Wilhelm Meister, Volume Two: Wilhelm Meister's Years of Apprenticeship, Books 4-6

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 volume Wilhelm, after his painful love-affair with Mariane, sets off to the north with friends in the theatre, but they are attacked by robbers. Wilhelm is injured but helped by new friends, one of whom becomes his second love. The volume shows Wilhelm's growing disenchantment with the theatre and the beginnings of his interest in spiritual development.