Autobiography of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Autobiography

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Title: Autobiography
Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Translated by John Oxenford
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY ***

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THE WORKS OF JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
TRANSLATORS
THOMAS CARLYLE HENRY W. LONGFELLOW SIR WALTER
SCOTT BAYARD TAYLOR
EDWARD CHAWNER CHAS. J. SPRAGUE LEOPOLD NOA
HENRY DALE
JOHN OXENFORD THEODORE MARTIN W. E. AYTOUN E. A.
BOWRING
A. J. W. MORRISON G. H. LEWES J. S. DWIGHT ANNA
SWANWICK
THE GOTTINGEN EDITION OF JOHANN WOLFGANG VON
GOETHE'S WORKS IS LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND COPIES,
OF WHICH THIS IS NUMBER 976
[Illustration: PICTURE OF GOETHE]

GOTTINGEN EDITION
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
TRUTH AND FICTION RELATING TO MY LIFE
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
TRANSLATED BY JOHN OXENFORD
VOLUME I.
PHILADELPHIA AND CHICAGO J. H. MOORE AND COMPANY

INTRODUCTION.
BY THOMAS CARLYLE.
It would appear that for inquirers into Foreign Literature, for all men
anxious to see and understand the European world as it lies around
them, a great problem is presented in this Goethe; a singular, highly
significant phenomenon, and now also means more or less complete for
ascertaining its significance. A man of wonderful, nay, unexampled
reputation and intellectual influence among forty millions of reflective,
serious and cultivated men, invites us to study him; and to determine
for ourselves, whether and how far such influence has been salutary,
such reputation merited. That this call will one day be answered, that
Goethe will be seen and judged of in his real character among us,
appears certain enough. His name, long familiar everywhere, has now
awakened the attention of critics in all European countries to his works:
he is studied wherever true study exists: eagerly studied even in France;
nay, some considerable knowledge of his nature and spiritual
importance seems already to prevail there. [Footnote: Witness /Le
Tasse, Drame par Duval,/ and the Criticisms on it. See also the Essays
in the /Globe,/ Nos. 55, 64 (1826).]
For ourselves, meanwhile, in giving all due weight to so curious an

exhibition of opinion, it is doubtless our part, at the same time, to
beware that we do not give it too much. This universal sentiment of
admiration is wonderful, is interesting enough; but it must not lead us
astray. We English stand as yet without the sphere of it; neither will we
plunge blindly in, but enter considerately, or, if we see good, keep aloof
from it altogether. Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit,
but only a probability of such; it is an accident, not a property, of a man;
like light, it can give little or nothing, but at most may show what is
given; often it is but a false glare, dazzling the eyes of the vulgar,
lending by casual extrinsic splendour the brightness and manifold
glance of the diamond to pebbles of no value. A man is in all cases
simply the man, of the same intrinsic worth and weakness, whether his
worth and weakness lie hidden in the depths of his own consciousness,
or be betrumpeted and beshouted from end to end of the habitable
globe. These are plain truths, which no one should lose sight of; though,
whether in love or in anger, for praise or for condemnation, most of us
are too apt to forget them. But least of all can it become the critic to
'follow a multitude to do evil' even when that evil is excess of
admiration; on the contrary, it will behoove him to lift up his voice,
how feeble soever, how unheeded soever, against the common delusion;
from which, if he can