Goethe and Mid-Life Crises

"One reason why we enjoy reading travel books is that a journey is one of the archetypal symbols. It is impossible to take a train or an aeroplane without having a fantasy of oneself as a Quest Hero setting off in search of an enchanted princess or the Waters of Life. And then, some journeys - Goethe's was one -- really are quests."

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

"...the Sturm und Drang literary movement of which Goethe was then regarded as the leader stood for spontaneity of emotion as against convention and decorum...Such a movement has often arisen in history and the consequences have almost always been the same; those who embrace it produce some remarkable work at an early age but then peter out if they do not, as they often do, take to drink or shoot themselves."

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

"There is no reason to suppose that Goethe's life in Rome was anything like Byron's in Venice, but it is impossible to believe that it was quite so respectable, or so exclusively devoted to higher things as, in his letters home, for obvious reasons, he makes it sound. The difference between the over-refined, delicate, almost neurasthenic face of the pre-Italian portraits and the masculine, self-assured face in the portraits executed after his return is very striking; the latter is that of a man who has known sexual satisfaction.

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

Auden and Mayer summarize Goethe's remarkable life in twelve remarkable pages.

I, too, have been very fortunate in experiencing a number of trips, or quests over my lifetime.

There have been many such trips, or quests, and perhaps elsewhere, someday, I will run through all of them, starting with some quests lasting a week to some lasting months.

But three were life-altering events: a) Westfield, New Jersey, or more correctly, Union County, New Jersey; b) San Pedro, California, or more comprehensively, southern California; and c) Yorkshire.