Poetry and Truth: From My Life

I.V. Goethe worked on his autobiography for twenty years. Step by step, reconstructing the events of his own life and the impressions that would later become the source for his great works, the poet created one of the most significant books of his. This is not simply a memoir—before the reader unfolds a historical sketch of the world in the third quarter of the 18th century. At the center of the narrative are the author’s childhood and youth. The losses of loved ones, the start of the war, his first love, and meeting the young Mozart—what he experienced in his early years deeply affected Goethe and found reflection in his work.