Wilhelm Meister, Volume Five: Wilhelm Meister's Years of Travel, Book 2

Wilhelm Meister was written in two parts, The Years of Apprenticeship and The Years of Travel, and in this new translation, having previously appeared in hardcover, is now published in six simultaneous paperback volumes at the time of the 150th anniversary of Goethe’s death. H. M. Waidson is Professor of German at the University College of Swansea and has made other translations of Goethe, Gotthelf and other German-language authors. He has recently completed a collection of contemporary Swiss short stories in English translation.

In this fifth volume and central part of The Years of Travel, the relationship between Wilhelm and his son becomes more prominent and Wilhelm begins to understand the world of education and the most interesting and human methods of increasing learning. A number of tales and incidents are woven into the story. Italy, which has long fascinated German poets and painters, plays a large part in this volume.