Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Faust 1 und 2

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Faust 1 und 2 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

4 reviews

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is little reason to repeat a summary of this famous tale. Book 1 is a more worldly story (and for that, the more compelling) and Book 2 is highly symbolic and abstract. Each are worthy of heavy study to appreciate the breadth of Goethe's vision, though most who think of the story attempt to speak it in two sentences, a real crippling of what is here. Decidedly, Goethe is not merely telling the story of a "deal with the devil."

The Priest translation was a delight to read, but also somewhat troubling. Though recommended by Thomas Mann (high praise), it is an earlier English translation and makes some choices that are perhaps problematic. All in rhythmic and rhymed verse (following Goethe's style), Priest could not have accomplished this and also retained all of Goethe's meaningful nuances. While this version does not have the original German text alongside it (and I can scarce read German in any event), it is difficult to make a measure of its accuracy. For this read, then, I enjoyed the musical and poetic spirit of the drama, recognizing that some of the details I met were likely altered in some way. I will seek a different translation for more careful study.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a worthy English translation that captures the fundamental story of Faust's (and, of course, Mephistopheles's) journey, I recommend it.

Content Warnings