Goethe’s Light

August 28: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on this day, as announced in the opening sentences of his four-volume autobiography: “On the 28th of August, 1749, at mid-day, as the clock struck twelve, I came into the world, at Frankfort-on-the-Main.” Goethe goes on to describe his high noon birth as propitious; many biographers pair it with the famous “More Light!” story of his death eighty-three years later.