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Title: Faust I & II (Goethe : The Collected Works, Vol 2) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Stuart Atkins ISBN: 0-691-03656-X Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 05 July, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.92 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Allegorical Masterwork of Humanity's Struggle!
Comment: Faust, Parts I and II, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was written in stages across the span of nearly sixty years. Having read the work twice now, this time the Stuart Atkins translation, I concur with the wisdom of the ages that it is one of the greatest works of imaginative literature ever composed. Yet, while I think its relevance to a modern audience is as high as ever, this work is not likely to receive much attention, let alone deep study, in America today, in the age of the Oprah book club, admirable though that may be, and computer animated movies, reality television and of course, the World Wide Web.
In fact, the great Goethe himself is hardly known today in the English-speaking world outside of scholars and aesthetes (of which I am neither), yet he was a household name 150 years ago and easily ranks alongside Homer, Dante and Shakespeare. Indeed his body of work is even more vast and varied than each of those other greats, totaling sixty volumes in his lifetime and another score or so posthumously published. While Goethe penned masterpieces in nearly every genre over six decades, clearly the most canonical text is the massive, 18,000 line poetical drama, Faust.
Faust, stated boldly is 'about' the totality of the human struggle. The storyline chronicles the adventures and misadventures of an extraordinarily disaffected academic, Dr. Heinrich Faust, who in a moment of despair makes a wager with the Devil regarding the attainability of a moment of absolute fulfillment. Beneath this surface, however, it is really a metaphysical journey that illustrates on multiple levels, the duality of man's life. Faust seeks the meaning of life, he seeks access to the Absolute, the Ideal, and the Spiritual, yet he is constantly frustrated and dissatisfied by the apparent human limitations of attaining those goals. This frustrated titanic desire results in the other side of Faust's/Man's quest, which is his/our ceaseless and error-prone striving for the highest realms of knowledge and experience (both good and bad) that are attainable during one's earthly tenure.
The poem is a difficult read due in large part to significant translation challenges. In addition to an astonishing number of verse forms used, Faust also has a complex structure, many classical allusions and multiple fantastical situations. While a powerful enough read even on the surface, such a reading can never be altogether quite satisfying. Patient and careful readers who are willing to work through the difficulties, however, should be rewarded with a clear sense of its timelessness and its Universality. Interestingly, and perhaps not coincidental, the complexity of the work makes the sheer act of studying it an exercise, in part, of what the drama itself represents.
While most of the poetic impact is surely lost at the expense of gaining comprehension, I nevertheless still suggest that English language readers first approach the Stuart Atkins modern English translation published by Princeton University Press. I further highly recommend, as a near necessary companion, the 1957 book Goethe's Faust: An Interpretation by Alexander Gillies. Unfortunately this wonderful book is out of print, but may be available through internet search engines. It aided my understanding immeasurably and further increased my already significant admiration for Goethe and this particular work.
In summary, throughout the story of Faust we are able to observe the twin competing forces of instinctive Good and ever-present Evil as they play out their roles within man's life of needs and wants. Importantly, we see their roles in the uncertain endgame of salvation versus damnation. While nominally 'about' the fantastical adventures of a medieval scholar, Faust should really be read and recognized as the allegorical masterpiece that it is, that portrays both the glory and the tragedy of what it means to be fully human.
Rating: 5
Summary: A translation for the common man
Comment: I'll save the praise for the genius of Goethe and Faust for another time.
I just wanted to say that out of all the Faust translations out there, this is the only one i've come across that is given in modern day english, without all the fancy, schmantzy intellectual, poetic rhyming verses.
This is a straight, easy to understand translation while keeping all the beauty, majesty, romantic and tragic style of Goethe's dramatic writing.
This book is part of the complete works of Goethe. These people at Princeton University know what they're doing, I mean they're presenting the English speaking world the complete writings of Goethe! So of course everything they come out with in this edition will be well-nigh-definitive.
...with that said, enjoy the Faust!
Rating: 5
Summary: In Faust II, the devil is fooled
Comment: This play is rarely performed, if ever. It is too complicated, too complex, and full of numerous special effects. It is fantastique to the extreme. It also entertwines several lines. First the Emperor. He is captivated by some magic and the apparition of Helen and Paris. This is enough to bring the Court to extreme pleasure. Then this Emperor is lured into creating paper-money. The Empire becomes rich with that money that comes from nowhere. This is of course a criticism of paper money that is invented by the French Revolution, based on all the religious and noble estates that have been requisitioned by the government and are being sold. This episode will end three acts later. This paper money has developed total anarchy because it has made everyone willing and desirous to freely implement their initiative. In other words it has created unregulated free enterprise. Then order has become a demand from the people and they have more or less unified behind a new self-appointed Enperor. Hence a civil war. This vision is absolutely prophetic about the dictatorships that emerged from this nineteenth century's capitalism. Faust and Mephistopheles will provide the old Emperor with victory in exchange of Faust's possession of the coast. The second line is that of the deepest layers of the magical and mythological realms. We go down into the world of the Meres, and of all the fantastique monsters of all mythologies. It becomes a Walpurgis night of a new type and Faust learns how vain and evanescent these beings may be. You cannot count on them to hold their promises. It is fascinating but also totally frustrating. Nothing real can come out of it. And yet, third line, Faust is able to save and conquer Helen just after her return to Greece, just before her being put to death by Melenas. She lives in an old Gothic castle with Faust and she is able to give Faust a son, Euphorion, who will be inspired by Faust so well into believing that anything is possible and desirable, particularly flying in the sky, that he will reenact the experience of Icarus and will fall to the ground and die, and in fact vanish, leaving behind his clothes and lyra. This will determine in its turn the vanishing of Helen. At this point of these three lines Faust finally understands that Mephistopheles can only provide him with illusions, nothing real. And yet, fourth line, he gets from the Emperor the coast along which he is going to implement his ideas, thanks to the real work of people. His mind has thought a way to conquer earth from the sea with dams and canals. Thousands of workers build these polders and create a new rich country that can prosper economically ; His mind, associated to thousands of hands, can create a rich country and bring comfort and wealth to thousands of people who deserve it thanks to and earn it through their work. It is then that Faust dies and Mephistopheles wants to take possession of his soul, as promised a long time agao with a signature in blood. But angels come down and lure his lust into forgetting about his aim and they capture Faust's soul and take it into the sky. That is when Faust's redemption becomes possible, fifth line. He has to be examined by three fatherly figures, three patriarchs, and then defended by three women, among whom Gretchen is one essential figure, and these three women have to convince the Holy Virgin of the redeemable dimension of Faust's soul, which she accepts on the basis of the good he had come to in his last living phase, and because Gretchen actually forgives him for his luring her into a lustful affair that caused her being put to death. This play is a sharp criticism of emerging capitalism and its selfish free enterprise spirit. It is a criticism of the simulacra this new emerging society represents : paper money, phantasms, the chase for pleasure, the rejection of religion and of all ethics, the vanity of fake magical knowledge, the illusion of living in some mythical imagined world, etc. It is also the advocacy of the real world, of nature, of implementable knowledge, of science applied to nature in order to improve the lot of humanity, in order for humanity to improve their lot through their own work. Then we can see that Goethe in his mature old age rethinks the world of his younger spirit through a complete reassessment of all human spiritual constructions and illusions. It is a real descent into the hell of a spirit that does not want to acknowledge any limits to its adventurous passions.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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Title: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ISBN: 0679729518 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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