Faust - Softcover

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1535061944 ISBN 13: 9781535061940

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Translated into English, in the original metres, by

Bayard Taylor

With illustrations by Harry Clarke

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts usually known in English as Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two. Although rarely staged in its entirety, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages.

Faust Part One takes place in multiple settings, the first of which is heaven. Mephistopheles makes a bet with God: he says that he can lure God's favourite human being (Faust), who is striving to learn everything that can be known, away from righteous pursuits. The next scene takes place in Faust's study where Faust, despairing at the vanity of scientific, humanitarian and religious learning, turns to magic for the showering of infinite knowledge. He suspects, however, that his attempts are failing. Frustrated, he ponders suicide, but rejects it as he hears the echo of nearby Easter celebrations begin. He goes for a walk with his assistant Wagner and is followed home by a stray poodle (the term then meant a medium-to-big-size dog, similar to a sheep dog).

In Faust's study, the poodle transforms into the devil (Mephistopheles). Faust makes an arrangement with the devil: the devil will do everything that Faust wants while he is here on Earth, and in exchange Faust will serve the devil in Hell. Faust's arrangement is that if he is pleased enough with anything the devil gives him that he wants to stay in that moment forever, then he will die in that moment.

About this title

About the Author:

Goethe

Review:

Douglas Langworthy s new translation of Goethe s Faust fills an important void in American translations of German drama and presents a version of this masterpiece suitable for the stage and classroom. It is immensely readable: in place of Goethe s rhyming knittelvers, which can sound like Dr. Seuss to American ears, Langworthy provides a rhythmic and colloquial blank verse that feels both classical and contemporary. Langworthy has expertly trimmed the gargantuan text while maintaining Goethe s structure. Usually in the classroom, and on the rare occasions Faust is performed on the American stage, attention is paid only to the early first part of the play, which ends in Gretchen s death. This ignores the picaresque and philosophically profound second part, where Goethe expands the Faust legend almost logarithmically. This translation, which was originally made for New York s Target Margin Theatre, has a momentum, even in the sprawling second half, which makes it Goethe s grand design accessible for undergraduate students and possible to produce on the American stage. --Walter Bilderback, Dramaturg, The Wilma Theater

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1535061944
• ISBN 13: 9781535061940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204
• Illustrator: Clarke Harry