Faust: A Tragedy, Part One (Pt. 1) [Paperback]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Author), Martin Greenberg (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Faust | Publication Date: November 25, 1992

The first part of Goethe's masterpiece about a troubled man who sells his soul to the devil.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This difficult work has defeated many translators, not only as a result of its sophisticated verse style and varying tone but because it has dramatic flaws that Goethe's wit and lyric powers, embedded in the original, made beside the point. Greenberg's brief introduction considers this history of translators' failures and submits that what previous attempts have lacked is a natural idiom; this translator attempts "a free-ranging diction, meters looser, often, than those Goethe uses, and a much looser rhyming made up of half rhymes, assonance, and consonance." Yet Greenberg's spirit of compromise is hard to accept, especially his slackening of meter. Rhymes, for their part, are usually much less than "half," and the mangled stresses, particularly at line breaks, are a great loss. These disappointments are compounded by how little success Greenberg makes of his vaunted natural idiom, as shown in such lines as "So let's hear the terms, what the fine print is; / Having you for a servant's a tricky business" and "Now try and tell me, you know-it-alls, / There's no such thing as miracles!" Rather than engaging a living language, he seems to look for idiom in pastiches of jargon.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The Faust legend is better known to English-speaking readers through Marlow's tragedy than through the later drama from Goethe, Germany's greatest author. Various 20th-century translators have tried to make Goethe's most famous work palatable to contemporary English audiences. With its facing German text, Walter Kaufmann's 1961 translation is most valuable for the serious student. Here, Greenberg has come closest to a version that might encourage stage productions. It boasts outstanding poetry and the use of the American vernacular, which makes the flavor of the original accessible to non-German speaking readers. Recommended for subject collections but also for smaller libraries wanting a good translation of this classic author.
- Ingrid Schierling, Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 25, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300056567
• ISBN-13: 978-0300056563
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #678,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful translation, December 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Faust: A Tragedy, Part One (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

After comparing most of the major English translations of Faust (Luke, Kaufmann, Arndt, Wayne) I found Martin Greenberg's to be the most beautiful and accessible of them all. Greenberg does an excellent job of suiting the tenor of the verse to the dramatic occasion, ranging from low comical to sublime lyric. Whereas the majority of previous English translations tend (mistakenly) strive for a uniformly "elevated" tone, Greenberg's translation gets the nuances right. A central idea running throughout Goethe's works is that in any comprehensive formulation of life, extremes must be united. The range of poetic styles in Faust--from high to low, comic to tragic, beautiful to sublime, "volk" slang to epic vaunt--also follows this general rule, and again Greenberg's sensativity to this range is wonderful. While the other translations are not bad, if you really want to experience the fantastic emotional-intellectual rollercoaster ride of Faust, this translation does it best.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This translation is excellent!, July 29, 2001

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"frest0n" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faust: A Tragedy, Part One (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

This is an excellent translation of an amazing book.

Not only does Greenberg's translation rhyme (as opposed to the free-verse versions of lesser translators), but it's a great deal more intelligible to modern American readers than the other translations I've read. Nothing has been dumbed down, this book radiates the same brilliance and wit as the German original.

I highly recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Accesible Faust, June 12, 2011

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Book worm (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Faust: A Tragedy, Part One (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

the translation is done in a way to preserve the poetic nature of the text while avoiding the usual pitfalls of obscuring the meaning with stilted english.

I really appreciate the Foust's struggle between head and heart, belief and unbelief, striving and erring.