"The breath of the world" Johann Wolfgang Goethe and the experience of nature

Goethe the naturalist - the great biography

Stefan Bollmann paints a surprisingly new picture of the prince of poets and discovers the naturalist and nature writer Goethe with sensitivity and great narrative skill. A brilliantly written biography that focuses on his lifelong experience of nature and its great relevance for our time. Even 275 years after his birth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was not only a focal point of his time as a poet and writer. His extensive literary oeuvre bears witness to an in-depth preoccupation with nature research and his life was deeply influenced and shaped by an uninterrupted, intensive experience of nature in all its manifestations. In this biography, Stefan Bollmann masterfully explores this long-neglected understanding of nature and gives us a surprisingly new picture of Goethe. On an exciting journey of discovery through Goethe's landscapes, his texts and his thoughts, we accompany him in Italy and Switzerland and observe him during his research in Thuringia and the Harz Mountains. We take part in his geological, anatomical, botanical and optical investigations, witness his friendship with Alexander von Humboldt - and understand our own deep longing for nature anew. Goethe can teach us to relocate our position in nature. A great history of the perception of nature and at the same time a highly topical book that shows how Goethe's sensually vivid experience of nature can still be the basis of our humanity and vitality today.

Stefan Bollmann, born in 1958, bestselling author of a biography of Goethe that goes against the grain as well as other books on the history of reading and alternative cultures, completed his doctorate on Thomas Mann after studying literature, history and philosophy. His books have been translated into 16 languages and have sold almost half a million copies worldwide.

The evening is part of the LESEZEICHEN! series organized by the müritz.buch bookshop and Haus des Gastes Waren. Tickets are available at müritz.buch, at the Waren (Müritz) Information Center, at all Reservix advance booking offices and online at www.reservix.de or www.hdg-waren.de