Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship [Christmas Summary Classics]

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
Goethe's prestige was enormously increased by the publication in 1796 of "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" ("Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre"). Representing the fruit of twenty years' labour, it was, like "Faust," written in fragments during the ripest period of his intellectual activity. The story of "Wilhelm Meister" is by no means exciting, but, as a gallery of portraits and repository of wise observation, it is more characteristic of the genius of its author than any other of his prose works. It is more mellow than "Werther," and the action moves slower. Incident follows incident in a leisurely fashion. The keen psychological analysis in the story is assumed to have been derived from Goethe's own experience. "Wilhelm Meister" was dramatised and produced at Leipzig a few years ago, but with no marked success.