Goethe’s letters to Charlotte von Stein are some of the most beautiful examples of world literature. They are intimate documents of Goethe’s first decade at Weimar, which, during his lifetime, was shrouded in silence.
Unreservedly he shares with her all his doubts and fears, tells her of his successes and failures and of his artistic and socio-political work in the Duchy of Weimar. Above all, however, these letters tell of his passion for this unattainable woman. Sigrid Damm has revisited these more than a thousand letters and conducted extensive research. The result is a unique and comprehensive portrait of the young Goethe between the ages of twenty-six and thirty-six. Damm illuminates the story behind his unusual love for von Stein, who was seven years his senior. She gives us insight into their high-flying illusions, their daily closeness, cheerfulness, the tensions between them and the reasons that led to the tragic end of their affair.
»a sensitive portrait that shows the young Goethe and von Stein in a new light. […] Even though Goethe’s letters may be known, what Sigrid Damm makes of them and the way she reads them, reveal many new stories revolving around the luminous figure of German Classicism. What ensues is a unique portrayal; the inner life of the young Goethe […] unfurls in front of us.« Deutschlandradio Kultur
»There’s no other German non-fiction author who writes like her. You can immerse yourself in Sigrid Damm’s prose, you can swim through it with powerful strokes and feel refreshed and invigorated afterwards. Or you can float in it and enjoy every single expression and each precisely placed citation.« Das Magazin
»a sensitive portrait that shows the young Goethe and von Stein in a new light. […] Even though Goethe’s letters may be known, what Sigrid Damm makes of them and the way she reads them, reveal many new stories revolving around the luminous figure of German Classicism. What ensues is a unique portrayal; the inner life of the young Goethe […] unfurls in front of us.« Deutschlandradio Kultur
»There’s no other German non-fiction author who writes like her. You can immerse...
Sigrid Damm was born in Gotha and lives in Berlin and Mecklenburg where she works as a writer. A member of P.E.N. and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, she has received numerous recognitions and awards for her works and is the author of the bestseller Christiane und Goethe. Eine Recherche.
Sigrid Damm was born in Gotha and lives in Berlin and Mecklenburg where she works as a writer. A member of P.E.N. and the Academy of Sciences and...
The volume contains Sigrid Damm’s essayistic works created over the span of four decades and is accompanied by an introduction by the German philologist and writer Heinrich Detering.
It includes recent essays on Hermann Hesse, Ulrich Schacht, the film Leuchte, mein Stern, leuchte, works on the Totentanz cycle by the painter Lutz Friedel and...
Sigrid Damm tells the exciting story, rich in contradictions, highs and lows, personal and political vicissitudes, of the more than fifty years of friendship between Goethe and the Weimar Duke Carl August.
From June 15 onwards, the day that Goethe receives the news of his friend’s death, their two lives are explored in flashbacks. Goethe talks about their »most...
A sixty-year-old woman and a thirty-year-old man are hiking in the solitude of the far north for seven days, in the archaic landscape of Swedish Lapland, the home of the Sami people, the last indigenous people in Europe.
At night, dreams open otherworldly doors, during the day, the rhythm of the steps sets their memory in motion. Peace and war, birth and death, horizon lines, fire,...
Sigrid Damm’s new book presents a retrospective love for her father. All her life, she was in conflict with him, rejected him. It wasn’t until shortly before his death that a tentative relationship started to develop between the two. More than twenty years later, she begins to trace her father’s life.
She consults documents and old photos, which had been stored...
»And now I bid all my friends in Weimar and Gotha a faithful farewell! Your love accompanies me, as I could not continue without it…«
Against a backdrop of wars and confusion, agreements and conflict between the neighboring courts of Gotha and Weimar, this book – based, as always, on Sigrid Damm’s meticulous research – reveals a largely unknown chapter of Goethe’s biography and...
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