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Faust Paperback – November 29, 2014

by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Author)

4.1 688 ratings

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Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend. He is a scholar who is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, so he makes a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. Faust and the adjective Faustian imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a delimited term.The Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them—is irrevocably damned because he prefers human to divine knowledge; "he laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of Theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of Medicine". Plays and comic puppet theatre loosely based on this legend were popular throughout Germany in the 16th century, often reducing Faust and Mephistopheles to figures of vulgar fun. The story was popularised in England by Christopher Marlowe, who gave it a classic treatment in his play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. In Goethe's reworking of the story two hundred years later, Faust becomes a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for "more than earthly meat and drink" in his life.

Print length

158 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 29, 2014
Dimensions

6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1503262146
ISBN-13

978-1503262140
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 29, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 158 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1503262146
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1503262140
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.36 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #370,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #108 in German Literature (Books)
- #9,608 in Classic Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.1 688 ratings

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4.1 out of 5

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SteppenWolf

Amazing feat of story-telling...in poetry!

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2016

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Faust is a classic story about one man's deal with the devil (who is also portrayed humanistically). At the beginning Dr. Faust is frustrated at his medical impotence (he decries the fact that he's lost many patients) and wants supreme knowledge (allusion to eating of the Fruit of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, maybe?), but ends up using his devil-given assistance for the purposes of lust (though he rationalizes it as love). Of course, because he's assisted by the devil, everything goes to hell (ha ha) in a sort of Kafkaesque manner. Sure, the story and methods are somewhat "dated" by comparison to today's literature, but the concepts and insights into human nature are just as fresh and real. And the fact that Goethe managed to bring such power and realism to the story while telling it in poetic format underscores his incredible genius. Huge kudos are also deserved by Bayard Taylor who not only faithfully translated this magnum opus but also kept the metre and rhyme. I found myself re-reading passages just because the poetry was so perfect. As others have commented, there were a few formatting glitches in the Kindle version, but for me, at least, these weren't a major distraction.

7 people found this helpful

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da_boa

have ye begun the sweet, consoling chant

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2016

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This is the Bayard Taylor translation. I found this translation easier to read than other free versions out there... BUT it is missing lines 600 to 735 where Faust goes into a deep despair and is on the verge of committing suicide.

This is how it reads…

FAUST (solus)

That brain, alone, not loses hope, whose choice is
To stick in shallow trash forevermore,—
Which digs with eager hand for buried ore,
And, when it finds an angle-worm, rejoices!

Dare such a human voice disturb the flow,
Around me here, of spirit-presence fullest?
And yet, this once my thanks I owe
To thee, of all earth’s sons the poorest, dullest!
For thou hast torn me from that desperate state
Which threatened soon to overwhelm my senses:
The apparition was so giant-great,
It dwarfed and withered all my soul’s pretences!

I, image of the Godhead, who began—
Deeming Eternal Truth secure in nearness—
Ye choirs, have ye begun the sweet, consoling chant,
Which, through the night of Death, the angels ministrant
Sang, God’s new Covenant repeating?

CHORUS OF WOMEN

With spices and precious
Balm, we arrayed him;
Faithful and gracious,
We tenderly laid him:
Linen to bind him
Cleanlily wound we:
Ah! when we would find him,
Christ no more found we!

This is how it should read (from Swanwick’s translation)….

FAUST (alone)

How him alone all hope abandons never,
To empty trash who clings, with zeal untired,
With greed for treasure gropes, and, joy-inspir’d,
Exults if earth-worms second his endeavour.

And dare a voice of merely human birth,
E’en here, where shapes immortal throng’d, intrude?
Yet ah! thou poorest of the sons of earth,
For once, I e’en to thee feel gratitude.
Despair the power of sense did well-nigh blast,
And thou didst save me ere I sank dismay’d,
So giant-like the vision seem’d, so vast,
I felt myself shrink dwarf’d as I survey’d!

I, God’s own image, from this toil of clay
Already freed, with eager joy who hail’d
The mirror of eternal truth unveil’d,
Mid light effulgent and celestial day:—
I, more than cherub, whose unfetter’d soul
With penetrative glance aspir’d to flow
Through nature’s veins, and, still creating, know
The life of gods,—how am I punish’d now!
One thunder-word hath hurl’d me from the goal!

Spirit! I dare not lift me to thy sphere.
What though my power compell’d thee to appear,
My art was powerless to detain thee here.
In that great moment, rapture-fraught,
I felt myself so small, so great;
Fiercely didst thrust me from the realm of thought
Back on humanity’s uncertain fate!
Who’ll teach me now? What ought Ito forego?
Ought I that impulse to obey?
Alas! our every deed, as well as every woe,
Impedes the tenor of life’s onward way!

E’en to the noblest by the soul conceiv’d,
Some feelings cling of baser quality;
And when the goods of this world are achiev’d,
Each nobler aim is termed a cheat, a lie.
Our aspirations, our soul’s genuine life,
Grow torpid in the din of earthly strife.

Though youthful phantasy, while hope inspires,
Stretch o’er the infinite her wing sublime,
A narrow compass limits her desires,
When wreck’d our fortunes in the gulf of time.
In the deep heart of man care builds her nest,
O’er secret woes she broodeth there,
Sleepless she rocks herself and scareth joy and rest;
Still is she wont some new disguise to wear,
She may as house and court, as wife and child appear,
As dagger, poison, fire and flood;
Imagined evils chill thy blood,
And what thou ne’er shall lose, o’er that dost shed the tear.
I am not like the gods! Feel it I must;
I’m like the earth-worm, writhing in the dust,
Which, as on dust it feeds, its native fare,
Crushed ‘neath the passer’s tread, lies buried there.

Is it not dust, wherewith this lofty wall,
With hundred shelves, confines me round;
Rubbish, in thousand shapes, may I not call
What in this moth-world doth my being bound?
Here, what doth fail me, shall I find?
Read in a thousand tomes that, everywhere,
Self-torture is the lot of human-kind,
With but one mortal happy, here and there?
Thou hollow skull, that grin, what should it say,
But that thy brain, like mine, of old perplexed,
Still yearning for the truth, hath sought the light of day.
And in the twilight wandered, sorely vexed?
Ye instruments, forsooth, ye mock at me,—
With wheel, and cog, and ring, and cylinder;
To nature’s portals ye should be the key;
Cunning your wards, and yet the bolts ye fail to stir.
Inscrutable in broadest light,
To be unveil’d by force she doth refuse,
What she reveals not to thy mental sight,
Thou wilt not wrest me from her with levers and with screws.
Old useless furnitures, yet stand ye here,
Because my sire ye served, now dead and gone.
Old scroll, the smoke of years dost wear,
So long as o’er this desk the sorry lamp hath shone.
Better my little means hath squandered quite away,
Than burden’d by that little here to sweat and groan!
Wouldst thou possess thy heritage, essay,
By use to render it thine own!
What we employ not, but impedes our way,
That which the hour creates, that can it use alone!

But wherefore to yon Spot is riveted my gaze?
Is yonder flasket there a magnet to my sight?
Whence this mild radiance that around me plays,
As when, ‘mid forest gloom, reigneth the moon’s soft light?

Hail precious phial! Thee, with reverent awe,
Down from thine old receptacle I draw!
Science in thee I hail and human art.
Essence of deadliest powers, refin’d and sure,
Of soothing anodynes abstraction pure,
Now in thy master’s need thy grace impart!
I gaze on thee, my pain is lull’d to rest;
I grasp thee, calm’d the tumult in my breast;
The flood-tide of my spirit ebbs away;
Onward I’m summon’d o’er a boundless main,
Calm at my feet expands the glassy plain,
To shores unknown allures a brighter day.

Lo, where a car of fire, on airy pinion,
Comes floating towards me I I’m prepar’d to fly
By a new track through ether’s wide dominion,
To distant spheres of pure activity.
This life intense, this godlike ecstasy—
Worm that thou art such rapture canst thou earn?
Only resolve with courage stern and high,
Thy visage from the radiant sun to turn!
Dare with determin’d will to burst the portals
Past which in terror others fain would steal
Now is the time, through deeds, to show that mortals
The calm sublimity of gods can feel;
To shudder not at yonder dark abyss,
Where phantasy creates her own self-torturing brood,
Right onward to the yawning gulf to press,
Around whose narrow jaws rolleth hell’s fiery flood;
With glad resolve to take the fatal leap,
Though danger threaten thee, to sink in endless sleep!

Pure crystal goblet! forth I draw thee now,
From out thine antiquated case, where thou
Forgotten hast reposed for many a year!
Oft at my father’s revels thou didst shine,
To glad the earnest guests was thine,
As each to other passed the generous cheer.
The gorgeous brede of figures, quaintly wrought,
Which he who quaff’d must first in rhyme expound,
Then drain the goblet at one draught profound,
Hath nights of boyhood to fond memory brought.
I to my neighbour shall not reach thee now,
Nor on thy rich device shall I my cunning show.
Here is a juice, makes drunk without delay;
Its dark brown flood thy crystal round doth fill;
Let this last draught, the product of my skill,
My own free choice, be quaff’d with resolute will,
A solemn festive greeting, to the coming day!
(He places the goblet to his mouth.)
(Tue ringing of bells, and choral voices.)

Chorus of ANGELS

Christ is arisen!
Mortal, all hail to thee,
Thou whom mortality,
Earth’s sad reality,
Held as in prison.

Bit of a difference, right?

3 people found this helpful

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C. A. Brekke (nee Isbell)

German Poet and his poem about a man and the devil

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2013

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The translator of this German classic seemed to be all apologies in his translation of this timeless classic. He need not worry. It was excellent. A man makes a deal with the devil in order to find his true love and runs into all KINDS or problems. Find out who REALLY got over on who. It is funny and great if you like classic poets.

11 people found this helpful

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Me

Being a Classic does not mean Enjoyable

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2023

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I know this story is hundreds of years old and contains a very poignant story. However, being translated from German and told in verse, I had great difficulty finishing it.

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2015

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Excellent translation. The translator succeeded in his undertaking to preserve both the content and the form, as much as possible when translating poetic play.
I am not a native English speaker, so my intuitive sense of the language is of course not as evolved; Yet, I could feel the poetic atmosphere carrying me on its wings.

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Kelsey

Must Read German Classic

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2013

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If you like to read classic literature, this book is perfect for you. Goethe is an amazing writer and Faust is interesting, much more interesting than Marlowe's version in my opinion (it is longer, however.) If you like to read plays, this is a good one, as it explores God and human nature. Overall, very intriguing and fun.

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Dominic Cichocki

Great content, horribly shoddy formatting (look for your copy elsewhere)

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2016

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While I like Faust quite a bit, my complaint here is more to do with the formatting. Before I get into it though, let me point out that this particular book only has Volume 1 in it. Volume 2 is just missing, despite the preface talking about both parts.

Now for the formatting. I got the print edition of this book and it looks like someone just copy and pasted the manuscript from another file and didn't check it over. It simply gets worse as the book goes on - spacing between character names and their dialogue changes. The headers of certain chapters aren't formatted and simply appear as if they're lines of verse. Several chapters have the name "Faust" at the end as an extra line. A couple lines late in the book repeat, and look as if someone tried to italicize them because the broken html formatting is included in the manuscript. There are literally lines that have broken html <i> coding surrounding it.

Simply put, whomever put this version together should be ashamed of the shoddy work they did. You should not read Faust like this.

2 people found this helpful

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Joanna Phipps

I purchased the book so thst i could straighten out a few bad memory blocks

Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2017

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I remember doing this play in theater arts in high school. I purchased the book so thst i could straighten out a few bad memory blocks.

diangelisj

Clássico

Reviewed in Brazil on March 1, 2015

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Muito recomendado, vale a pena dar uma olhada, não é minha área de leitura, mas é interessante, gostei do livro.

One person found this helpful

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Marina

Klassiker

Reviewed in Germany on September 8, 2016

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Toller Klassiker. Goethe ist und bleibt ein Genie. Klar ist die Sprache manchmal schwer zu verstehen und man sollte Faust mindestens ein zweites Mal lesen um nicht die Hälte zu überlesen. Dann erkennt man auch die vielen z.T. wie ich finde humoristischen Stellen.
Muss jeder kultivierte Mensch kennen PUNKT.

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Rana S. Gautam

Not easy read, but must read

Reviewed in India on December 16, 2015

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Must read. Not easy read, but must read. Go ahead read it. We live in a world mad for success, is it worth it? If you need answer to this question, go ahead read this book.

One person found this helpful

jesse

faust

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2015

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not read yet but must comment,,this book arrived quickly and am happy with the service i recieved...for anyone thinking of buying ,it is written as a play,bit odd but likeable

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Faust Paperback – November 29, 2014

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