Johann Peter Eckermann


Johann Peter Eckermann, 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 in Harburg, of humble parentage, and was brought up in penury and privation.
After serving as a volunteer in the War of Liberation, 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.
His acquaintance with Goethe began in the following year, when Eckermann sent to Goethe the manuscript of Beiträge zur Poesie. 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.

Writings

Eckermann is chiefly remembered for his important contributions to the knowledge of the great poet contained in his Conversations with Goethe. To Eckermann Goethe entrusted the publication of his Nachgelassene Schriften . He was also joint-editor with Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer of the complete edition of Goethe's works in 40 vols. He died at Weimar on 3 December 1854.
Eckermann's Gespräche mit Goethe have been translated into almost all the European languages,.
Besides this work and the Beiträge zur Poesie, Eckermann published a volume of poems, and an article by RM Meyer in the Goethe-Jahrbuch, xvii. ).