Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Collected Works, incl. Faust (74 boo...

* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Collected Works, incl. Faust (74 books)

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749–1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. A poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre-director, and critic, Goethe wrote a wide range of works, including plays, poetry and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour.

Goethe first rose to prominence during the Sturm und Drang period with works that emphasized emotional intensity, individual freedom, and rebellion against convention. His epistolary novel THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER (1774) became an international sensation, capturing the inner turmoil of a sensitive young man overwhelmed by unrequited love and social constraint. The novel’s raw subjectivity and psychological depth resonated widely, influencing fashion, sentiment, and even behavior across Europe.

As Goethe matured, his work increasingly reflected a turn toward classical balance, philosophical depth, and artistic discipline. This shift is most evident in the tragic play FAUST , developed over more than sixty years, widely regarded as his masterpiece and one of the greatest works of Western literature. Blending poetry, drama, theology, folklore, and philosophy, it explores humanity’s striving for knowledge and meaning through the story of a scholar who makes a pact with Mephistopheles. Alongside this monumental drama, works such as WILHELM MEISTER’S APPRENTICESHIP (1795–96) helped shape the modern Bildungsroman, tracing personal development through art, work, and self-discovery.

Goethe’s literary output also extended to lyric poetry, travel writing, and scientific prose. His poetry spans intimate love lyrics, philosophical reflections, and nature poems marked by clarity and musicality. Collections like the WEST-EASTERN DIVAN (1819) and the ROMAN ELEGIES (published posthumously in 1914) reveal his engagement with classical antiquity and non-European literary traditions, particularly Persian poetry. ITALIAN JOURNEY (1816–1817), Goethe's report on his travels to Italy some years earlier, is a great travel chronicle as well as a candid self-portrait of a genius in the grip of spiritual crisis. Goethe also pursued scientific studies in botany, anatomy, and color theory, believing that artistic and scientific inquiry were complementary ways of understanding the natural world. These included THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS (1790) and his THEORY OF COLOURS (1810), which he considered his most important work.

Taken together, Goethe’s principal works reveal a writer deeply committed to exploring the full scope of human potential—emotional, intellectual, artistic, and moral. His ability to move fluidly across genres and disciplines, while continually reinventing his style and concerns, secures his place as a foundational figure in world literature.


The following books are in PDF and/or ePUB format as noted:

== COLLECTED WORKS, 12 vols. (Suhrkamp / Princeton UP) ==

* Volume 1: Selected Poems [ed. Middleton] (Suhrkamp, 1983) – PDF
* Volume 2: Faust, Parts I & II [tr. Atkins] (Princeton, 2014) – ePUB / PDF
* Volume 3: Essays on Art and Literature [ed. Gearey] (Suhrkamp, 1986) – PDF
* Volume 4: From My Life: Poetry and Truth, parts 1-3 [ed. Saine & Sammons] (Suhrkamp, 1987) – PDF
* Volume 6: Italian Journey [ed. Saine & Sammons] (Suhrkamp, 1989) – PDF
* Volume 7: Early Verse Drama & Prose Plays [ed. Hamlin & Ryder] (Suhrkamp, 1988) – PDF
* Volume 8: Verse Plays & Epic [ed. Hamlin & Ryder] (Suhrkamp, 1987) – PDF
* Volume 9: Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship [ed. Blackall] (Suhrkamp, 1989) – PDF
* Volume 10: Conversations of German Refugees & Wilhelm Meister [ed. Brown] (Princeton, 1994) – PDF
* Volume 12: Scientific Studies [ed. Miller] (Suhrkamp, 1988) – PDF

== FICTION ==

* Elective Affinities [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 1994) – ePUB / PDF^
* Elective Affinities [tr. Hollingdale] (Penguin, 2005) – ePUB
* The German Refugees [tr. Mitchell] (Dedalus, 2012) – ePUB
* Sorrows of Young Werther [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 2012) – ePUB
* Sorrows of Young Werther [tr. Hulse] (Penguin, 1989) – ePUB / PDF^
* Sorrows of Young Werther [tr. Mayer & Bogan] (Modern Library, 1993) – PDF
* Sorrows of Young Werther [tr. Morgan] (Alma Classics, 2015) – PDF
* Sorrows of Young Werther [tr. Pike] (Modern Library, 2004) – ePUB
* Sorrows of Young Werther & Selected Writings [tr. Hutter] (Signet, 2013) – ePUB
* Sorrows of Young Werther, The New Melusina, Novelle [tr. Lange] (Holt, 1949) – PDF^
* Sufferings of Young Werther [tr. Corngold] (Norton, 2012) – ePUB
* Wilhelm Meister [tr. Waidson] (Alma Classics, 2013) – ePUB
* Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship [tr. Blackall & Lang] (Princeton, 2024) – ePUB / PDF

== FAUST ==

* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Constantine] (Penguin, 2005) – ePUB
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Luke] (Oxford, 1987) – ePUB
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Ozsváth & Turner] (Deep Vellum, 2020) – ePUB
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Randall Jarrell] (FSG, 1976) – PDF
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Salm] (Bantam, 1985) – ePUB / PDF
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Taylor, rev'd Atkins] (Collier, 1962) – PDF
* Faust, Part 1 [tr. Wayne] (Penguin, 1949) – PDF^
* Faust, Part 2 [tr. Constantine] (Penguin, 2009) – ePUB
* Faust, Part 2 [tr. Luke] (Oxford, 1994) – ePUB
* Faust, Part 2 [tr. Wayne] (Penguin, 1973) – ePUB / PDF^
* Faust, Parts 1 & 2 [tr. Arndt, 2e] (Norton Critical Edition, 2001) – PDF
* Faust, Parts 1 & 2 [tr. Atkins] (Princeton, 2014) – ePUB / PDF
* Faust, Parts 1 & 2 [tr. Greenberg] (Yale, 2014) – ePUB / PDF
* Faust, Parts 1 & 2 [tr. Kaufmann] (Anchor, 1963) – PDF
* Faust, Parts 1 & 2 [tr. MacNeice, abridged] (Oxford, 1951) – PDF
* Faustus [tr. Coleridge, ed. Burwick & McKusick] (Oxford, 2007) – PDF^

== POETRY ==

* Erotic Poems [tr. Luke] (Oxford, 1988) – PDF
* Hermann and Dorothea [tr. Coogan] (Ungar, 1966) – PDF
* The Golden Goblet: Selected Poems [tr. Ozsváth & Turner] (Deep Vellum, 2019) – ePUB
* Goethe's Poems [tr. Good] (Ronsdale, 2015) – ePUB
* Poems and Epigrams [tr. Hamburger] (Anvil Press Poetry, 1983) – PDF
* Roman Elegies & The Diary [tr. Luke] (Libris, 1988) – PDF
* Roman Elegies & Venetian Epigrams [tr. Lind] (Kansas, 1974) – PDF
* Selected Poetry [tr. Luke] (Penguin, 2005) – ePUB
* The Wanderer's Song: Essential Poems [tr. Kent] (Pushkin Press, 2025) – ePUB
* West-Eastern Divan [tr. Dowden] (Jazzybee, 2020) – ePUB
* West-Eastern Divan [tr. Ormsby] (Gingko, 2019) – ePUB

== PLAYS ==

* Goethe's Plays [tr. Passage] (Ernest Benn, 1980) – PDF
* Iphigenia in Tauris [tr. Pascal] (Angel Books, 2014) – ePUB
* Plays [ed. Ryder] (Continuum, 1993) – PDF

== NON-FICTION ==

* The Flight to Italy: Diary and Selected Letters [tr. Reed] (Oxford, 2024) – ePUB
* Italian Journey, 1786-1788 [tr. Auden & Mayer] (North Point, 1982) – PDF^
* Letters from Switzerland and Travels in Italy [tr. Morrison] (Good Press, 2019) – ePUB
* Literary Essays [tr. Spingarn] (Jazzybee, n.d.) – ePUB
* Maxims and Reflections [tr. Stopp] (Penguin, 1998) – ePUB

== SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ==

* Botanical Writings [tr. Mueller] (Hawaii, 1952) – PDF
* Goethe on Science [ed. Naydler] (Floris Books, 2000) – PDF
* The Metamorphosis of Plants [tr. Miller] (MIT, 2009) – PDF
* Theory of Colours [tr. Eastlake] (Dover, 2006) – ePUB

== ANTHOLOGIES ==

* The Essential Goethe [ed. Bell] (Princeton, 2016) – ePUB
* The Goethe Treasury: Selected Prose and Poetry [ed. Mann] (Dover, 2006) – ePUB
* Goethe's World View [ed. Ungar] (Ungar, 1963) – PDF
* The Permanent Goethe [ed. Thomas Mann] (Dial Press, 1948) – PDF

== OTHER ==

* Complete Works (Delphi Classics, 2020) – ePUB
* Romantic Fairy Tales [tr. Tully] (Penguin, 2000) – ePUB
* Sämtliche Werke, v2.0 (Pynch, 2016) – ePUB

== BY JOHANN P. ECKERMANN ==

* Conversations with Eckermann [tr. Oxenford] (North Point, 1984) – ePUB / PDF^
* Conversations with Goethe [tr. Blunden] (Penguin, 2022) – ePUB
* Conversations with Goethe [tr. O'Brien] (Ungar, 1964) – PDF^


PDF^ courtesy of @Mohamed5438


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