ABSTRACT
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers was the title of the book which appeared, in two small volumes, in Leipzig in 1774, without its author’s name; the pages were adorned with delicate little rococo vignettes by Goethe’s old friend Oeser. On the title page was a small candle in front of a mirror— what did it symbolize? The flame of genius? By the side of the candlestick was a book. Whatever the symbolism, the mirror became a burning-glass, kindling a fire, a fire of instantaneous combustion and destruction, such as no German book had ever caused before or was ever to cause again. There was a Werther epidemic: Werther fever, a Werther fashion - young men dressed in blue tail-coats and yellow waistcoats — Werther caricatures, Werther suicides. His memory was solemnly commemorated at the grave of the young Jerusalem, his original, while the clergy preached sermons against the shameful book. And all this continued, not for a year, but for decades; and not only in Germany but in England, France, Holland and Scandinavia as well. Goethe himself noted with pride that even the Chinese had painted Lotte and Werther on porcelain; his greatest personal triumph was when Napoleon told him at their meeting that he had read the book seven times. The Emperor, who liked to air his knowledge, pointed out in criticism that he regarded the double motive of warped ambition and passionate love as a fault; he had a tidy mind.
