The ‘Werther Effect’ of Goethe’s Werther: Anecdotal Evidence in Historical News Reports

ABSTRACT

Anecdotal evidence suggests a spike in suicides occurred after the publication of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774. Imitation suicides elicited by media portrayals of suicide have since been termed the “Werther effect.” However, evidence for a suicide “epidemic” after the publication of Goethe’s Werther is limited to unsystematically documented cases. This study provides an overview of all previously noted copycat suicides, as well as a systematic search for anecdotal evidence of suicides imitating Goethe’s Werther in the press. Newspaper databases of the DACH countries were searched for reports of suicides that the press had connected to Goethe’s Werther since 1774. In addition to confirming most suicides that have previously been reported in the literature, eight additional suicides attributed to Goethe’s Werther not yet addressed in previous literature were identified in the newspapers. Goethe’s Werther was presumably connected to several copycat suicides. However, newspapers reported on the Werther-epidemic itself and the moral implications of glamorizing suicide much more than on specific imitative suicides. Whether the reports identified by this study substantiate a “Werther epidemic” remains up to interpretation. The lack of research on possible further Werther effects elicited by fiction books is discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2211363.

Notes

1. Please note that the latter suicide (Fräulein from Ickstadt) has since been debunked (Bachleitner, 2017, p. 292).

2. Acknowledging that the use of this phrase is not preferred, I use the literal translation here instead of paraphrasing it to “a person who died by suicide,” as this would not retain its meaning. At the time, German-speaking countries used the word Selbstmord, which literally translates to self-murder, rather than the word Suizid (suicide) which is mainly used today.

Additional information

Funding

The author received funding for proofreading services by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna, Austria.