A great vitalist and a profound hypochondriac, Goethe completely rejected anything that reminded him of illness and death. Therefore, he seized every opportunity that fate placed in his path with extraordinary enthusiasm and talent, transforming his life into a successful journey toward immortality.

Helena Cortés, a renowned Germanist and translator of Goethe, reconstructs in this biography the most significant stages and episodes of the German writer's life, drawing on extensive documentation and a vigorous and engaging narrative that recreates with almost cinematic effectiveness the various adventures and characters that appear in its pages. These include his intense and complex friendship with the Duke of Weimar, his patron; his unconventional understanding of eroticism and his relationships with women; his tender affection for his grandchildren and his obsession with leaving a legacy; his passion for naturalism and his role as an amateur scientist; and his very happy bohemian years in Italy. The political tensions of Napoleonic-era Germany and the subsequent conservative repression, which shaped his life, as well as a portrayal of the romantic circles of Jena and life in backward Weimar... All of this is included in this masterful account which, far from being a new hagiography of the "genius," reveals a Goethe of flesh and blood.

The volume is completed with ten reading guides to his most important works, providing the reader with a comprehensive and illuminating literary overview of one of the giants of European culture.