The 34th week of the humanities crash course consisted of relatively easy reading: J.W. Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). It was certainly easy compared to last week (Kant! Spinoza! Descartes!), and shorter to boot. But I’d also read Werther in college and loved it. I felt differently about it now. I also watched a classic German movie that paired well with this work.
Readings
The Sorrows of Young Werther was an important work in the Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) movement that swept through the German literary and arts scenes in the 18th Century, ushering the end of the Enlightenment and the beginning of the Romantic movement.
It’s presented as a series of letters from the young protagonist (Werther) to his friend Wilhelm describing his sojourn in the countryside. There, he falls in love with a young — and already engaged — woman named Lotte. As his unrequited love deepens, he becomes more frustrated.
Eventually, he leaves for a diplomatic post. But rather than alleviate his suffering, he finds bureaucratic frustrations and humiliation because of class differences. He quits the job, and returns to visiting Lotte and her fiancée Albert. But eventually, Lotte asks that he stop.
In despair, Werther decides to end his life. He borrows Albert’s pistols, adding to the drama. The book concludes with an editorial note that frames the story by documenting Werther’s final days leading up to his suicide.
Although it’s grim subject matter, the story is told compellingly. The epistolary form brings us into the story: we are Wilhelm. There were times when I wished I could grab Werther by the lapels and shake him out of his daze.
Audiovisual
Music: Brahms’s symphonies 1—4. These are standard works in the Classical repertoire — the first symphony has long been a favorite of mine. This week, I gave a bit more time to the other three.
Arts: Sturm und Drang painting. I can see how it’s of a set with Werther, but I’m not a fan — in any medium. More on this below.
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The Nightmare (1781) by Henry Fuseli via Wikimedia
Cinema: Werner Herzog’s FITZCARRALDO (1982) — an incredibly impressive meta-movie, considering how it was made.
In the early 20th century, Fitzcarraldo — an avid opera fan — pursues an unlikely get-rich-quick scheme to finance his dream of building an opera house in Iquitos, Peru. The scheme involves floating a 320-ton steamer up a tributary of the Amazon and hauling it over a hill to another tributary, where he’ll access unclaimed rubber groves.
He does it with the help of the indigenous people, who think of the ship (and the man) in mystical terms. But he gets more than he bargained for: after the revelry, the natives set the ship loose so it’ll float down the rapids on its own, overshooting the rubber groves. Having failed at his venture, Fitzcarraldo mortgages the ship hires an opera orchestra to play on its deck. So he gets his way, even if not as expected.
What’s impressive is that this is an “art mirrors life” movie: Herzog actually had the cast and crew haul a for-real 320-ton steamer up and down a remote hill in the Amazon. What we see on screen really happened: the scenes of the enormous boat being hauled up the jungle are real.
Reflections
I’d long wanted to watch FITZCARRALDO. This week’s focus on Sturm und Drang felt like the perfect timing. I couldn’t describe why at first, but there are parallels between the characters.
Both Werther and Fitzcarraldo were obsessed: the former with Lotte and the latter with opera. Their obsessions led them to extreme choices. And, Herzog, too, was obsessed — in his case, with making a movie about such a character by embodying their behavior.
All are romantic “heroes” pursuing personal dreams against formidable obstacles. Their responses are over the top: Werther, Fitzcarraldo, and Herzog go to unreasonable lengths. There are incredible behind-the-scenes stories about FITZCARRALDO. As Wikipedia puts it,
Herzog believed that no one had ever performed a similar feat in history, and likely never will again, calling himself “Conquistador of the Useless”.
Of course, there’s one major difference: while Werther and Fitzcarraldo failed, Herzog succeeded. FITZCARRALDO is quite an achievement! It’s impossible to look at the scenes of the ship being hauled over the mud and not be awed at the astonishing chutzpah — of both the character and its author.
That said, both Fitzcarraldo and Werther are despicable. They’re completely and corrosively self-absorbed. Werther is a whiner to boot: his suffering was entirely self-inflicted, self-reinforcing, and easily avoidable. As I said above, I felt several times like crossing into the book’s universe to talk some sense into the man.
But sense is the opposite of what these stories aim to illustrate and glorify. It’s alluring to contemplate people so uncompromisingly following their passions, no matter the consequences. In fiction, that is: I’d hate to be any of these characters (or their loved ones) IRL.
Notes on Note-taking
Over the last few weeks, I’ve settled on a note-taking pattern for the course. A day or two after finishing a book (or a movie,) I start a new note in Obsidian where I write down a brief summary of what it is about. I do this before Googling or asking ChatGPT.
A few months ago, I started a ChatGPT project for the crash course. I haven’t included any Project Files, but have set the following system prompt (or “Instructions”):
You are an expert tutor in literature, history, music, cinema, and more – in short, the humanities. I am in a year-long program to read through (and listen to and watch) the most important humanities works from across the world. You’ll provide summaries, pointers, and advice. Respond concisely but helpfully. Whenever possible, contextualize content by pointing out possible parallels with the modern day.
After writing down my summary, I’ll start a new chat in this ChatGPT project where I’ll tell the LLM that I’ve just finished reading the work. I share my summary and ask for feedback, specifying that I only want it to correct factual or emphasis errors and not new copy.
The point for me isn’t having well-crafted notes; it’s understanding. I want to do the writing myself, while having ChatGPT steer me whenever I get something wrong.
This week, I pasted summaries for both Werther and FITZCARRALDO. ChatGPT suggested minor tweaks, which I corrected in my Obsidian vault. Then, I asked for possible parallels between the two works. ChatGPT is great at such pattern matching tasks.
I’d picked this movie because I felt it’d complement the novel. ChatGPT helped me understand and articulate the gist of that feeling: both works embody the ethos of unreasonably pursuing passionate drives against overwhelming odds. I find it disagreeable — but that’s why we study the humanities: to envision other ways of being.
Up Next
Sturm und Drang led into Romanticism — and that’s where we’re heading next. Gioia recommends poetry by Keats, Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Novalis, Hölderlin, etc. I’ve bought a Penguin collection and will trudge through it as best I can. (As I’ve said before, I struggle with verse.)
Again, there’s a YouTube playlist for the videos I’m sharing here. I’m also sharing these posts via Substack if you’d like to subscribe and comment. See you next week!