Elective Affinities

Goethe: A famous German writer, novelist, storyteller and poet, who has made a great contribution to world literature, especially German. Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in March 1749 in the city of Frankfurt on the River Main, to a firm, well-off father, who obliged him to learn Latin, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, French, English, some music and painting, in addition to some natural sciences, such as the University of Physics, who sent him to the University of Physics. However, he inclined to the study of literature and began writing poems and dramatic plays, and besides literature he was interested in natural history and medicine. In 1768, Goethe returned to Frankfurt, and his father became angry with him and sent him to the University of Strasbourg, where he obtained a law degree, in which he followed the famous German writer Herder. The Supreme Court, followed the senior judges and got acquainted with some of the men of power. In 1774, Goethe became acquainted with Duke Karl August, governor of the province of Weimar, and this friendship strengthened until the Duke gave him one of the most prestigious positions in the province, in addition to appointing him a member of the Supreme Council of the province, and deducted a salary and a house for him. Goethe traveled to Italy in 1786 and stayed there for about a year and a half. He himself considered this trip a turning point in his life. Where his personality was influenced by Italian art and literature, in which he wrote the plays "Iphigenia", "Egmont" and "Tasso". Goethe was influenced by Arabic literature since his youth; At the age of twenty-three he composed a poem in praise of the Prophet “Muhammad”, and his relationship with Eastern, Persian and Arabic literature was strengthened by him, especially after the age of sixty. Where he studied the poetry of "Hafez al-Shirazi" as a translator, and was acquainted with the customs and history of the East, with the help of some orientalists, because he was not fluent in Arabic. Goethe has many books, the most famous of which are: “The Sorrows of Werther”, “Faust”, “The Eastern Divan of the Western Author”, “Selected Genealogy”, “Tasso”, and “The Lover’s Caprice”. Goethe died at his home in Weimar in 1832.