"The Sorrows of Young Werther" (German title: "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers") is an epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774; a revised edition of the novel was published in 1787. Werther was an important novel of the Sturm und Drang period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic literary movement. The book made Goethe one of the first international literary celebrities. Towards the end of his life, a personal visit to Weimar became crucial to any young man's tour of Europe.

The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774; revised 1787) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a short, mostly epistolary work of elevated emotion of the German Sturm und Drung period that later evolves into Romanticism.

Honorable and sensitive young Werther literally perishes from a love that can never be, a love for a married young woman, and writes his agonized letter diary to a friend, describing in tragic emotional detail his experiences.

The Sorrows of Young Werther is a loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. It was Goethe's first major success, turning him from an unknown into a celebrated author practically overnight. --- The majority of the novel is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a highly sensitive and passionate temperament, and sent to his friend Wilhelm. In these letters, Werther gives a very intimate account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim (based on the town of Garbenheim, near Wetzlar), where he meets and falls in love with Lotte, a beautiful young girl who is taking care of her siblings following the death of their mother. Lotte is, however, already engaged to a man named Albert. Despite the pain this causes Werther, he spends the next few months cultivating a close friendship with both of them. Every day serves as a torturing reminder that Lotte will never be able to requite his love...*