Johann Peter Eckermann (Winsen, 1792-Weimar, 1854) was born into a humble family and played the most diverse offices until, in 1823, he sent Goethe his contributions to poetry. That was how arose a friendship and intellectual complicity that would culminate years later with the publication of these Conversations with Goethe (1836-1848), a masterpiece of world literature without doubt the best portrait of the great German poet.