Conversations with Goethe (Penguin Books)

By the end of the nineteenth century, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the world's most celebrated poet, novelist, critic and thinker. Today his name is echoed as that of a 'great man' alongside Plato, Montaigne and Shakespeare. This book covers the last nine years of his life, partially spent having conversations with the young Johann Eckermann, who was thirty-one to Goethe's seventy-four, and who dedicated this time to recording Goethe's thoughts, ideas, observations and witticisms. The result is Conversations with Goethe, the most direct glimpse into the Great Man's mind, revealing a gentler, more human side to him, as well as his thoughts on art, science, poetry, philosophy and the minutiae of life.