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Titel: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers

Autor:: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Erzähler: Gert Westphal

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 4 hrs and 13 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 12-21-15

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Kategorien: Classics, European Literature

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Wen die Liebe trifft wie ein Blitzschlag

Als der junge Werther Lotte zum ersten Mal sieht, ist sie umringt von ihren acht jüngeren Geschwistern und schneidet für sie Brot. Werther ist sofort von Lottes Anmut und Natürlichkeit fasziniert, in ihr sieht er die große Liebe seines Lebens. Doch Lotte ist bereits verlobt.

Gert Westphal liest die erste, ungekürzte Version des Briefromans und lässt den Hörer zusammen mit Werther alle Höhen und Tiefen der Liebe miterleiden.

©1997 Litraton (P)2015 der Hörverlag

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An incisive critique of bourgeois vices

In the Enlightenment attempt to justify the institutions of bourgeois liberalism, one of the most glaring failures is the case of punishment. The Enlightenment can prove that a certain kind of peace is possible among those who accept its peculiar form of bourgeois reason. But the cruel treatment of dissenters who are either unable or unwilling to accept this sort of rationalityâfor this the Enlightenment has no justification. In a conversation with his bourgeois rival Albert, Werther brings up this unpaid debt of the Enlightenment. What should we say about a thief who steals to feed his starving children? Who would cast the first stone at him?

A man overcome with passion, says Albert, loses his senses, as if he were drunk or insane. Rational, reasonable bourgeois people like Albert designate the dissenter who refuses to accept their form of rationality as an outsider, who, because of his so-called irrationality is unworthy of sympathy. The cold-blooded cruelty of the bourgeois regime is rationalized by precisely such dehumanization of its victims.

The fundamental principle of the Enlightenment, as Kant would articulate it, is that each individual mind must overcome its self-imposed immaturity and learn to think without guidance from another. While the middle class of the eighteenth century were proud that the philosophical representatives of their age had overcome the superstitions of earlier ages and emerged from their state of self-imposed immaturity, individual bourgeois minds were by no means prepared to make this emergence themselves.

Werther is frustrated because he speaks âfrom his whole heart,â while Albert only replies with âmeaningless platitudes.â Albert canât be forced to think about who will cast the first stone at the poor thief, because public institutions, which feel no mercy, are perfectly willing to cast the stone on his behalf. Albert isnât forced to think. Therefore, he doesnât want to think. To this end, he has at his disposal many rough and ready phrases that can defuse such uncomfortable questions without demanding even the slightest glimmer of sincere thought. The bourgeois mind remains in its own peculiar state of self-imposed immaturity, in which phrases prepared in advance under the guidance of others can be assembled without guidance from others, but individual words cannot.

We might draw an analogy between Wertherâs frustrated attempts to draw Albert into a sincere debate about bourgeois morality and Socratesâ frustrated attempts to embroil his conversation partners in serious philosophical debates. Under no circumstance does Albert want to think for himself.