Faust, Part I (Paperback)

Paperback. A major new translation by award-winning poet and translator David Constantine that captures the lyrical liveliness of Goethe's original.Goethe's Faust reworks the late-medieval myth of Dr Faust, a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract or wager with the devil, Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seek to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last for ever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephisto and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe's great work the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a life beyond his study and - in rejuvenated form - winning the love of the charming and beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire and self-delusion, Faust, served by the devil, heads inexorably towards destruction. Goethe viewed the writing of poetry as essentially autobiographical, and the works selected in this volume represent more than sixty years in the life of the poet. In early poems such as aPrometheus, a he rails against religion in an almost ecstatic fervor, while aTo the Moona is an enigmatic meditation on the end of a love affair. The "Roman Elegies" show Goetheas use of Classical meters in an homage to ancient Rome and its poets, and aThe Diary, a suppressed for more than a century, is a narrative poem whose eroticism is combined with its morality. In selections from "Faust," arguably his greatest and most personal work, Goethe creates an exhilarating depiction of humankindas eternal search for truth. aFaithful and felicitous, these verse translations . . . are an excellent introduction to [Goetheas] genius.a a"The Daily Telegraph" (London) Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. …