Werther e o (suposto) poder da literatura

Abstract

Friends of literature often claim that it is capable of making readers more tolerant and benevolent. Enemies of literature, on the other hand, claim that it is capable of corrupting readers. Both groups exaggerate the power of literature. The exaggeration has important consequences for the debate about the role of literature in the curriculum of law schools and also for the debate about the limits of literary expression. This paper discusses one literary work frequently used to exemplify the negative effects of literature: Goethe’s “The sorrows of young Werther”. It is a commonplace among literary scholars that the publication of the book caused numerous suicides in eighteenth-century Europe. This paper raises doubts about that commonplace by emphasizing the lack of evidence to support it as well as the gravity of its political implications.