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Product Description
This edition includes both part I and II of the drama. It represents a significant departure from its predecessor in terms of supporting apparatus and the "Interpretative Notes" have been expanded. "Contexts" includes five new selections by Goethe on the composition of the novel. "Criticism" includes commentary by 11 of his contemporaries. "Modern Criticism" has been recast to include ten new essays.
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9 reviews
91 of 94 people found the following review helpful
Five bright stars.
3 April 2002
Format:Paperback
"Vainly in the day time labored, pick and shovel, clink and strike." Goethe worked on Faust for much of his career, but composed some of the best of Part II in a time of life when most are in their rocking chairs or in the intensive care ward of the local nursing home. Goethe in his late seventies and early eighties would rise in the early dawn and compose some of the best poetry written. "I would elevate my mind to a kind of productivity which brought all this forth, in a full state of consciousness and which pleases me still, even though perhaps I could never swim again in such a river." It has been said that German poetry is difficult to translate or untranslatable, and this seems true with some translations of Faust, but the Norton contains a superb effort by Walter Arndt which appears always so on the mark that one suspects Arndt actually embellishes the German, but, rather than quibble over accuracy, it is all so good you will hardly care. Goethe builds upon the medieval Faust legend as a skeleton for his own writing in epic-poem style with various meter fashioned to fit the subject. Faust, weary of the ways of the world (one can almost hear the 60s hippy) embarks on a journey of self-discovery, skirt chasing and empire building finally ending in his 100th year in the ultimate trip, with a little help from his friend, Goethe. This composition is remarkable in innumerable ways. One can use a thesaurus of superlatives: wonderful imagery, perfect choice of words, peerless imagination, beautiful poetry, a unity to the whole which is memorable, as well as numerous wonderful scenes and lines, and always an intelligence that seems to absorb and understand everything. Of course, one can differ with Goethe philosophically. There are other angles from which to view life than Faust and his Mephistophelean foil. And Faust, which contains all the universal ingredients, can be faulted at times, dwelling too much on the antique philosophy, politics and literary questions which interested Goethe in his long life. But all this seems irrelevant to Faust as a work of art, permanently canonized for its beauty and writing alone, whatever disparagement or praise one might hold for its meaning or content. The Norton Edition is edited by Cyrus Hamlin whose interpretive notes are scholarly, contain a subtle respect for Goethe, and are in themselves a book worth reading. The selections of Goethe comment and scholarship range from the brilliant to the outer eliptics of literary criticism, and the included illustrations and Goethe letters on composition are a nice touch. The work of Hamlin and the Arndt translation which here frame Goethe as the main event make the Norton Critical Edition of Faust (2000) one of the better books one is likely to pick up.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Incredible...absolutely incredible
17 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a marvel. How he managed to write a dark, complicated, and immensely riveting play based loosely on the life of Dr. Faustus is beyond my imagination. This is truly a great work of art.
This book, containing only the English translation, contains detailed commentaries, selected illustrations, Goethe's own remarks about Faust, observations from modern playwrights, and so much more. A great buy.
This book, containing only the English translation, contains detailed commentaries, selected illustrations, Goethe's own remarks about Faust, observations from modern playwrights, and so much more. A great buy.
23 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Amazing
9 Mar 2005
Format:Paperback
The text of Faust itself is brilliant. It is so richly detailed, it is an amazing and spellbinding story - though very disorienting. A detailed knowledge of poety, Greek Mythology, and other things will add to successful reading of this complicated text. The translation is very good with only a few errors.
On the flip side of the coin, the book is laiden with notes, interpretations, and valuable details. For anyone seriously going to study Faust, not in the original German, this is for you.
On the flip side of the coin, the book is laiden with notes, interpretations, and valuable details. For anyone seriously going to study Faust, not in the original German, this is for you.
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