The History of Agathon

…Wieland’s Geschichte des Agathon (1766–67; History of Agathon). It was followed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–96; Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship), which remains the classic example of the genre. Other examples are Adalbert Stifter’s Nachsommer (1857; Indian Summer) and Gottfried Keller’s Der

(1766–67; History of Agathon), which describes the process, is considered the first Bildungsroman, or novel of psychological development.

…his Geschichte des Agathon (1766–67; The History of Agathon). The hero of each is a visionary dreamer who, after many failures and erotic temptations, eventually adopts an enlightened outlook on life. Another of Wieland’s major contributions was his prose translation of Shakespeare into German, which served as an inspiration to…