GOETHE'S WEIMAR A Play Oxford Theatre Texts No. 13 (

Gerrards Cross, UK: Colin Smythe. Fine/Fine. 1997. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0861404068 Inscribed By Author INSCRIBED ON THE FFEP BY FRANCIS WARNER. Dust jacket complete. Brown cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. Inscribed by Francis Warner on ffep. 116 pages clean and tight. 'This is a study in 'Weimar as a mode of spiritual life', as Thomas Mann might have called it: the spirit of the place reflected in a swift series of sparkling encounters, bewildering in its variety, stirring in its epic scope. The vision was conveyed through some splendid acting... Here they are, the secular saints of German Ku/turreligion: all conjured up with perfect ease and conviction. This play is about people, some more, some less noble, but all noble in their efforts and, in Faustian fashion, 'ever striving'... In the end, what counts is language, the language of poetry (as Herder would have been the first to insist). The verse is effortless and pure, and rises on occasion to noble resonance. For readers of German literature, this language holds special delights. In addition to the poems and the plays, the novels and the essays, contemporary letters, diaries, reported conversations are continually present. Much learning, lightly worn, has gone into this play. An example. At the end of the play, the audience is left with a masterly translation of the most celebrated of Goethe's, perhaps of all German poems (Uber allen Gilfeln / ist Ruh). The end is sombre, indeed. This mystery play promises no salvation. The sound of cannons is a moving and fitting end to Goethe's Weimar.' Oxford Magazine Cover portrait of Goethe in the Roman Campagna by J.H.W. Tischbein, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt on Main. Photo: Ursula Edelmann. Cover design and back cover photograph by Billett Potter. .