Werther test

The great German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe became an idol for next generations of writers. The plots of his works were rewritten many times and became a reason for reflections. “The Sorrows of Young Werther” became the most popular work among contemporaries, and gave rise to a fashion for the form of the epistolary novel, as well as established a model of Werther’s behavior as an example to follow. If in the 19th century Goethe was a stable, unchallenged authority for many literary generations, then in the era of modernism writers polemicized regarding the German genius status and his works. In the article, the authors try to trace how the 20th century literature reflects on Goethe and his hero using the example of the long short story “The Narrow Gate” (1907) by Andre Gide (1869–1951), “Tropic of Cancer” (1934) by Henry Miller (1891–1980) and «Lottа in Weimar» (1939) by Thomas Mann (1875–1955).