Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret

This book records talks between the elderly Goethe and Johann Peter Eckermann, his secretary and companion, along with some with Frédéric Soret. Eckermann wrote down what Goethe said about literature, art, science, politics, music and daily life in his last years in Weimar. The conversations are warm and wide-ranging, with comments on Shakespeare, Byron, nature and the writing of Faust. They are an important source for understanding Goethe's late thought.