Poetry Books
Goethe's Faust
RRP: $10.95
Our Price: $8.76
You Save: $ 2.19 ( 20% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Anchor
Author: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Publisher: Anchor
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $8.76
You Save: $ 2.19 ( 20% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Anchor
Author: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Publisher: Anchor
Average Customer Rating:
Experimental feature: Order Goethe's Faust from the UK, Canada, Germany or France by clicking an appropriate flag below.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Goethe's Faust Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 832.6
EAN: 9780385031141
ISBN: 0385031149
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 1962-12-04
Publisher: Anchor
Product Release Date: 1962-12-04
Studio: Anchor
Dewey Decimal Number: 832.6
EAN: 9780385031141
ISBN: 0385031149
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 1962-12-04
Publisher: Anchor
Product Release Date: 1962-12-04
Studio: Anchor
Editorial Review of Goethe's Faust
The best translation of Faust available, this volume provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages. Walter Kaufmann's translation conveys the poetic beauty and rhythm as well as the complex depth of Goethe's language. Includes Part One and selections from Part Two.
Customer Reviews of Goethe's Faust
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: a better translation...
Review: All due respect to the reviewers so far (to which descriptions of the story I need not add), I have to say that for me the best translation of this epic is by Phillip Wayne, and I wish I could find a decent hardback version of his. Wayne, I thought, has a dry subtlety to his that the others I've gazed at don't have. He rhymes with great dexterity but without an "in your face" feel to it. It grabbed me from just a brief flip-through at a used bookstore, otherwise I probably never would have tried to read Faust. On a recent search I think I saw no less than five different translations, all of which I'd like to check out.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A very readable Faust, including the German!
Review: `Goethe's Faust', translated and with an introduction by Walter Kaufmann was quite a surprising find, as I had been, in an earlier life, quite a fan of Professor Kaufmann's works, but I simply had no idea he had translated the `Faust' of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, the most famous of the many different literary renderings of this story. My surprise is based on the fact that Kaufmann was primarily a professor of Philosophy, who also did several important translations of Friedrich Nietzsche's most important works. But, I had him pegged as primarily a late 19th century / early existentialist scholar, even though late in his life, he did do a scholarly work on Hegel.
Once having recovered from my surprise, I recalled that Professor Kaufmann had written several semi-scholarly articles on Goethe, which were published in his `Critique of Religion and Philosophy' and `From Shakespeare to Existentialism'. I was also delighted, in that Walter Kaufmann singlehandedly convinced me to major in philosophy, all the way to entering a doctoral degree program on the subject. So, I was really quite thrilled to find this volume, since I was simply looking for a simple, hopefully competent translation of the German into English.
Before I go too much further, let me point out that Herr Kaufmann decided to NOT include all of Part II! And, not only did he drop parts, he dropped the entire first four of five acts, leaving only the prologues and Act V. Now fortunately, I really only wanted Act V anyway, so my goals were met with this translation, but if you happen to be intent on reading the entire Part II, look elsewhere for the complete text.
Needless to say, the good professor had a relatively sound reason for excluding 4/5 of a work which is commonly considered one of the monuments of 19th Century German literature. First, Part II was really a posthumous work, and Goethe really didn't spend as much time editing and refining it as he did with the much tighter Part I, which is actually performed very regularly in Germany and by many German faculties in U.S. colleges. The second reason is that most of Part II is deathly dry and not a pleasure to read. I can attest to this, having tried to read parts of it many years ago in a relatively pedestrian translation.
That aside, Herr Kaufmann promises us that his translation, which appears on the right side of the page, facing the original German text on the left, will leave nothing out and add nothing not said by Goethe's words. This is fine, but all one has to do is read a literal translation of some New Testament material to realize that a closely literal translation may not be the best of all possible worlds. My German is very rusty, and I am not a scholar of translations in general, but I do find Kaufmann's translation quite literal. Unfortunately, Herr Kaufmann is NOT a poet, and even with my creaky German, I can easily see how there is much in the tone of Goethe's German which is not captured by the English. I found it very interesting that Kaufmann made a point of quoting Edgar Allan Poe on some points, because I find Kaufmann's translation of Goethe's verses to come out sounding remarkably like Edgar Allan Poe's verses, especially those in `The Raven'.
Joined with this faithful translation is a fine introduction to the work, seeing Goethe's work far more from the philosophical rather than the literary point of view. Kaufmann's primary thesis is that Goethe's world view has much more in common with later 19th century literature and thought than with the 18th century, let alone the origins of the Faust legend. Here, I was really surprised to discover that the origins of the Faust story arose not only from a real person, but a real contemporary of Martin Luther. This little connection tickled me to no end, as I was researching Faust Part II to find an example of some thoughts in Paul's Letter to the Romans, one of Luther's favorite books of the Christian scriptures.
All in all, anyone who simply wants to become familiar with this work for their own pleasure can do much worse than use Kaufmann's translation, especially if you have some passing knowledge of German, so you can make use of the original text. And, I did verify Kaufmann's claim that in fact, Goethe's writing does contain an enormous amount of humor. That discovery alone makes this edition worthwhile.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Goethe's Faust
Review: Good classic literature. Intense with human turmoil. Not recommended for a younger audience. Faust takes the internal conflict of deciding on right and wrong and turns it outward with the use of Mephisto. This shows what happens when you choose the worldly path as opposed to the honorable path. Our actions have consequences and not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: My favorite translation
Review: Goethe makes me wish I could be handy with other languages, including German. Walter Kaufmann's translation was my introduction to "Faust" but I bought several others to compare how differently they would measure up to Kaufmann's. Since I do not know German I am left with appreciating the sense of what Goethe intended. One encounter seals my devotion to Kaufmann. As Mephisto and Faust approach the witches, the devilish dealer encourages Faust to seek fulfillment in tilling the earth. Mephisto tells Faust quite plainly that he will find what he is looking for through his own exertion. But Faust rejects that option and Mephisto then says, "We need the witch then after all" (pg237). The other two translations render the line differently and while they are interesting reading, I find so much passion and poetry in Kaufmann's that I inevitably rely on it above the others.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "Breathe, spirit, soar!"
Review: I have no doubt that this is the best English translation of Faust. It is certainly the translation for those who love the tale. All the life and humor and glory shines through. It is not a "scholar's" translation. It is still fully alive.
I know that people avoid Faust for being too formidable and daunting. They need not feel so. It is amazing just how smoothly the translation of Part One reads. You do not want to put it down. Yet it is so very accurate- a quick glance across to the opposing German original confirms that.
As for Part Two, it doesn't read quite so smoothly, but that is no fault of the translator, since the original German also lacks the perfect flow and polish of Part One. Goethe didn't have sixty more years to perfect it as he did with the first part. In fact, we are only given a translation of the first and last acts. The intervening three acts are summarized in the introduction. My sole criticism of this edition is that the summary should have been actually bound between these two acts so that you do not have to flip back to the introduction to refresh your memory. Still, you can piece the full flavor and meaning out of Part Two in spite of these obstacles.
The author tells us in the introduction that we shouldn't fall into the Germanic trap of analyzing the idea behind the story. He seems to insist that we appreciate it for poetry and characterization and leave it at that. To my mind that would be frivolous. The core idea in Faust is the tale of the German nation- indeed of most of western civilization. Faust the scholar and magician represents the dissatisfaction and arrogance of modern man. Not content with comprehending God's will and putting himself in accord with the Divine order he tries to play God himself in order to "improve" creation. He sells his soul to do this, but then he was incapable of faith in the first place (in spite of first hand dealings with the supernatural.) This is directly analogous to those scientists who unravel the glories and mysteries of creation every day, yet do not pause to appreciate the existence of a Creator. Needless to say, Faust's efforts always end in failure and dissatisfaction- and disaster for those whose life he touches (Gretchen.)
The second part is a continuation of this theme, for Faust has learned nothing in Part One. If anything he is more ambitious and insatiable. He seeks after gold, influence, power, command, land, even progeny and a trophy wife (Helen of Troy.) It all turns out twisted. In fact, just short of his final, hard-won triumph he suddenly drops dead from old age. Nothing lasting- except ill effects- remain of his life's constant striving.
Yet, Faust is saved. The translator says that this is unexplainable. He seems to attribute it to softness of heart on the part of Goethe. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As the Lord states in the Prologue: "A good man in his darkling aspiration/ Remembers the right road throughout his quest." In other words, the Lord knows that Faust was trying to do good- it was just that through his flaws and limitations he ended up making a mess of things. This was also Boethius' understanding- even when we do wrong it is out of a flawed quest to achieve the Good. Even Gretchen (who has now re-ascended to her place as part of the Divine Feminine) understands and forgives Faust. Faust has now the perspective to understand and learn from his errors on earth. He is now truly fit to teach other souls hard-won lessons of worth.
May this also be the ultimate fate of all modern men.
Review Summary: a better translation...
Review: All due respect to the reviewers so far (to which descriptions of the story I need not add), I have to say that for me the best translation of this epic is by Phillip Wayne, and I wish I could find a decent hardback version of his. Wayne, I thought, has a dry subtlety to his that the others I've gazed at don't have. He rhymes with great dexterity but without an "in your face" feel to it. It grabbed me from just a brief flip-through at a used bookstore, otherwise I probably never would have tried to read Faust. On a recent search I think I saw no less than five different translations, all of which I'd like to check out.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A very readable Faust, including the German!
Review: `Goethe's Faust', translated and with an introduction by Walter Kaufmann was quite a surprising find, as I had been, in an earlier life, quite a fan of Professor Kaufmann's works, but I simply had no idea he had translated the `Faust' of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, the most famous of the many different literary renderings of this story. My surprise is based on the fact that Kaufmann was primarily a professor of Philosophy, who also did several important translations of Friedrich Nietzsche's most important works. But, I had him pegged as primarily a late 19th century / early existentialist scholar, even though late in his life, he did do a scholarly work on Hegel.
Once having recovered from my surprise, I recalled that Professor Kaufmann had written several semi-scholarly articles on Goethe, which were published in his `Critique of Religion and Philosophy' and `From Shakespeare to Existentialism'. I was also delighted, in that Walter Kaufmann singlehandedly convinced me to major in philosophy, all the way to entering a doctoral degree program on the subject. So, I was really quite thrilled to find this volume, since I was simply looking for a simple, hopefully competent translation of the German into English.
Before I go too much further, let me point out that Herr Kaufmann decided to NOT include all of Part II! And, not only did he drop parts, he dropped the entire first four of five acts, leaving only the prologues and Act V. Now fortunately, I really only wanted Act V anyway, so my goals were met with this translation, but if you happen to be intent on reading the entire Part II, look elsewhere for the complete text.
Needless to say, the good professor had a relatively sound reason for excluding 4/5 of a work which is commonly considered one of the monuments of 19th Century German literature. First, Part II was really a posthumous work, and Goethe really didn't spend as much time editing and refining it as he did with the much tighter Part I, which is actually performed very regularly in Germany and by many German faculties in U.S. colleges. The second reason is that most of Part II is deathly dry and not a pleasure to read. I can attest to this, having tried to read parts of it many years ago in a relatively pedestrian translation.
That aside, Herr Kaufmann promises us that his translation, which appears on the right side of the page, facing the original German text on the left, will leave nothing out and add nothing not said by Goethe's words. This is fine, but all one has to do is read a literal translation of some New Testament material to realize that a closely literal translation may not be the best of all possible worlds. My German is very rusty, and I am not a scholar of translations in general, but I do find Kaufmann's translation quite literal. Unfortunately, Herr Kaufmann is NOT a poet, and even with my creaky German, I can easily see how there is much in the tone of Goethe's German which is not captured by the English. I found it very interesting that Kaufmann made a point of quoting Edgar Allan Poe on some points, because I find Kaufmann's translation of Goethe's verses to come out sounding remarkably like Edgar Allan Poe's verses, especially those in `The Raven'.
Joined with this faithful translation is a fine introduction to the work, seeing Goethe's work far more from the philosophical rather than the literary point of view. Kaufmann's primary thesis is that Goethe's world view has much more in common with later 19th century literature and thought than with the 18th century, let alone the origins of the Faust legend. Here, I was really surprised to discover that the origins of the Faust story arose not only from a real person, but a real contemporary of Martin Luther. This little connection tickled me to no end, as I was researching Faust Part II to find an example of some thoughts in Paul's Letter to the Romans, one of Luther's favorite books of the Christian scriptures.
All in all, anyone who simply wants to become familiar with this work for their own pleasure can do much worse than use Kaufmann's translation, especially if you have some passing knowledge of German, so you can make use of the original text. And, I did verify Kaufmann's claim that in fact, Goethe's writing does contain an enormous amount of humor. That discovery alone makes this edition worthwhile.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Goethe's Faust
Review: Good classic literature. Intense with human turmoil. Not recommended for a younger audience. Faust takes the internal conflict of deciding on right and wrong and turns it outward with the use of Mephisto. This shows what happens when you choose the worldly path as opposed to the honorable path. Our actions have consequences and not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: My favorite translation
Review: Goethe makes me wish I could be handy with other languages, including German. Walter Kaufmann's translation was my introduction to "Faust" but I bought several others to compare how differently they would measure up to Kaufmann's. Since I do not know German I am left with appreciating the sense of what Goethe intended. One encounter seals my devotion to Kaufmann. As Mephisto and Faust approach the witches, the devilish dealer encourages Faust to seek fulfillment in tilling the earth. Mephisto tells Faust quite plainly that he will find what he is looking for through his own exertion. But Faust rejects that option and Mephisto then says, "We need the witch then after all" (pg237). The other two translations render the line differently and while they are interesting reading, I find so much passion and poetry in Kaufmann's that I inevitably rely on it above the others.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "Breathe, spirit, soar!"
Review: I have no doubt that this is the best English translation of Faust. It is certainly the translation for those who love the tale. All the life and humor and glory shines through. It is not a "scholar's" translation. It is still fully alive.
I know that people avoid Faust for being too formidable and daunting. They need not feel so. It is amazing just how smoothly the translation of Part One reads. You do not want to put it down. Yet it is so very accurate- a quick glance across to the opposing German original confirms that.
As for Part Two, it doesn't read quite so smoothly, but that is no fault of the translator, since the original German also lacks the perfect flow and polish of Part One. Goethe didn't have sixty more years to perfect it as he did with the first part. In fact, we are only given a translation of the first and last acts. The intervening three acts are summarized in the introduction. My sole criticism of this edition is that the summary should have been actually bound between these two acts so that you do not have to flip back to the introduction to refresh your memory. Still, you can piece the full flavor and meaning out of Part Two in spite of these obstacles.
The author tells us in the introduction that we shouldn't fall into the Germanic trap of analyzing the idea behind the story. He seems to insist that we appreciate it for poetry and characterization and leave it at that. To my mind that would be frivolous. The core idea in Faust is the tale of the German nation- indeed of most of western civilization. Faust the scholar and magician represents the dissatisfaction and arrogance of modern man. Not content with comprehending God's will and putting himself in accord with the Divine order he tries to play God himself in order to "improve" creation. He sells his soul to do this, but then he was incapable of faith in the first place (in spite of first hand dealings with the supernatural.) This is directly analogous to those scientists who unravel the glories and mysteries of creation every day, yet do not pause to appreciate the existence of a Creator. Needless to say, Faust's efforts always end in failure and dissatisfaction- and disaster for those whose life he touches (Gretchen.)
The second part is a continuation of this theme, for Faust has learned nothing in Part One. If anything he is more ambitious and insatiable. He seeks after gold, influence, power, command, land, even progeny and a trophy wife (Helen of Troy.) It all turns out twisted. In fact, just short of his final, hard-won triumph he suddenly drops dead from old age. Nothing lasting- except ill effects- remain of his life's constant striving.
Yet, Faust is saved. The translator says that this is unexplainable. He seems to attribute it to softness of heart on the part of Goethe. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As the Lord states in the Prologue: "A good man in his darkling aspiration/ Remembers the right road throughout his quest." In other words, the Lord knows that Faust was trying to do good- it was just that through his flaws and limitations he ended up making a mess of things. This was also Boethius' understanding- even when we do wrong it is out of a flawed quest to achieve the Good. Even Gretchen (who has now re-ascended to her place as part of the Divine Feminine) understands and forgives Faust. Faust has now the perspective to understand and learn from his errors on earth. He is now truly fit to teach other souls hard-won lessons of worth.
May this also be the ultimate fate of all modern men.