Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German civil servant, philosopher, statesman, public reformist, and prolific man of letters. As acting director of the theater at Weimar, Goethe was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang movement—one that encouraged extremes of emotion in the arts. But it was Goethe’s work as a writer that made him an ennobled celebrity by the time he was twenty-four. His wide-ranging career encompassed playwriting, epic and lyric poetry, prose and verse dramas, memoirs, novels, literary criticism, and notable scientific treatises. Goethe’s tragedy Faust is considered his magnum opus.
