•Why it earns a slot
Published in 1774, the novel sparked a Europe-wide phenomenon of imitation and debate about suicide, sentiment, and genius, and it remains the defining literary portrait of Romantic self-destruction told through the intimate, unreliable voice of the sufferer himself.
Told almost entirely through letters, the novel follows Werther, a sensitive young German, who falls hopelessly in love with Charlotte, a woman already engaged and later married to the steady, respectable Albert. Unable to conquer his passion or find relief in work, society, or nature, Werther sinks into despair and ultimately shoots himself with pistols borrowed from Albert, dying the following morning.
This distillation is written from the freely available original, which is always the better read when you have the time: gutenberg.org.