Johann Peter Eckermann

Johann Peter Eckermann
Johann Peter Eckermann
Born	21 September 1792; Winsen (Luhe), Harburg
Died	3 December 1854 (aged 62)
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	poet, author
Known for	association with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Notable work	Conversations with Goethe

Johann Peter Eckermann (21 September 1792 – 3 December 1854), German poet and author, is best known for his work Conversations with Goethe, the fruit of his association with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe during the last years of Goethe's life.

Biography

Eckermann was born at Winsen (Luhe) in Harburg, Holy Roman Empire, of humble parentage, and was brought up in penury and privation.^[1]

After serving as a volunteer in the War of Liberation (1813–1814), he obtained a secretarial appointment under the war department at Hanover. In 1817, although twenty-five years of age, he was enabled to attend the gymnasium of Hanover and afterwards the university of Göttingen, which, however, after one year's residence as a student of law, he left in 1822.^[1]

His acquaintance with Goethe^[2] began in the following year when Eckermann sent to Goethe the manuscript of Beiträge zur Poesie (1823). Soon afterwards he went to Weimar, where he supported himself as a private tutor. For several years he also instructed the son of the grand duke. In 1830 he travelled in Italy with Goethe's son. In 1838 he was given the title of grand-ducal councillor and appointed librarian to the grand-duchess.^[1]

Writings

Eckermann is chiefly remembered for his important contributions to the knowledge of the great poet contained in his Conversations with Goethe (1836–1848). To Eckermann Goethe entrusted the publication of his Nachgelassene Schriften (posthumous works) (1832–1833). He was also joint-editor with Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer (1774–1845) of the complete edition of Goethe's works in 40 volumes (1839–1840). He died at Weimar on 3 December 1854.^[3]

Eckermann's Gespräche mit Goethe (vols: i. and ii. 1836; volume iii. 1848; 7th edition, Leipzig, 1899; best edition by Ludwig Geiger, Leipzig, 1902) have been translated into almost all the European languages,^[4] (English translations by Margaret Fuller, Boston, 1839, and John Oxenford, London, 1850).^[3]

Besides this work and the Beiträge zur Poesie, Eckermann published a volume of poems (Gedichte, 1838. See J. P. Eckermanns Nachlaß edited by Friedrich Tewes, volume i. (1905), and an article by RM Meyer in the Goethe-Jahrbuch, xvii. (1896)).^[5]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Chisholm 1911, p. 885.
^ "Goethe's Theory of Colours, Part II: Physical Colours, Eastlake's Note L". Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
^ ^a ^b Chisholm 1911, pp. 885–886.
^ Rines 1920.
^ Chisholm 1911, p. 886.

References

Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Eckermann, Johann Peter" . Encyclopedia Americana.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eckermann, Johann Peter". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 885–886.