The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

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The Sorrows of Young Werther is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. The letters written by Werther give an intimate account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim whose peasants have enchanted him with their simple ways. There he meets Charlotte, a beautiful young girl who takes care of her siblings after the death of their mother. Werther falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing beforehand that she is engaged to be married to a man named Albert.

Herr Werther is overly sensitive in his all consuming infatuation with Charlotte, but also with slight insults that he's expose to when he tries get involved in a job to take his mind off of Charlotte. Consequently he perceives himself to be a failure, and decides to return to dwell in the vicinity of Charlotte and Albert. He then talks himself into such a miserable state of mind that he sees no alternative to committing suicide, so he kills himself. 

If you ignore the ending, the writing of this novel provides a good description of a young man's feelings exalting in appreciation of nature and feelings of love. In its time this book is reported to have inspired a number of suicides among its readers. Thus I recommend this book only to readers with jaded opinions about romantic love in order to avoid the possibility of an unwise response.

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