Johann Wolfgang Goethe is the greatest German poet and thinker, the author of the immortal “Faust.” His works hold a special place in world literature. And the translations of Goethe’s poems made by V. A. Zhukovsky, M. Yu. Lermontov, F. I. Tyutchev, A. A. Fet, A. K. Tolstoy—these translations themselves are brilliant examples of poetry. Among the most famous, familiar to us since childhood, are Lermontov’s “Mountain peaks sleep in the night-time darkness…” and Zhukovsky’s ballad “The Forest King.”
“GOETHE AS A PERSON AND A DOER” is a chapter from the biographical essay “Wolfgang Goethe. His Life and Literary Activity,” created by the well-known Russian scholar, author of one of the best translations of “Faust,” N. A. Kholodkovsky. In it, he characterizes the personality of the great poet, describes his many-sided activities, his philosophical and political views.
The collection also includes the most significant poetic lines by the author.