Goethe

A Life in Ideas

Matthew Bell

$69.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Pres
01 January 2026

Biography; Biography: general; Western philosophy: Enlightenment

A new intellectual biography of Goethe, examining the paradox of his thought.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) was a poet, a novelist, a scientist and an essayist on a dizzying range of topics. In the nineteenth century, he was widely regarded as one of the most important thinkers of modern Europe. In this important and ambitious work, Matthew Bell offers a wide-ranging intellectual biography of Goethe, tracing the evolution of his thought and reassessing its value. Bell examines the full spectrum of Goethe's writing, from his most well-known works, including the dramatic poem Faust and the novels Wilhelm Meister and The Sorrows of Young Werther, to lesser-known essays and reviews. Throughout, Bell draws on Goethe's letters and diaries, most of which are still only available in German, embedding Goethe's thought in his lived experience and in the cultural and intellectual life of Europe from the 1750s to the 1830s.

Bell presents new interpretations of Goethe's work as one of the first evolutionary biologists, describing discoveries that anticipated Darwin's, and of his political ideas, which pervade his literary work in ways that have not been fully recognised. Bell offers an original and illuminating explanation for the paradox of Goethe's thought, exploring how a radical individualist who espoused liberal and innovative ideas in some areas

in particular, religion, sexuality and science

could remain consistently conservative and authoritarian in his political outlook. Rereading Goethe through this new lens, Bell shows, reveals new dimensions of work we thought we knew well.

'The great scholarly achievement of this book lies in its synthesis of Goethe's personal writing (especially his letters) with his public work... An epic reassessment of the founder of modern German life and letters.'

Kirkus Reviews,starred review

By: Matthew Bell
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm,
ISBN: 9780691153957
ISBN 10: 0691153957
Pages: 776
Publication Date: 01 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Matthew Bell is professor of German and comparative literature at King's College London. He is the author of Goethe's Naturalistic Anthropology; The German Tradition of Psychology in Literature and Thought, 17001840; and Melancholia: The Western Malady; and the editor of The Essential Goethe (Princeton).

Reviews for Goethe: A Life in Ideas

""The great scholarly achievement of this book lies in its synthesis of Goethe’s personal writing (especially his letters) with his public work. . . . An epic reassessment of the founder of modern German life and letters."" * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *