to thank her for trying to get me an introduction to Humboldt. Read Wilhelm Meister aloud in the evening." Diary 1854-1861 33
1854-11-09: "Thursday. 9. Read Rosenkranz on the Faust Sage. Translated Spinoza. Dessoir came and staid more than an hour. Then we walked out and looked at the engravings in the Linden. At so' clock went to Varnhagen's and found a very pleasant little party: Fraulein Solmar, Frau Nimsch, Doctor Ring, Dr. Vehse, Grafin von Kalkreit, and Director Wilhelm Schadow, author of"Der moderne Vasari". We talked of Goethe; Varnhagen brought out autographs and portraits and read us an epigram ofhis own on the want ofliberality which Goethe's family shew about opening his house to the public. He showed us a portrait of Kleist who shot himselfin company with Frau Vogel near an inn on the way to Potsdam. There was no love affair between them: they were both thoroughly unhappy, he poor and hopeless for the future, and she suffering from an incurable disease. In the evening they both wrote on a single sheet of paper letters to their friends communicating their intention. (This sheet Varnhagen possesses.) Early in the morning they rose, took a cup of coffee, went to the brink of a piece of water in the neighbourhood of the inn and there shot themselves. We came away at 8. Fraulein Assing, Varnhagen's niece, lent me a volume of Heine's poems. I read aloud "Donna Clara'' and then Wilhelm Meister till 10." Diary 1854-1861 33
1854-11-15: "In the evening we went to Spargnapini's, and had some chocolate and read the papers. G. finished reading allowed (sic) the Merchant of Venice, and I the first vol. of Wilhelm Meister." Diary 1854-1861 34
1855-10-01: 1855 Edition translated by Richard Dillon Boylan reviewed in “Belles Lettres” within the Westminster Review, vol. 64, issue 126, pp. 596-615.
1854-11-09: "Thursday. 9. Read Rosenkranz on the Faust Sage. Translated Spinoza. Dessoir came and staid more than an hour. Then we walked out and looked at the engravings in the Linden. At so' clock went to Varnhagen's and found a very pleasant little party: Fraulein Solmar, Frau Nimsch, Doctor Ring, Dr. Vehse, Grafin von Kalkreit, and Director Wilhelm Schadow, author of"Der moderne Vasari". We talked of Goethe; Varnhagen brought out autographs and portraits and read us an epigram ofhis own on the want ofliberality which Goethe's family shew about opening his house to the public. He showed us a portrait of Kleist who shot himselfin company with Frau Vogel near an inn on the way to Potsdam. There was no love affair between them: they were both thoroughly unhappy, he poor and hopeless for the future, and she suffering from an incurable disease. In the evening they both wrote on a single sheet of paper letters to their friends communicating their intention. (This sheet Varnhagen possesses.) Early in the morning they rose, took a cup of coffee, went to the brink of a piece of water in the neighbourhood of the inn and there shot themselves. We came away at 8. Fraulein Assing, Varnhagen's niece, lent me a volume of Heine's poems. I read aloud "Donna Clara'' and then Wilhelm Meister till 10." Diary 1854-1861 33
1854-11-15: "In the evening we went to Spargnapini's, and had some chocolate and read the papers. G. finished reading allowed (sic) the Merchant of Venice, and I the first vol. of Wilhelm Meister." Diary 1854-1861 34
1855-10-01: 1855 Edition translated by Richard Dillon Boylan reviewed in “Belles Lettres” within the Westminster Review, vol. 64, issue 126, pp. 596-615.
Related Works
Citation
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre: ein Roman [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: A Novel] (German), George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57195