Italian Journey 1786-1788 book cover
Goethe's Artistic Journey

Italian Journey 1786-1788

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Paperback ISBN: 9780140442335 28 Oct 1982 197 x 130 x 23 (mm) 350g

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In 1786, when he was already the acknowledged leader of the Sturm und Drang literary movement, Goethe set out on a journey to Italy to fulfil a personal and artistic quest and to find relief from his responsibilities and the agonies of unrequited love. As he travelled to Venice, Rome, Naples and Sicily he wrote many letters, which he later used as the basis for the Italian Journey.

A journal full of fascinating observations on art and history, and the plants, landscape and the character of the local people he encountered, this is also a moving account of the psychological crisis from which Goethe emerged newly inspired to write the great works of his mature years.