Nonconformism as a rebellion of feelings. "It is a masterpiece in which delightful emotion and precocious artistic understanding come together in an almost unique blend. Youth and genius are its subjects, and it is born of youth and genius itself." Thomas Mann. Goethe himself provided the most concise summary of his "Werther": "A story..., in which I portray a young man who, endowed with deep pure feeling and true insight, loses himself in ecstatic dreams, undermines himself through speculation, until he is ultimately shattered by the addition of unfortunate passions, especially an endless love, and shoots a bullet into his head." Nonconformism as a rebellion of feelings - this message of the famous novel, which marks the beginning of modern prose in German literature, is as relevant today as it was 200 years ago.