Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“奥林匹斯山上的宙斯”——约翰·沃尔夫冈·冯·歌德

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German writer，statesman and natural scientist. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and color; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.
约翰·沃尔夫冈·冯·歌德(1749—1832)，德国著名文学家、政治家和自然科学家，他的文学成就包括格律不一的史诗和抒情诗、散文、诗剧、回忆录、自传、文学、美学批评以及关于植物学、解剖学和色彩的述著，同时还有四部长篇小说。此外，歌德创作的无数文学、科学的断简残篇均尚留世间，包括10000多封信和近3000幅画作。

The novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (called Die Leiden des jungen Werthers in German) (1774) gained him enormous fame as a writer in the Sturm und Drang 注 period and marked the early phase of Romanticism — indeed the book is often considered to be the “spark” which ignited the movement, and can arguably be called the world's first “best-seller”.
1774年写于德国狂飙突进运动时期的《少年维特之烦恼》为他带来巨大的声誉，并掀开了浪漫主义运动的开篇。这本书常常被视为运动的“导火索”，或许可以称为世界上第一部“畅销小说”。

Goethe had a great effect on the nineteenth century. In many respects, he was the originator of many ideas which later became widespread. Along with Schiller, he was one of the leading figures of Weimar Classicism. Goethe's poetic work served as a model for an entire movement in German poetry termed Innerlichkeit (“introversion 注 ”) and represented by, for example, Heine. Goethe's words inspired a number of compositions by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven (who idolized Goethe), Schubert and Berlioz. Emerson selected Goethe as one of six “representative men” in his work of the same name, along with Plato, Napoleon, and William Shakespeare.
歌德对整个19世纪具有划时代的意义。正是从他开始，后世的许多思想才得以流传。他和席勒一起成为魏玛古典主义的代表人物。歌德的诗作引导了整个以海涅为首的德国诗歌的“内思”运动。歌德的语录常常激发作曲家的创作，如莫扎特、贝多芬(视歌德为偶像)、舒伯特和柏辽兹等人。爱默生则在《代表人物》中指出歌德应与柏拉图、拿破仑和威廉·莎士比亚一起，位列六大“代表人物”之一。