Faust - Softcover

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 160459702X ISBN 13: 9781604597028

Publisher: SMK Books, 2010

Synopsis

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend who makes a pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge. The meaning of the word and name has been reinterpreted through the ages. "Faust" has taken on a connotation distinct from its original use, and is often used today to describe a person whose headstrong desire for self-fulfillment leads him or her in a diabolical direction.

About this title

About the Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe August22, 1749 – March 22, 1832) was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours, he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology.[5] He also long served as the Privy Councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar. Goethe is the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, Arabic literature, amongst others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense. Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a primary source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Goethe is widely considered to be one of the most important thinkers in Western culture and is generally acknowledged as the most important writer in the German language. Early in his career, however, he wondered whether painting might not be his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work in optics.

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

Edition details

• Publisher: SMK Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 160459702X
• ISBN 13: 9781604597028
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 188