Goethe’s

, which covers the first twenty-five years of his life, ranks among the greatest of autobiographies. His purpose in writing it was is to sketch the personal background of his writings and to exhibit a continuity of personal identity that the fragmentary and occasional nature of his published works might otherwise lead the reader to doubt. The title

, a

or coincidence of opposites, is only imperfectly translated as “Poetry and Truth”. It confesses that every self-portrait imposes a false coherence on the jumble of history and is inevitably a “Fiktion”, although Goethe conscientiously studied both printed histories and his own surviving diary entries and letters, asking also for details…

2542 words

Citation: Dye, Ellis. "Dichtung und Wahrheit: Aus meinem Leben". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 July 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5651, accessed 21 November 2024.]