Detail from Martin Ferdinand Quadal's painting illustrating Goethe's Leiden des jungen Werthers: Werther's sketchbook and drawing hand visible at left, with two peasant children — a bonneted toddler held by an older red-haired child — seated on a log at right, the wagon wheel of a peasant cart behind them.

Martin Ferdinand Quadal, Werther Drawing the Children (detail), illustration to Goethe's Leiden des jungen Werthers.

werther1787.org

The Passion of Young Werther

A digital companion to the new translation of Goethe's novel.

This site is a growing archive of materials related to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Leiden des jungen Werthers (revised edition, 1787) and its long afterlife in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries — a companion to the recent translation published by Broadview Press.

Many of the references, allusions, and contemporary responses gathered during the preparation of that edition could not be included in the printed book. They are collected here instead, where the archive can continue to expand as further traces of the novel come to light.

In preparation A full audiobook of the translation, alongside an expanded archive of contemporary references, reviews, and visual materials. Site under active development through 2026.

Detail of Werther's head from Quadal's painting: a young man in a green tricorne hat, looking to the right.

The new English translation, prepared for the Broadview Editions series with introduction, notes, and critical apparatus, is available now from the publisher. Readers and instructors can order directly from Broadview Press, where review copies and desk copies may also be requested.