WERTHER MANIA

by Alix Roberts


The world-wide response to Werther can only be described as sensational. Perhaps because Werther 's acknowledged status as quasi-autobiographical or "confessional" literature, the earliest readers of the novel seemed to be preoccupied with its veracity, as Goethe himself noted years later in his autobiography: "Instead of saying something nice about the book just as it was, all of them wanted to know how much of it was true! This made me very angry an d my reply was invariably extremely rude...On second thought, I couldn't really blame these people. Jerusalem's fate had created a sensation." Memorial processions and ceremonies took place all over Europe; earnest readers pilgrimaged to Wetzlar in search of Werther's grave. These contemporary readers seemed unwilling or unable to separate fact from fiction, and this situation was dramatized by the rumors of Liebstod, or love-suicide, that swept across Europe. Although only a few real cases of suicide were circumstantially linked to Werther , Goethe was sadly aware that the book was, for some readers, dangerously real: "Just as I felt relieved and lighthearted because I had succeeded in transforming reality into poetry, my friends were confusing themselves by believing that they had to turn poetry into reality, enact the novel and shoot themselves!" The older Goethe had a rather cynical view of the youthful angst that contributed to Werthermania:

"For just as only a small firing charge is needed to detonate a powerful mine, the explosion Werther caused was so far-reaching because the young people of that era had already undermined themselves; and the shock was so great because everyone could now burst forth with his own exaggerated demands, unsatisfied passions, and imaginary sufferings."

All over Europe, readers displayed an insatiable appetite for all things Wertherian; writers, artists, and merchants rushed in to fill the demand. "Novelists, playwrights, poets, composers, choreographers, and iconographers ranging from reputable painters and illustrators to anonymous wax workers...quickly appropriated [Werther's] themes to their peculiar talents. In addition, the cult of Werther was exploited by the trade: eau de Werther was sold, and Charlotte and Werther, figures long as familiar and ubiquitous as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck today, appeared on fans and gloves, on bread-boxes and jewelry, on delicate Messen porcelain and enterprisingly commissioned china...." (Atkins, 2) Men began to imitate Werther's dress - blue frock coat, buff leather waistcoat and breeches (ironically, Goethe noted that Jerusalem adopted this attire in imitation of the English).

Original Werther-inspired poetry and drama has been produced in 14 languages, including Hebrew, Czech, and Chinese (the Penguin edition of Werther provides a good sampling of these Werther-inspired works). Yet by far, the greatest literary response to the novel came from England. Atkins cites over 200 Werther-related poems in English, more than in any other language - including German. Atkins, like the overwhelming majority of critics, acknowledges the importance of these poems in their day while quickly dismissing their literary value: "English Werther poetry was produced by writers now almost completely forgotten, yet these mediocrities constituted 'English literature' in their day." (16) There are perhaps two explanations for the low critical opinion of these Werther spinoffs: they tend to emphasize the emotional aspects of the text over the psychological, social, and moral threads that tend to interest modern critics; and they were produced largely by unknown "hack" writers - many of them women. Thus, the critical dismissal of these poems largely mirrors the critical dismissal of sentimentality itself.



Taken from the Ruotolo Report located at: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/courses/enec981/ruotolo.html

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