Faust I & II: Goethe's Collected Works, Volume 2 (Princeton Classics): Goethe's Collected Works - Updated Edition: 5 (Princeton Classics, 5) - Softcover

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang; Atkins, Stuart; Wellbery, David E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691162298 ISBN 13: 9780691162294

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2014

Synopsis

One of the great classics of European literature, Faust is Goethe's most complex and profound work. To tell the dramatic and tragic story of one man's pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power, Goethe drew from an immense variety of cultural and historical material, and a wealth of poetic and theatrical traditions. What results is a tour de force illustrating Goethe's own moral and artistic development, and a symbolic, cautionary tale of Western humanity striving restlessly and ruthlessly for progress. Capturing the sense, poetic variety, and tonal range of the German original in present-day English, Stuart Atkins's translation presents the formal and rhythmic dexterity of Faust in all its richness and beauty, without recourse to archaisms or interpretive elaborations. Featuring a new introduction by David Wellbery, this Princeton Classics edition of Faust is the definitive English version of a timeless masterpiece.

About this title

Review:

`Luke has done us all - including, if one may say so, Goethe - a potently good turn. We should take advantage of it.' D.J. Enright, Observer

`a translation "for our time" without signs of strain.' D. J. Enright, The Observer

`At last! A translation of Goethe's masterpiece which reads like a masterpiece in English. David Luke conveys the meaning, intellectual passion and Byronic raciness of the original. This is a poet's as well as a scholar's version, for David Luke has written original poems of great distinction.' Stephen Spender, Spectator

'scrupulous and well-informed, backed up by scholarly clarification of the text's difficult history ... one of the most spirited efforts to capture the great poetic drama' Independent

'a translation of really poetic quality, preceded by an informative introduction and a most useful synopsis of the various stages of composition of the drama ... This reissue is most welcome: for over and above having available for the non-Germanist an English version of this novel.'The Classical Era

'signs of struggle are remarkably few ... The price he pays for rhyming is never too high, and the profits are immense. Michael Hamburger once noted that while Faust had been translated again and again, no single version had established itself as a standard text for the English-speaking world. With his Parts One and Two, both in Oxford University Press World's Classics, Luke has provided us with exactly that.'Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was one of the greatest artists of the German Romantic period. He was a poet, playwright, novelist, and natural philosopher. David E. Wellbery is the LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor in the Department of Germanic Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0691162298
• ISBN 13: 9780691162294
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360