Goethe is homesick

"Young Goethe"

According to Nicholas Boyle’s bio, the first phase of Goethe’s life in Weimar lasted until the middle of 1777. His diary entries (see my Tweets) mention work on his garden house in the spring of 1777, where he put in fruit and vegetable beds, occasionally sleeping on the veranda. By then, he was well acquainted with court life, and even before 1777, he had become responsible for court entertainments. In January he was planning a production for the birthday of the duchess, the new piece being the Singspiel Lila. In the middle of 1777, however, his sister Cornelia died. As I mentioned in a post on her death, we know of his reaction only from a diary entry and several letters. Her death was a big blow to him, however, and it is at this point that begins what Boyle calls the next phase, which will last until his return from his journey to Switzerland with the duke in early 1780.

By the autumn of 1777, we can already see Goethe’s mood changing and betraying a bit of boredom with it all. From the end of August until October 9, he was staying in Eisenach with the duke, while traveling from one village to the next with Carl August on official business. There was a lot of hunting as well and  carrying on ("nach Tische mit den Bauermaidels getanzt"), but several entries indicate that he had a whale of a toothache, of which he wrote to Charlotte von Stein (“24 Stunden Geschwullst und grose Schmerzen). But he also makes note of “Gefühl des Alleinseyns.” of his homesickness for his garden house, of the poverty of court life.

So much work and play and so little time for literary production. In these weeks on the road, he took up drawing, which is mentioned in many of the diary entries. The duke allowed him to stay at Wartburg castle, which appears to have been a highlight of these weeks, and of which he made several drawings. By the end, however, he was Lebensmüde,

Yesterday’s (October 8) Tweet was an exceptionally long one, with many official functions. Among those assembled à table at the Wartburg was Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, a native German (from Gotha) who lived in Paris, where he was friends with Diderot and d’Alembert, and where he published the literary newsletter Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, which concerned the goings-on in the Enlightenment capital. It was distributed to several  rulers of German lands, including Carl August, as well as Catherine the Great of Russia. Goethe appears to have declined to meet Grimm. As he wrote in his diary: Ich fühlte so inniglich dass … ich dem Manne nichts zu sagen hatte der von Petersburg nach Paris geht.

This long diary entry ends as follows: Und wills Gott in Ruhe vor den Menschen mit denen ich doch nichts zu theilen habe. Yes, very tired of life.

The next day he was on his way “home” to Weimar and wrote to CvS on October 10 from his garden, mentioning his estrangement from everyone: “Ich bin entfremdeter von viel Welt nur nicht von Ihnen."