"The year 1999 saw the 250th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest writer in the German language. Appropriately, literary scholars within Germany and beyond were concerned to pay tribute to a quite remarkable talent. But a number of commentators were also impelled to note that Goethe is often revered rather than read, known of rather than known. It is the aim of this study to provide a corrective to this state of affairs. The authors concentrate on the literary work and offer analyses that represent an impassioned, but by no means uncritical, advocacy - one that seeks to persuade both academic critics and general readers alike that Goethe is one of the key figures of European modernity."--BOOK JACKET.