Werther and the student's answer

A student named Felix hated Werther not because he was sentimental but because he was dishonest: he doesn't love Lotte, he loves the feeling of loving.

I carried that. Then my husband died. The following autumn, teaching Werther again, I understood: Felix was right.

I loved my husband because he steamed up the mirrors and never admitted it. Because he finished bad crime novels because he thought it was fair. Those are things you cannot replace.

Felix was sixteen and understood something I hadn't quite understood at fifty.

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