Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre

About “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre”

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is the second novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1795–96. It is a Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, and is divided into eight books. The first five books are based on an earlier fragment titled Wilhelm Meister's Theatrical Mission, which was never published during Goethe's lifetime. Comparing the two texts shows many identical passages. A follow-up, Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, was published in two volumes, in 1821 and 1829. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)