[regency-romance Book] ✓ Faust: Parts I II PDF by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ↠ eBook or Kindle ePUB free

I am deeply impressed by the depth of characters, the story itself and the poetic patterns that dominate the play.

I am not a good judge of the work, however, because after religiously reading for weeks (250 pages) I lost interest, skipped many pages and cheated Goethe of his masterpiece. He whipped me fair and square. Faust: Parts I II Written well, with some beautiful verses; just not enough of them. It's a classic nonetheless. You won't find any alchemy, but there is the soul binding contract you've most likely heard about. I have found it hard to read. It is a translation from German into English and for me it has been hard to understand. This is not a complaint, literature sometimes is hard to comprehend. regency-romance

Faust Parts I ne Delacroix.

Goethes two part dramatic work, Faust, based on a traditional theme, and finally completed in 1831, is an exploration of that restless intellectual and emotional urge which found its fullest expression in the European Romantic movement, to which Goethe was an early and major contributor. Part I of the work outlines a pact Faust makes with the devil, Mephistopheles, and encompasses the tragedy of Gretchen, whom Faust seduces. Part II, developed over a long period of Goethes later life, reflects Goethes own transition from a predominantly Romantic to a wider world view and explores extensive themes, including the values of the Classical past, as it moves towards the works resolution.

The protagonist, Faust, is presented in a complex manner, and Goethes treatment of the subject matter raises ethical and spiritual issues, many of which are not resolved within the drama itself. Goethes stress is on Fausts striving towards the good, and on the nature of human error, rather than on the traditional Christian view of sin and redemption, and the plays opening sections and its conclusion can be seen as humanist allegory or metaphor rather than an expression of orthodox religious belief. It is left to the reader to draw their own conclusion about Fausts everyman character, and the extent to which he earns his ultimate spiritual salvation.
The play had an enormous influence on later German thought and literature, and together with his lyric poetry has ensured Goethes place among the great European writers.

Published by Poetry in Translation. Faust: Parts I II

I've read the George Madison Priest translation, the Stuart Atkins, The Walter Arndt, and this translation by Kline. What Priest did was extraordinary poetically, and it has good fluidity. Stuart Atkins is probably the most literal translation. Walter Arndt felt forced and not natural, but is good to have because it's a Norton Critical Edition that can help decipher what this tragedy means. Even Jung himself couldn't pluck the mystery from it's heart. the Kline translation is my all around favorite. It reads lucidly and it not just has surface beauty, with poetic devices, but has depth beauty too, in that you understand precisely what the whole story is about. I would have the reader go for the most literal translation with Atkins, but Kline's somehow manages both feats. If only it came in a hard cover or leather bound so it lasts generations because one reading of Faust isn't enough to understand the entirety of the story. Like all great books, it will speak something new to you during every stage of your life. There is nothing accidental about anything in this book, it all fits together. The only other author who has managed to make nothing accidental in their great works is Plato. I don't say that lightly. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe There are good reasons why it is difficult to find a translation of Faust Part II in English. The frequent changes of scene, the barely consistent plot and the bevy of characters the reader must handle all make for difficult reading. Add to that that Goethe wanted to comment on the ancients as the proper guide to life, the relationship between nature and man and the final meaning of the divine, make it, for the casual reader, virtually impenetrable.

But there are reasons to try to sort through the morass that is Faust part II and understand something of the great Romantic’s vision. Goethe saw the emulation of the ancients, properly conducted, as the best way for man to interact with nature. The nascent sciences, so bent on control and dominion, were leading mankind to profound estrangement from himself. All of Greco Roman mythology, even all of nature, were just a parable leading man to his end in God. Thus, it is not so much a matter of a soul recovering from original sin and being led to the vision of God as man returning to his true relationship with nature and thus naturally being led to divine kinship.

At least that is how I read it. Faust part II certainly isn’t for casual perusal. But if you are interested in the Romantics and particularly these themes, reading it is actually enjoyable. Perhaps, with renewed interest in civilization’s often fraught interaction with nature, attention will be paid to the second part of Faust and it will be standardly included in English translations.

(N.B. This edition also contains part I but that is available in numerous English translations and so I focused on the rarer second part.) Faust: Parts I II This is my favorite Translation of Faust. Not only is it very accurate to the original German (and keeping the occult / arcane references in tact) but it also keeps the flow and rhythm in tact as well. Many translations of Faust (Parts 1 and 2) into English change Heinrich Faust's name to Henry / Henri, or Harry. And they often don't understand the various occult references like The Key of Solomon (which sometimes gets randomly translated into a singular spell or scroll that is Solomon's Key misunderstanding that this is a real Grimoire).

This edition is easy to follow and it's unpretentious (many translations try to make Goethe sound like Shakespeare and he was not Shakespeare, he had his own style.

This is both Faust Parts 1 and 2 (which is preferred for any collector) and illustrated. I had a free digital copy of this edition for many years and I am glad to finally have it in physical format. There's nothing quite like having a real, tactile book in your hands. I wish it was in hardcover but at least it's available now in paperback. And reasonably priced too. I highly recommend this for any fan of Goethe who needs a good English translation. The story of Faust is an excellent and timeless one, and this translation only strengthens it. The other translation that I have read (can't remember the name) was written in a quite old fashioned manner, not to say that it was bad, but it made it much mentally consuming to read. With this translation, I was able to enjoy the story much properly due to the ease that Kline crafted the text with. I am fairly certain that the accuracy is great with this text, as I have looked on Kline's website and saw that he is an accomplished translator of many foreign works from Dante to Homer. You should check out the website for poetry in translation as all of Kline's works are available open source there, if you read this title though, you should purchase it to support Kline's great work! Should have done my research before ordering. This translation, as with most translations done by Kline, are available free on his website. By NO means are you getting a well respected let alone definitive translation. Layout is a mess, and publishing quality overall is very poor. I plan on donating this edition, you’re better off with a Dover Thrift Coleridge “Faust”. regency-romance