In literary history, August von Goethe lives in the shadow of his father. Based on sources that have not yet been evaluated, his story is told here for the first time from his point of view. He studied law and quickly made a career at court. He married a woman of old nobility, had three children and was a respected member of Weimar society. But that was only one half of his life. It becomes clear here to what extent the shadow of his father weighed on his life and set narrow limits to his self-development. He was never able to escape this pressure, and here lies the tragedy of his life. He died in Rome in 1830, where he was buried in the Non-Catholic cemetery. August von Goethe gains his own, previously unknown profile in this biography published in 2023.
Stephan Oswald was a lecturer in German at the universities of Florence, Naples, Venice and Bologna, deputy director of the German-Italian Cultural Institute in Bologna and professor of German language and literature at the University of Parma. His main research interests: History of the German image of Italy and cultural relations between the two countries, and the work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Golo Maurer has been head of the library of the Max Planck Institute for Art History, Bibliotheca Hertziana, in Rome since 2015. Before that, the habilitated art historian taught at the universities of Heidelberg, Vienna and Bochum. His book Heimreisen. Goethe, Italien und die Suche der Deutschen nach sich selbst has been published by Rowohlt-Verlag in 2021.
The presentation will be held in Italian.
Reservation: prenotazioni@casadigoethe.it