The Sorrows of Young Werther was a similar case. From the book it’s very obvious that Goethe disapproves of Werther’s clueless, self-destructive behavior under the guise of “romanticism”. But tons of young people at the time took it the completely opposite way, and started dressing and expressing themselves like Werther.
Another case that kinda baffles me is Clavell’s Shogun. In the book, early 1600s Japan is shown as a horrifying oppressive society where the weak are completely at the mercy of the strong. The Englishman who’s the audience stand-in spends basically the whole book recoiling from one atrocity after another. Yet the book created a Japan-mania in the West, and lots of people describe it as pro-Japan.
The Sorrows of Young Werther was a similar case. From the book it’s very obvious that Goethe disapproves of Werther’s clueless, self-destructive behavior under the guise of “romanticism”. But tons of young people at the time took it the completely opposite way, and started dressing and expressing themselves like Werther.
Another case that kinda baffles me is Clavell’s Shogun. In the book, early 1600s Japan is shown as a horrifying oppressive society where the weak are completely at the mercy of the strong. The Englishman who’s the audience stand-in spends basically the whole book recoiling from one atrocity after another. Yet the book created a Japan-mania in the West, and lots of people describe it as pro-Japan.