Imagine Werther with vampires

[schneefink]

Breakfast conversation, lightly paraphrased because memory is an illusion:
Me: "You know what was nominated for Yuletide? "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" (The Sorrows of Young Werther.)
DD: "Oh god. We had to read it in high school and for me it's like Twilight, except without vampires, for the youth of back then."
Me, cracking up: "It is! Please tell me I can quote you on that."
DD: "It is like Twilight! Just over 200 years ago, and I'm 100% sure that less people killed themselves over Twilight."
DD, a little later: "Also, nobody calls Twilight a literary masterpiece. People react differently to someone saying their favorite book is "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" or "Twilight." At least admit that you like tragic, over-indulgent threesomes! (See how impacted I was by having to read this twenty years ago? I still get worked up over it.)"
DD, a little later, after learning from Wikipedia-via-me that Napoleon was a big fan of "Werther": "Napoleon would have liked Twilight."
DD, even later, seeing the actual nomination in the tag set: "Even the title "Twilight" is cooler."

Comments

[tamsin]

I also had to read Werther in high school, so I fully sympathize with DD still getting worked up over it.

[schneefink]

I too had to read it, but my ony reaction to the memory is rolling my eyes - apparently I got lucky ^^ (I did have an excellent German teacher.)

[tamsin]

I would have much preferred reading Faust, but alas I had to slog through Werther's self-centeredness instead.

[schneefink]

You didn't have to read Faust?? Odd!
A main reason I really enjoyed reading Faust was because I had several moments of "oh that's where that saying comes from!"

[tamsin]

No, Werther is the only Goethe book we read.
My favorite class reading was probably Remarque. What was yours?

[genarti]

hahaha!

I've never read it, but "everybody is wildly dramatically emo and somebody flings himself off a cliff" is all I know about it. I love the Twilight comparison! It's so funny how controversial dramatic potboilers of their day become classics through age... (Speaking in general, not of Yuletide, which doesn't lend itself to a Sainted Classic Of Literature lol.)

[schneefink]

"everybody is wildly dramatically emo and somebody flings himself off a cliff"
Sounds pretty accurate xD

It's so funny how controversial dramatic potboilers of their day become classics through age...
True!

[zdenka]

I've never read it, but I'm familiar with parts of the opera! :D

I can also never see the title without being reminded of this parody poem: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/sorrows-werther

[schneefink]

There's an...? Of course there's an opera. I bet it's even more OTT dramatic :D

[zdenka]

It's by Massenet! :D

[beatrice_otter]

I've never read the book, but my brother was in the children's chorus at the opera when our local opera company did it.

[schneefink]

Of course the opera has a children's chorus ^^

[lannamichaels]

Having had to read Werther in college and haven't never touched it since, I feel it would have been improved with vampires.

[schneefink]

RIGHT? There's "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," there can be "The Sorrows of Young Werther Featuring Vampires"!
I'm now actually looking forward to the prompts ^^

[dhampyresa]

I too had to read Werther in highschool (in French, though).

NApoléon would have loved Twilight, yeah.

[schneefink]

Sorry to hear that ^^ Did you read other originally-German literature too or was that the only one? What an example...

Glad you agree :D

[dhampyresa]

The only one outside of a few passages from Nietzsche, iirc.

[scintilla10]

Hee! I love this. :)

[schneefink]

I love breakfast conversations, they take the weirdest turns xD

[cahn]

lolololol this is awesome!

[schneefink]

:D