David E. Wellbery
David E. Wellbery is Chair of the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago. He is the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on German Literature and Culture. Among his numerous publications, two of his books are considered classics in the field of German literary history: Lessing’s Laocoön. Semiotics and Aesthetics in the Age of Reason and The Specular Moment: Goethe’s Early Lyric and the Beginnings of Romanticism. In 2020, he was awarded the Golden Goethe Medal in recognition of his field-defining scholarship.
Books by David E. Wellbery
Interviews with David E. Wellbery
The Best Goethe Books, recommended by David E. Wellbery
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) has been described as ‘the last true polymath to walk the earth’. A defining figure in German literature, Goethe coined the concept of world literature. And his literary and dramatic achievements are matched by his scientific work. David E. Wellbery, Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago and recipient of the Golden Goethe Medal, introduces us to the life and work of Goethe. He explores why figures such as Beethoven and Napoleon were magnetised to him, how Rousseau influenced Faust, and why Goethe’s Faust does not sell his soul to the devil.
