Classically Yours: Reading 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Goethe

We're picking up the 1774 classic, The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, for Classically Yours: PWG's Classic Books club.

Join us on Monday, October 5th, 2026, at 8 pm, as we introduce the book and author and start our reading of the classic.

The first session is introductory, and we will read the book over the coming weeks, discussing it every week.

Link for the Session:
https://meet.google.com/tnt-fnkp-uhp

***

ABOUT THE SESSION:

A classic is a book that is best explained as 'a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.' In 'Why Read the Classics?', Italo Calvino says, 'your classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him.'

So, if you read: why NOT the classics should be the question, not why. This initiative is for those patient folks who are willing to be engaged in dialogues with these sometimes daunting books. It is a load best shared, which is why this group has been created.

All are welcome, the only caveat being that you commit wholeheartedly. The group is designed for a small number people, small being the operative word here. Something will and does get diluted in large numbers, which we are looking to avoid. If you find one of our planned books not to be up your alley, you can just recuse yourself, and hopefully, we can meet up again later over another book that might catch your fancy.

THE BOOK:

The Sorrows of Young Werther is Goethe’s epistolary novel, told through the letters of a sensitive young man. It follows Werther as he falls deeply in love and struggles with the limits of his circumstances.
A landmark of the Sturm und Drang movement, it explores passion, nature, and the tensions between feeling and social convention.

THE AUTHOR:

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German writer, poet, and statesman, and one of the major figures of European literature.
His work ranged from lyric poetry and drama to novels and scientific writing.
He is especially known for Faust and for shaping the literary movement known as Weimar Classicism.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Shankar has been a lifelong reader and an aspiring writer, and is located currently in Pune.