Publication of The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in a few weeks and made up of letters from the sensitive young Werther to his friend. Werther falls in love with Lotte, who is engaged to another man, and, unable to bear his unhappiness, he takes his own life. The book drew partly on Goethe's own experiences and brought him instant fame across Europe. It was a landmark of the Sturm und Drang movement and of early Romanticism, with its stress on emotion and individual feeling. It was said to have inspired imitators, and the term Werther effect is used in discussions of suicide imitation. Goethe revised it later and eventually became uncomfortable with its notoriety.

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