PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Johann Peter Eckermann was born in 1792 in Harburg. In 1823 he sent Goethe, his childhood idol, the manuscript of his book, and he became Goethe's unpaid literary assistant for nine years. This long relationship led to the creation of Eckermann's most well-remembered work Conversations of Goethe, first published in 1836. Eckermann died in 1854 in Weimar, Prussia.
"The greatest German book of the nineteenth century -- Nietzsche Be transported to another, impossibly cultured and civilised time - a cheering respite from the terrors of our own -- Rob Doyle * Observer * Revisit the musings of the greatest writer in the German language ... A new edition of Conversations with Goethe attests to the genius and charisma of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, venerated as the godfather of German literature ... From 1823 until Goethe's death in 1832, his devoted disciple, Johann Peter Eckermann, transcribed the thoughts of the author and close-up observation of his idol's habits, quirks and deeds ... Allan Blunden's companionable new version lets readers grasp not just the mental might of the sage of Weimar, but his charisma ... Goethe's talk roams with wit, charm and hard-headed sense across literature, art, nature, science and statecraft ... He has his head in the heavens but his feet on the ground; he loves gardens, picnics, birds and mountains-and takes up archery, aged 75, like an excited child ... The Conversations help Anglophone readers understand why Goethe stays on his pedestal * Economist * Conversations with Goethe, a record of discussions over the final nine years of Goethe's life that was published four years after his death, offers a portrait of the artist as sage. Nietzsche called it ""the best German book there is"". In Allan Bunden's new translation - the first for 150 years - we see Eckermann's dependence on and awe of his employer, but we are also allowed to eavesdrop on Goethe's prolific mind whirring away -- Ian Bostridge * Financial Times *"
