The tragic story of a young burgher, who could not find an answer to his feelings and rejected by society, was instantly translated into other languages and gave rise to a series of sequels and imitations â the so-called Verterian. Over time, âWerther, the rebellious martyrâ became one of the âeternal imagesâ of world literature and introduced the sociopsychological phenomenon of âverterismâ into European culture, associated with the melancholic mentality and the problem of suicide as the highest manifestation of free will.