The Sorrows of Young Werther is a loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. It was Goethe's first major success, turning him from an unknown into a celebrated author practically overnight. --- The majority of the novel is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a highly sensitive and passionate temperament, and sent to his friend Wilhelm. In these letters, Werther gives a very intimate account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim (based on the town of Garbenheim, near Wetzlar), where he meets and falls...

The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774; revised 1787) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a short, mostly epistolary work of elevated emotion of the German Sturm und Drung period that later evolves into Romanticism.

Honorable and sensitive young Werther literally perishes from a love that can never be, a love for a married young woman, and writes his agonized letter diary to a friend, describing in tragic emotional detail his experiences.

I have carefully collected whatever I have been able to learn of the story of poor Werther, and here present it to you, knowing that you will thank me for it. To his spirit and character you cannot refuse your admiration and love: to his fate you will not deny your tears. And thou, good soul, who sufferest the same distress as he endured once, draw comfort from his sorrows; and let this little book be thy friend, if, owing to fortune or through thine own fault, thou canst not find a dearer companion.