Born in Frankfurt in 1749, died in Weimar in 1832; the
greatest name in German literature; his father an imperial
councilor; studied jurisprudence at Leipsic; settled in
Weimar in 1775, where he became privy councilor, and in 1782
was ennobled and made President of the Ducal Chamber;
traveled in Italy in 1786-88; served in the war against
France in 1792-93; began his friendship with Schiller in
1794; published "The Sorrows of Werther" in 1774, "Hermann
and Dorothea" in 1797, "Faust" first part, in 1808, his
"Italian Journey" in 1817, "Wilhelm Meister," the several
parts in 1778, 1796, 1821, and 1829; the second part of
"Faust" in 1831.
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