Der Atem der Welt

Goethe the Natural Scientist – The Great Biography

With sensitivity and great narrative skill, Stefan Bollmann paints a surprisingly new picture of the poet prince and uncovers Goethe as a natural scientist and nature writer. This brilliantly written biography centers on his lifelong experience with nature and its significant relevance to our time. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was not only a focal point of his era as a poet and writer. His extensive literary work attests to a deep engagement with natural science, and his life is profoundly shaped by an uninterrupted, intense experience of nature in all its forms. In this biography, Stefan Bollmann expertly reveals this long-neglected understanding of nature and presents us with a surprisingly new image of Goethe. On an exciting journey of discovery through Goethe's landscapes, his texts, and thoughts, we accompany him in Italy, in Switzerland, and observe him during his research in Thuringia and the Harz mountains. We participate in his geological, anatomical, botanical, and optical investigations, witness his friendship with Alexander von Humboldt, and gain a new understanding of our own deep longing for nature. Goethe can teach us to reorient our position within nature. It is a grand narrative of nature perception and a highly relevant book that demonstrates how Goethe's sensuous experience of nature can still serve as the foundation of our humanity and vitality today.