Customer Reviews

Faust, Parts 1 and 2 (Cliffs Notes)

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I read this item after completing Kaufmann's translation of Faust. It certainly helped my understanding of the original text, although I am sure I would not have enjoyed the experience quite as much had I not read the actual work. I recommend not attempting to pick up the Cliff's Notes with the expectation of receiving the full benefit of Goethe; it is, however, a good place to turn if you need clarification, details, explanation of diction or allusion, or even an idea with which to start off a paper. Not a replacement for reading Faust, but a good resource to use in addition to the text.

Faust is a reasonably tough work. The good folks at Cliffs Notes have done the literary community a great service by their outline and guide to Faust I. This Cliffs Notes guide deserves a 5 star rating for its treatment and plot outline of Faust I. It's up to the usual caliber of their literary outlines.

Unfortunately, they made the mistake of labelling the guide "Faust parts I and II" and then coming up short on the second part. There's virtually nothing of Faust II in this book (20 pages out of 70!). The notes even goes so far as to say so that it is "much longer than the first and contains many complicated allegorical elements" (40) and since "less emphasis" is usually given it in "classroom study", it's glossed. That borders on false advertising. In good faith, they deserve a 1 for that part of the product. Shouldn't the more complicated, lengthier part require more exposition? If it's taught so infrequently (which is, admittedly, true) why even bother including it in the notes?

Faust II, in case you don't know, is one of the most recondite plays ever written. If you're already reading it and looking online for a guide, you probably know that already. While Faust II is a difficult work to summarize and often lacks a conventional plot structure, good explanatory notes on it aren't impossible, nor is a mythology and allusion guide - as the recent Oxford edition proved.

Recommended if you just need a relatively straightforward guide for Faust I. Ignore completely and buy the Oxford edition of Faust II for its critical apparatus if another edition of Faust II is giving you grave difficulty. I found that edition helped my understanding quite a bit.