What's the hype about Goethe?

Thanks a lot.

>as if he was the greatest writer of all time

>implying anyone has yet surpassed his power-level

if it doesn't speak to you then you don't have a creative bone in your body.

He was like the last true universal genius. And Faust really blew my mind.

Well Werther (1774, not 1787) is a great satire published as a string of letters and is presented as sort of a cautionary tale, and though Werther is supposed to be a rather pathetic, borderline solipsist character ('... und dann die vielerley Menschen, die allerley neue Gestalten, machen mir ein buntes Schauspiel vor meiner Seele'), you don't notice the satire immediately (like the book's contemporary audience) and you're drawn to Werther's Sturm und Drang, just as you don't immediately realise the hopelessness of his situation because it is not just a critique of an overly romantic character. but of society being made of circles and passageways that easily come to inhibit the individual.
Although a wholly different kind of book, a lot of these themes recur in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (I haven't read Wanderjahre yet) and I'd urge everyone to give it a try, though it may feel laborious because it's a bit of a Goethian tour de force, but it's quite the intricate piece of craftsmanship with a humour and irony that's very 'romanhaft'.
Also, the happy-go-lucky hero type of the Bildungsroman makes for a more pleasant read than Werther, for example.

Tl;dr: Goethe has layers like onion

Read the Conversations with Eckermann to get a taste as to why he is still so famous, he really towers over all Germans - interested in everything, he kept on working on everything he could get his hands on, he was always interested in broadening his horizons, always working on himself as his biggest work of art. You don't see that in any Germans, or people in general.

He also said pretty much everything about everything in his maxims and reflections

Because he always had some top quality roasts at hand.

Nicolai auf Werthers Grab

Ein junger Mensch, ich weiß nicht wie,
Starb einst an der Hypochondrie
Und ward denn auch begraben.
Da kam ein schöner Geist herbei,
Der hatte seinen Stuhlgang frei,
Wie’s denn so Leute haben.
Der setzt’ notdürftig sich aufs Grab
Und legte da sein Häuflein ab,
Beschaute freundlich seinen Dreck,
Ging wohl eratmet wieder weg
Und sprach zu sich bedächtiglich:
»Der gute Mensch, wie hat er sich verdorben!
Hätt er geschissen so wie ich,
Er wäre nicht gestorben!«

I read in a book that I cannot remember the name of that when Goethe was undergoing his initiation into freemasonry he refused to be blindfolded during the ceremonial killing of Hiram Abiff. Apparently he was so based and the Mason's wanted him so badly that they made an exception.

Faust is like the Illiad of modernity.
It's impossible to overstate its genius and relevance.

Goethe's poem with which Stirner prefaces his spook book is also almost a NEET anthem, even though it's not clear whose 'vanitatum vanitas' is meant in the title and though obviously written with some tongue in cheek irony:

Ich hab mein Sach auf Nichts gestellt.
Juche!
Drum ists so wohl mir in der Welt.
Juche!
Und wer will mein Kamerade sein,
Der stoße mit an, der stimme mit ein
Bei dieser Neige Wein

It's too long to quote, but stanza three on the pursuit of women is hilarious:

Auf Weiber stellt ich nun mein Sach.
Juche!
Daher mir kam viel Ungemach.
O weh!
Die Falsche sucht' sich ein ander Teil,
Die Treue macht' mir Langeweil,
Die Beste war nicht feil.

Literally every single word has several specific meanings in Faust I and II.
However, you would have to read it in German to fully understand his genius.

Essentially, Faust is similar to the Old testament - The old testament is true art in Hebrew, but not really in all other languages.

I wonder what he thought of the sodomy?

He rose to the rank of 'regent' (zum Regentengraden), so he was probably in charge of the sodomy in some areas
Though really no one's sure of his exact affiliation with the order, but judging from the portrayal of the 'Turmgesellschaft' in Wilhelm Meister I'm positive Goethe wasn't oblivious to the ridiculous side of 'secret societies'.