Italian Journey
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| Author | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
|---|---|
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Genre | Essay, diary |
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Publication date
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1816-17 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Preceded by |
Zur Farbenlehre (in essays) |
| Followed by |
Über Kunst und Altertum (in essays) |
Italian Journey (in the German original: Italienische Reise [ˌitalˈi̯eːnɪʃə ˈʁaɪzə]) is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786–88, published in 1816–17. The book is based on Goethe's diaries. It is smoothed in style, lacking the spontaneity of his diary report, and augmented with the addition of afterthoughts and reminiscences.
At the beginning of September 1786, when Goethe had just turned thirty-seven, he "slipped away", in his words, from his duties as Privy Councillor in the Duchy of Weimar, from a long platonic affair with a court lady, and from his immense fame as the author of the novel Werther and the stormy play Götz von Berlichingen, and took what became a licensed leave of absence. By May 1788 he had travelled to Italy via Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass and visited Lake Garda, Verona, Vicenza, Venice, Bologna, Rome and Alban Hills, Naples and Sicily. He wrote many letters to a number of friends in Germany, which he later used as the basis for Italian Journey.
Italian Journey initially takes the form of a diary, with events and descriptions written up apparently quite soon after they were experienced. The impression is in one sense true, since Goethe was clearly working from journals and letters he composed at the time — and by the end of the book he is openly distinguishing between his old correspondence and what he calls reporting. But there is also a strong and indeed elegant sense of fiction about the whole, a sort of composed immediacy. Goethe said in a letter that the work was "both entirely truthful and a graceful fairy-tale". It had to be something of a fairy-tale, since it was written between thirty and more than forty years after the journey, in 1816 and 1828-29.
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