Golden Goblet

The Golden Goblet traces Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poetry from the idealism of youth to the liberation of maturity. In contrast to his rococo contemporaries, Goethe’s poetry draws on the graceful simplicity of German folk rhythms to develop complex, transcendent themes. This robust selection, artfully translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner, explores transformation, revolution, and illumination in Goethe’s lush lyrical style that forever altered the course of German literature.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) is the most prominent and influential figure in German letters. Born in Frankfurt, he published his breakout novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, in 1774 at the age of twenty-five, and the first part of his lyric masterpiece, Faust, in 1808. Goethe was a poet, novelist, literary critic, diplomat, and scientist, publishing works crossing the spectrum from tales of romantic despair to dense scientific tomes. His involvement in the literary movement Sturm und Drang was formative in the development of Romanticism, and his writings created a new paradigm in German high culture.

Zsuzsanna Ozsváth is the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair of Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas and Director of the Holocaust Studies Program. Ozsváth received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, and her research focuses on aesthetics and ethics in German, Hungarian, and French literature. In 1992, she received the Milan Fust Prize, Hungary’s most prestigious literary prize, with her co-translator, Frederick Turner, for Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklos Radnoti (Princeton University Press, 1992).

Frederick Turner is Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. Turner received his B.Litt, a PhD-level terminal degree, from Oxford University, and his research considers poetry, aesthetics, and Shakespeare. He received the prestigious Milan Fust Prize with co-translator Zsuzsanna Ozsváth for Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklos Radnoti (Princeton University Press) in 1992.