The definitive English version of two landmark works of world literature Goethe was a master of the short prose form. His two narrative cycles, Conversations of German Refugees and Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, both written during a high point of his career, address various social issues and reveal his experimentation with narrative and perspective. A traditional cycle of novellas, Conversations of German Refugees deals with the impact and significance of the French Revolution and suggests Goethe's ideas on the social function of his art. Goethe's last novel, Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years is a sequel to Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Conversations of German Refugees and is considered his most remarkable novel in form. The Collected Works of Goethe presents modern translations of a representative portion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's vast body of work. Selected from more than 140 volumes in German, this twelve-volume series remains the standard collection in English and features poetry, drama, fiction, memoir, criticism, and scientific writing.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was one of the greatest artists of the German Romantic period. He was a poet, playwright, novelist, and natural philosopher. Jane K. Brown the Joff Hanauer Distinguished Professor of Western Civilization Emerita at the University of Washington.