Rüdiger Safranski recreates the life of the last universal genius on the basis of primary sources - works, letters, diaries, conversations, testimonies of contemporaries, therefore the image of Goethe in his biography turns out to be unusually alive: a young man from a good family, an eternally in love student, he becomes the most popular author, gets a well-paid position, is interested in natural sciences, flees to Italy, lives with the woman he loves outside of marriage - and at the same time creates his unforgettable works. But this is not enough for him: he wants his life itself to become a work of art. In his book, Safranski masterfully reconstructs Goethe's life, allowing us to feel like he was the man's contemporaries and understand how Goethe became who he became.