Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has long been regarded as a true master of German literature. While few anglophone readers today are familiar with Goethe’s entire body of work, its influence, especially Faust, echoes in modern books, movies, classical and contemporary music, opera, and more. His first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, was one of the most important books created during the Sturm und Drang period, followed by the equally enticing Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. While these two novels alone could have established a lasting legacy, Goethe accomplished so much more. Besides the novels, he was a polymath, writing about everything from poetry and short stories to scientific texts on botany and anatomy. His brilliant mind was always whirring, it seems.