This Hesperus Classics edition brings together three short stories taken from Goethe's late, sprawling "novel" of sorts - [b:Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre oder Die Entsagenden|3917283|Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre oder Die Entsagenden|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339580392s/3917283.jpg|13242922] . They are tales linked by themes of passion, betrayal and renunciation but the mood is far removed from the melodrama of [b:The Sorrows of Young Werther|16640|The Sorrows of Young Werther|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386920896s/16640.jpg|746264] or the gothic hues of Faust. This is Goethe at his most light-hearted even though one should not expect any farcical laughs.

Take the title story. A mysterious young woman turns up at the household of a respectable widower who lives with his sister and son. Soon, both father and son fall for the stranger, until she has to come up with a pretext to justify her departure. The situation gives rise to wry comedy, but there are darker undercurrents at play. Who is this woman? What is her past? Where is she heading to? Is she really a madwoman? These are all narrative threads which are tantalisingly left unresolved, making this story feel more like a parable or allegory than a simple tale. In its own way, it is the unlikely precursor of [b:The Accidental|127630|The Accidental|Ali Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425382189s/127630.jpg|449610]or Pasolini's [b:Teorema|674327|Teorema|Pier Paolo Pasolini|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1323072994s/674327.jpg|660338]

In "Who is the Traitor" the protagonist Lucidor is torn between his betrothed Julia and her sister Lucinde. For a while this feels like "Werther" territory until the story's uplifting (albeit thought provoking) denouement.

The collection ends with "Not too far!" - an account of a birthday party gone wrong, which becomes the symbol of an unravelling marriage.

In his Foreword to the volume, author Lewis Crofts introduces the stories in the context of Goethe's own love affairs. On the other hand, Andrew Piper, the translator of the title-story, provides an introduction of a philosophical bent, seeing in Goethe's late works and their emphasis on "adultery" both a reflection of changing social norms and of the idea of the act of translation as one of "betrayal". "Who is the Traitor" and "Not too Far" are translated by Jonathan Katz. ( )

This Hesperus Classics edition brings together three short stories taken from Goethe's late, sprawling "novel" of sorts - [b:Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre oder Die Entsagenden|3917283|Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre oder Die Entsagenden|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339580392s/3917283.jpg|13242922] . They are tales linked by themes of passion, betrayal and renunciation but the mood is far removed from the melodrama of [b:The Sorrows of Young Werther|16640|The Sorrows of Young Werther|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386920896s/16640.jpg|746264] or the gothic hues of Faust. This is Goethe at his most light-hearted even though one should not expect any farcical laughs.

Take the title story. A mysterious young woman turns up at the household of a respectable widower who lives with his sister and son. Soon, both father and son fall for the stranger, until she has to come up with a pretext to justify her departure. The situation gives rise to wry comedy, but there are darker undercurrents at play. Who is this woman? What is her past? Where is she heading to? Is she really a madwoman? These are all narrative threads which are tantalisingly left unresolved, making this story feel more like a parable or allegory than a simple tale. In its own way, it is the unlikely precursor of [b:The Accidental|127630|The Accidental|Ali Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425382189s/127630.jpg|449610]or Pasolini's [b:Teorema|674327|Teorema|Pier Paolo Pasolini|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1323072994s/674327.jpg|660338]

In "Who is the Traitor" the protagonist Lucidor is torn between his betrothed Julia and her sister Lucinde. For a while this feels like "Werther" territory until the story's uplifting (albeit thought provoking) denouement.

The collection ends with "Not too far!" - an account of a birthday party gone wrong, which becomes the symbol of an unravelling marriage.

In his Foreword to the volume, author Lewis Crofts introduces the stories in the context of Goethe's own love affairs. On the other hand, Andrew Piper, the translator of the title-story, provides an introduction of a philosophical bent, seeing in Goethe's late works and their emphasis on "adultery" both a reflection of changing social norms and of the idea of the act of translation as one of "betrayal". "Who is the Traitor" and "Not too Far" are translated by Jonathan Katz. ( )

Pleasantly surprised by The Sorrows of Young Werther, I was eager to move on and also explore this collection of (the inside cover calls them novellas? But they seem too short. Novellettes?) Only to find what expectations had held me back from reading Goethe in the first place 00 the passage of time and changing conventions made some allusions baffling to the point of utter opaqueness, dry narration, etc. For instance, I missed so much in the title story that it was largely incomprehensible to me. The last story, "Not too far!" was fine, just not particularly exciting. The story I enjoyed the most was "Who is the Traitor?" which was a bit Austen-like with its familial obligations meets mis-matched love and well-intentioned secrets.

The book itself is lovely enough with its French flaps that I am halfway inclined to keep it, but I think it is time to release this book to the wild. ( )

An intriguing idea lies behind this slim volume. Goethe's last novel, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, is a picaresque in which father and son wander for a year, never staying more than three days in a single spot. In the course of it, they hear a number of tales—fables, parables, gossip, call them what you like.

Publisher Hesperus felt it a useful exercise to extract these tales from their context, the better to look at themes which exercised Goethe in his later years and private writings. Both translator Andrew Piper in his introduction, and forewordist Lewis Crofts, argue that these themes centre on sexual transgression and betrayal. Madwoman, the title piece of this collection, had caused a scandal in Goethe's small circle of Weimar pals, when it was circulated among them in its original French.

Nice idea, but two elements work against us.

First, no matter how much allowance we make for the context of his era, Goethe brings a bourgeois attitude to affairs of the heart. He talks of passion, but his characters behave as though they walked out of Jane Austen.

And second, even though these tales may have been stand-alone stories in Goethe's head or notebooks, they very much pine for the context which his original book provided. Forewords and introductions occupy a fifth of the space, seeking to provide the context which the concept of the publication deliberately dispensed with. Somehow, the tales seem too short; they need to be made into fully rounded stories. In the midst of a larger work, this structural problem would grate less.

Still, the tales themselves are intriguing—and like Austen, show how characters channel their emotions through the stifliing maze of bourgeois propriety, with varying degrees of success. ( )

I've read Goethe in German and in Dutch, but this was the first time in English. It was a pleasant surprise: the translators have been able to capture the typical way of Goethe's writing: without using many words creating the right atmosphere for the stories he wants to tell.
As always with publications from the Hesperus Press, this copy comes with a foreword and an introduction that puts the writer and the stories in a historical perspective. This makes the appreciation even higher: besides enjoying the stories because they are so well written, you grow in understanding the objectives Goethe had when writing these.
It's hard to choose which story is the best of the three. After a first read, it would be "Who is the traitor?", but my opinion might change after reading this book again - which I surely will. ( )