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Faust: First Part (Goethe's Faust #1)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 30,550 ratings · 473 reviews

Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental Faust, an audacious man boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experience, or knowledge can lead him to a moment he would wish to last forever. H...more

Paperback, German-English Edition, 432 pages

Published July 1st 1988 by Bantam Classics (first published 1808)

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Jan 06, 2012 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: easton-press, horror-classic, angels-demons-heaven-hell, 1800s, audiobook, classics, classics-european, poetry-plays-and-essays

First impression: Goethe could write his tuckus off. Rarely have I encountered prose that commingles in such bounty the trifecta of being, at once, gorgeous to the eye, imbued with passion and saturated with depth and meaning. Faust has all three and I was pulled into the seductive narrative from the momentous opening (wonderfully titled “Prologue from Heaven”) through the final dramatic climax.

I must briefly pause here to add a qualifier to my comments which relate to the version I experienced...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Jimmy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

There's something discomforting about the vague moral convictions of Goethe's Faust character. One would assume, that even a scholar living in Goethe's time would find the typical preoccupations of Christian morality somewhat boring, if not basically delusional and overzealous. After all, the cacophony of self-doubt racing through his mind is not initially brought on by anything that resembles religious guilt. He's a man plagued by the hermetic stuffiness of a lifestyle of perpetual deep thought...more There's something discomforting about the vague moral convictions of Goethe's Faust character. One would assume, that even a scholar living in Goethe's time would find the typical preoccupations of Christian morality somewhat boring, if not basically delusional and overzealous. After all, the cacophony of self-doubt racing through his mind is not initially brought on by anything that resembles religious guilt. He's a man plagued by the hermetic stuffiness of a lifestyle of perpetual deep thought. All of his forced questions about the complexity of the universe have not been adequately revealed to him in the immense amount of reading and study that he has undertaken throughout the course of his life. Something is missing. In the opening soliloquy he desperately gropes out loud in an attempt to locate the source of his emptiness. He intones ...

"What theatre! Oh, but nothing more.
Where can I grasp you, never-ending Nature?
Breasts, where? You founts of all of life,
That earth and heaven hang upon love
And where the parched soul craves to be,
You flow, you give to drink, but not to me."

Of course, much of this monologue does hint at the power that God might potentially have to grant this wish, but Goethe is ambiguous at best. In the beginning it's difficult to tell whether Faust harbors any faith in God. The question of God's abilities and/or existence is a concern of Faust's, but his frustrations and lamentations seem more bestial and secular in tone. Faust desires some sort of ineffable experience; he desires a base inflammation of the senses, most importantly of his own passion for life. It could be argued that Mephistopheles appears essentially because Faust desires to lose himself in sublime sinfulness. God might only show up to suggest that his mortal frustrations and complex questions can in fact be answered, but only by one book. More importantly, if it were for the grace of God's true presence in Faust's existence, his questions would abate under the reverent awe of his own faith. It's obviously not there.

It's at this point that Mephistopheles appears, offering what any average mortal would desire in the throes of their own suffering, brought on by an overwhelming abundance of probing, difficult questions; namely the earthly pleasures of amorous love. To be clear, Gretchen's character is offered to Faust to appease the longings of his heart more than that of his loins. Having the position and immortal power that Mephistopheles does, he understands that Faust will be more than willing to accept his wager. But, as most critics suggest, Mephistopheles also knows that a character such as Faust, despite not really being a man of faith, will ruin such an immediate route to happiness. Naturally, Gretchen detects the way in which this internal struggle of Faust's causes him to be so distant. Not only that, but she distrusts Mephistopheles, and is committed to God.

There is a clunky and somewhat fragmented quality to the way that Goethe presents many of the difficult concerns of Faust and his wager with Mephistopheles. Initially, he is so troubled, merely by the thought that all of his worldly academic efforts are made in vain. His frustration with the futility of his effort to enlighten himself and to better understand the beautiful complexity of the world, reaches a sort of peak, at which point he loses faith in virtually everything. At first amused by the idea of the very appearance of Mephistopheles, he's eventually perplexed by how effortlessly he can access the very happiness which he could hardly even give a name to. Is he, in this sense, troubled once again by the knowledge that he possesses, the knowledge of the disappointing outcome of his temporary pleasures? One could almost draw a parallel to Nietzsche's description of the existential frustration that cripples Shakespeare's Hamlet from acting on his anger due to the knowledge that he has of the awful situation occurring around him.

To an atheist, especially an academic one, virtually all of this might sound a little silly. The reality of the situation is that Mephistopheles is actually quite fun. As he says in response to Faust's question of who Mephistopheles is, "A part of the power who wills evil always but always works the good." He perplexes Faust by presenting himself as a merely a part of a duality that constitutes peoples paradoxical understanding of the wholeness of God. This might sound confusing to some, but what he's doing is mockingly suggesting to Faust that his attachment to traditional notions of sin and goodliness is ridiculous. Toward the end, Faust ignorantly insists that the wager is destined to end in despair and disappointment. Mephistopheles, already aware of how seemingly full of disappointment most mortal situations might appeal to human beings, basically has a little fun with Faust's misguided convictions of goodness. So then is this a tragedy? Toward the end of the first part of Goethe's morally confusing masterpiece, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that there is anything tragic about the fate of Faust.

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Oct 12, 2007 Sophia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Goethe’s Faust is a novel rich in metaphor, elaborate verse, imagery, depth, and meaning that not only employs symbolic characters and scenes, but also through such literary techniques weaves its main philosophy of striving and experience as mankind’s rightful path.

Ironically, Faust reveals his disapproval for books as a true source of knowledge in understanding the world; we must turn to life and living, and experience instead. I call this ironic because while he denounces books, Faust is a bo...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Terry Clague rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

'Through many a long day you'll be taught
That what you once did without thinking,
As easy as if it were eating or drinking,
Must be done in order: one! two! three!
But truly, this though factory of ours
Is like some weaver's masterpiece:
One treadle stirs a thousand threads,
This way and that the shuttles whistle,
Threads flow invisibly, one ... stroke
Ties a thousand knots .... The philosopher steps in
And proves to you it had to be so;
The first was so, the second was so,
And therefore the third and four...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Lisa (OhThatLisa) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays-and-poetry, satan-as-a-character

It is a crime that I went so long having read Bulgakov's Master and Margarita without giving Faust even a once-over. Although the parallels are clearly there, Margarita is a pale, pale tribute to Goethe's masterwork.

I'll admit that in the past I've given the Germans short shrift. They're not as artsy and poetical as the French nor as bat poo crazy as the Russians, so up until now they've kind of lived in my literary blind-spot. Happily, Faust has shaken up all of my pre-conceived notions. I lik...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Rob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Sitting on the shelf with the children of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton and Coleridge, Goethe's Faust is amazing in its poetry and depth. There are parts of this play/poem which seem to capture the whole drama of Man's fall and redemption within a single rhyming couplet. David Constantine's translation modernizes this amazing piece of High German lit, but George Madison Priest's translation seems, at least to me, to have a more seductive flow and more tempting poetry.

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Mar 18, 2012 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Goethe’s masterpiece recasts the ancient legend of Doctor Faustus. Faust is the representation of the Romantic imagination in all its aspiration and anxiety.
Faust is ever testing the limits of possibility – his reach exceeds his grasp. However, this desire for the sublime involves constant danger of narcissism.
The prologue to Faust is modeled on the book of Job. Here, Mephistopheles (the Devil) bets with God that he can deflect Faust from his desire and aspiration for experience with earthly p...more Goethe’s masterpiece recasts the ancient legend of Doctor Faustus. Faust is the representation of the Romantic imagination in all its aspiration and anxiety.
Faust is ever testing the limits of possibility – his reach exceeds his grasp. However, this desire for the sublime involves constant danger of narcissism.
The prologue to Faust is modeled on the book of Job. Here, Mephistopheles (the Devil) bets with God that he can deflect Faust from his desire and aspiration for experience with earthly pleasures. Mephistopheles thinking earthly, base pleasures will truly please man proves that he does not understand the human spirit or Love.
However, God knows that “As long as man strives, he is bound to err.”

Faust encountering the Earth Spirit - natura naturans.

Faust has studied every branch of learning. Yet, he still craves something more beyond plain knowledge; he desires action and experience outside of one’s imagination. His limitless aspiration allows him to make a pact with the Devil, Mephistopheles. The nature of this pact is this: if Faust is to ever declare himself as satisfied and content with where he is at any moment in time, he will die on the spot - his soul will then belong to Mephistopheles's. Per this agreement, Mephistopheles will provide Faust with experience and earthy pleasures. Faust makes this pact knowing that it is in his human nature to always strive for more and search for the sublime. He has outsmarted Mephistopheles, because he will gain experience and knowledge, but he knows he will continually strive for more and never declare himself as truly content.
Faust represents the egotistical sublime. His imaginative grandeur is inseparable from his sheer absorption in the wonder of his own being, his own experience. Faust’s narcissism blinds him from seeing others around him clearly, specifically Magarete (aka Gretchen). Faust strives for the experience of love with Margarete, but he is too busy inventing his loved one to see her as she is.

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Faust part I is a masterpiece that takes a little time and dedication to get into. If you take the time to truly understand this beautiful work, you will be rewarded with Faust's very own imaginative grandeur and craving for experience. (less)

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Oct 24, 2012 Jim Coughenour rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I don't read German – a lack, I suspect, that is irremediable when it comes to appreciating Goethe. I tried to read the Kaufmann Faust many years ago and could not get into it. So this time around I read determinedly in two translations, this one by David Luke as well as the more free-ranging Yale translation by Martin Greenberg. (To my surprise, I preferred Luke's version: it seemed to better capture the action and ironies of the poem.) As I read, I also referred to Nicholas Boyle's commentary,...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: big-lipped-alligator, can-t-speak-ill-of-the-dead, not-so-classic-books, pretentious

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book--play?--has ADD. Seriously.
We start in heaven, with Mephistopheles making some sort of vague deal with God to try and get a Doctor Faust damned. They say that this Faust is some sort of a Job, even though we then cut to him despairing enough to contemplate suicide--and he hasn't even met Mephistopheles yet! The demon then turns into a poodle--seriously-follows him in from a brief walk, and ends up making a deal with him. I'm not really sure about the deal because they throw in all so...more This book--play?--has ADD. Seriously.
We start in heaven, with Mephistopheles making some sort of vague deal with God to try and get a Doctor Faust damned. They say that this Faust is some sort of a Job, even though we then cut to him despairing enough to contemplate suicide--and he hasn't even met Mephistopheles yet! The demon then turns into a poodle--seriously-follows him in from a brief walk, and ends up making a deal with him. I'm not really sure about the deal because they throw in all sorts of confusing asides about "you can take me to Hell in the hour I wish for that hour to last longer" or something. It ends up being just when his natural lifespan ends, he goes straight to hell. Mephistopheles finds him a girl to seduce whose name is either Gretchen or Margareta--apparently Gretchen is a shortening of the name, but nobody told me that, and I never would have guessed--and then he leaves to go cavort with witches and fairies. When he comes back, she's in jail for having killed her mother and his baby. She wants to die, and Mephistopheles hauls Faust off as the jailers come. Why? Wouldn't Faust's death now mean he goes straight to hell? End Part One.
Part Two opens with a pastoral scene of fairies doing vague things. This is the literary version of Bambi's mother's death. We bounce around with various kings fighting, and then the story turns into an Iliad fanfic, pairing up Helen of Troy with Faust. She dies. Faust gets old and dies, then the angels come and swipe him out of Mephistopheles's grasp. No, they don't really explain this. It might be because he "strove," but if that's it, then what we have is a mess of works righteousness--and what's more, these good actions that saved him were not shown!
This book is crazy. I read that it took Goethe sixty years on-and-off to write, and it looks as if he didn't bother to go over what he'd written before. The plot halts for long stretches, characters we've never met before spout a few lines as their introduction and leave, and Faust himself is often left in the dust. There's one particularly long section in which we follow a homunculus and philosopher around, without even Mephistopheles to pretend this has anything to do with the rest of the story. Random bits of mythology are injected whenever possible, whether it makes any sense or not.
Maybe other versions of Faust are better, I don't know. If it had stopped at Part One, it would have worked, but it didn't. I only read this because Faust was in The Band Wagon. The Band Wagon is awesome. Go watch that instead.(less)

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Oct 15, 2009 Blake rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, classics

I have read his Werther previously, so was familiar with his Sturm und Drang, but there he created a tragic hero, here it is something different.

Exquisite words conduce to exquisite generation, where (I'm reminded of Virgil) each word is child of that preceding and parent to the procession. It has the gravity of a great opera, the lucid and disturbed poignancy of a Shakespearean Lolita and chills more often than it warms.

Faust reaches into disheartening epistemology and other philosophic despair...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Blake Nelson added it · review of another edition

Kind of a mess, really but full of great stuff. Faust himself never really comes clear as a character, not to me at least, but the Germans of the time, all knew of him already, and were familiar with the "legend of Faust", so I guess you had to be there.

Really fun and readable though. And sexy! And not hard to understand at all, as you might think. Great translation, I think, though I haven't read the others.

Well worth the time. I saw the silent movie before, and read the wiki article, so I didn...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Juan rated it 5 of 5 stars

La búsqueda del origen de la acción ha guiado al hombre a través de los mas sinuosos rincones del principio del actuar, a pesar de la casi infinita cadena que esta acción halla tejido, el comienzo se encuentra en lo profundo del microcosmos del hombre, en cuyo centro se encuentra encerrado el espíritu, que va mas halla de cualquier definición posible, pues este es moldeado por todo cuanto ha pasado, dicha cantidad no ha de ser otra que no sea el infinito. Johann Wolfang von Goethe ha creado una...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Henry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 12-13-adv

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 01, 2012 Stephanie added it

Where even to begin with this one? Faust is one of those tales that you know without necessarily having read it: its echoes and influences are everywhere, no doubt because its central theme is something that we all carry around with us. It's perhaps even more relevant today, really, when you look at our constant push for betterment and knowledge and fulfilment, and I'm fully aware of the irony of picking this one up out of a desire to fill in the many gaps of my reading history. It struck home i...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Adam rated it 2 of 5 stars

I hate to be the reviewer of a classic who claims "the emperor has no clothes", but in this case, Goethe has no clothes. At least after the first few scenes. It starts off amazing and is a 9/10 up to the point where he sells his soul to the devil. The first scene where he proclaims his existential pain to the world was very powerful and I could even relate somewhat to his dilemmas and suicidal ideations and the worthlessness of all his intellectual endeavors. But that is pretty much the best par...more I hate to be the reviewer of a classic who claims "the emperor has no clothes", but in this case, Goethe has no clothes. At least after the first few scenes. It starts off amazing and is a 9/10 up to the point where he sells his soul to the devil. The first scene where he proclaims his existential pain to the world was very powerful and I could even relate somewhat to his dilemmas and suicidal ideations and the worthlessness of all his intellectual endeavors. But that is pretty much the best part of the work. It's all downhill after that. Even the scene where he gives his soul up to mephistopheles failed to move me in the way I thought it would. It just lacked any power and emotion. I thought it was rushed. The romance between Faust and Gretchen was literally contrived and also rushed. I didn't buy it at all. Goethe should have used more lines on the character development in order to flesh out the feelings that he so strongly espouses. I love Romanticism and Goethe can write excellent verse at times, especially his soliloquies, but it seems to lack cohesion. There basically are no segues between scenes, so the reader is forced to fill in the developmental blanks that exist all over this book. This worked for me at first, but quickly became tiresome and annoying. Right now he's in a bar. Now he's in a cave. Now he's with a woman. Now he's on a street. Now he's back at a house. Now the devil shows up. Now another woman shows up. I just didn't care about the characters. Faust did not seem like a tragedy to me. Mephistopheles was the only well-developed character and that saddened me. I was expecting so much more after reading those first few scenes. Maybe if I would have read this a few years ago before I read most of the other great authors I would have enjoyed it more, but Goethe's ideas just did not strike me as profound, at least the way he expresses them. I can't comprehend how people make claims that Goethe ranks up there with the likes of Shakespeare or Cervantes or Homer or Virgil. Not even close.(less)

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Mar 16, 2012 Sophia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay, so, um, there's a lot to say about this one. I feel a bit overwhelmed, because I read it in the past few hours (it's faster than you'd think).

First, the usual: I had to read this for ENG150Y1, The Literary Tradition, and with this work our studies come to a close, as it's our final work this year. Isn't that exciting? There's so much to tie to our older texts. We have the same kind of manipulation Prospero did in Meph's own work, but the latter is, well, the devil, and Prospero uses these...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Unsurprisingly, this work deserved much more than the sporadic attention I was able to give it during the term. I know there was a lot of substance that I missed, and I would enjoy an opportunity to actually study it.
I didn't have much background prior to starting, other than the vague understanding of the Faust legend one can't help but acquiring in Western culture. I was therefore somewhat surprised by Part I, which read more like a comedy than a tragedy in style and structure. While it was r...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Patrick Gibson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-literature

Yah, I know... I need to add a 'Classic Literature' bookshelf. But... I am too busy reading (read: lazy).

Written in stages across the span of nearly sixty years, I agree with the wisdom of the ages that it is one of the greatest works of imaginative literature ever composed. Yet, while I think its relevance to a modern audience high, this work is not likely to receive much attention, let alone deep study, in America today, in the age of the Oprah book club, computer animated movies, reality tele...more Yah, I know... I need to add a 'Classic Literature' bookshelf. But... I am too busy reading (read: lazy).

Written in stages across the span of nearly sixty years, I agree with the wisdom of the ages that it is one of the greatest works of imaginative literature ever composed. Yet, while I think its relevance to a modern audience high, this work is not likely to receive much attention, let alone deep study, in America today, in the age of the Oprah book club, computer animated movies, reality television and of course, the Web.

Goethe was a household name 150 years ago and easily ranks alongside Homer, Dante and Shakespeare. His body of work totaled sixty volumes in his lifetime and another score or so posthumously published. While Goethe penned masterpieces in nearly every genre over six decades, clearly the most canonical text is this massive 18,000 line poetical drama.

The storyline chronicles the adventures and misadventures of an extraordinarily disaffected academic, Dr. Heinrich Faust, who in a moment of despair makes a wager with the Devil regarding the attainability of a moment of absolute fulfillment. Beneath this surface, however, it is really a metaphysical journey that illustrates on multiple levels, the duality of man's life. Faust seeks the meaning of life, he seeks access to the Absolute, the Ideal, and the Spiritual, yet he is constantly frustrated and dissatisfied by the apparent human limitations of attaining those goals.

The poem is a difficult read due in large part to (I’m guessing) translation challenges. In addition to an astonishing number of verse forms used, Faust also has a complex structure, many classical allusions and multiple fantastical situations, while most of the poetic impact is surely lost at the expense of gaining comprehension.

Throughout ‘Faust’ we are able to observe the twin competing forces of instinctive Good and ever-present Evil as they play out their roles within man's life of needs and wants. Importantly, we see their roles in the uncertain endgame of salvation versus damnation. While nominally `about' the fantastical adventures of a medieval scholar, Faust should really be read and recognized as the allegorical masterpiece that portrays both the glory and the tragedy of what it means to be fully human.
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Jan 11, 2011 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The ending surprised and intrigued me. Both here and in The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe seems to be pulling off something akin to a "Fassbinder ending." By that, I mean a kind of punch-in-the-stomach ending created by narrative misdirection in the body of the story and a sudden shift of focus at the end. In Werther, in the body of the story, the narrator--Werther himself in letters but also a third person narrator--misdirects our attention primarily on the developing love triangle between W...more The ending surprised and intrigued me. Both here and in The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe seems to be pulling off something akin to a "Fassbinder ending." By that, I mean a kind of punch-in-the-stomach ending created by narrative misdirection in the body of the story and a sudden shift of focus at the end. In Werther, in the body of the story, the narrator--Werther himself in letters but also a third person narrator--misdirects our attention primarily on the developing love triangle between Werther, Charlotte and Albert. To be sure the narrator gives some attention to Werther's relationship to his society and his social position, but this is not used as a narrative pull. In other words, the audience wants to know how the love affair turns out, not whether Werther ends up with a good job. The narrative focus remains on the personal perspective--how Werther feels about himself and his personal feelings regarding the people he encounters--rather than a social perspective--how other's view Werther or his effect on the lives of those around him. At the end of the story the focus shifts suddenly and dramatically. First there is the skewering detail (see my review of Werther if you are interested) during the climax of Werther's love affair when a servant intrudes onto the scene and Werther--previously crying on the floor--is forced to get up and pace until the servant leaves; and finally of course the pointedly terse reference to his funeral--the narrator has chosen not even to honor his "hero" with a full depiction of the funeral--at the very end: "Albert was unable to accompany them. Charlotte's life was despaired of. The body was carried by labourers. No priest attended."

The Faust ending works in a very similar fashion. It's especially striking if you compare it to the ending of Marlowe's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. Marlowe's play ends more or less as one might expect. Faust spends his last night wishing he had never made a deal with the devil while a couple of sympathetic scholars pray for him in the next room. The devils show up and take him to Hell and then the chorus walks on to deliver the moral of this cautionary tale, reminding the audience not to "wonder at unlawful things,/whose deepness doth entice such forward wits/to practice more than heavenly power permits." The ending of Goethe's Faust is surprising, indirect and a hundred times more powerful. He prepares for it with a brilliant piece of narrative misdirection. On the surface, the narrative pull of the play is what one might expect, the increasingly exotic scenes and secrets Faust becomes privy to as a result of his partnership with Mephistopheles. However about halfway through, the plot appears to veer into what seems an inordinately long digression, Faust's seduction, with Mephistopheles' help, of the pure and virginal Margaret. Faust's feelings toward Margaret are fiendishly ambiguous. While it's clear Faust never has any intention of marrying Margaret or taking care of her longterm, his rhapsodizing monologues about her seem to suggest more transcendent "true love" than just lust. Nonetheless when Margaret's brother--ironically named "Valentine"--finds out her reputation has been ruined by the affair he disowns her, proclaims her a whore and is murdered by Faust. Thereafter the plot seems to return its main focus as Mephistopheles takes Faust off to witness Walpurgis Night, a witch convention that takes the form of a wild party. Walpurgis night is grotesque and supremely distracting. (At one point, Faust finds himself dancing with a nude witch). The audience might be forgiven for having forgotten all about Margaret, though we are reminded of her when Faust spots a witch that takes on the form of the true love of whoever gazes at her (in Faust's case, Margaret). Near the end of the festival, Mephistopheles, more or less out of the blue, informs Faustus that Margaret is in prison. Faust insists on being taken there with the idea of mounting a rescue. Here's where the Fassbinder ending begins. After all the magic and fantastic horror, we are confronted with the more mundane but much more terrifying horror of the fate of a fallen woman. Time seems to have been dilated during Walpurgis Night. More than nine months have passed, Margaret is in prison for having committed infanticide on her and Faust's illegitimate offspring. The scandal seems to also have killed Margaret's mother--though Margaret suggests that she has killed her herself. Margaret is out of her senses crying because the guards of the prison have taken the child's corpse away from her. She is still in love with Faust (though he cannot bring himself to kiss her in her present condition) and seems to regard his love for her redemptive at least in the sense that she still craves his "true love" even after all she's been through. Surprisingly, for Faust and the audience, Margaret doesn't seem to want to be rescued. Again, Goethe's romantic hero, is made to seem vaguely comic if not out and out ridiculous as he continually chides Margaret to come with him out of the prison before the guards discover him there. (He even tries to physically carry her out). But Margaret won't budge. Instead she wants Faust to affirm his (formerly) transcendent love for her. When he will not, she turns to God, confessing her guilt and asking for forgiveness. At this point the tables turn abruptly and dizzyingly (the whole universe of the play turns in fact) as Margaret fears for Faust. She "shudders" for him in his damnation. The ending is brilliantly terse. Margaret is judged, saved, Faust takes off, and the play ends with the saved Margaret crying out to the damned Faust, using his first name. All in 11 words of dialog: (MEPHISTOPHELES: She is judged! VOICE (from above): She is saved! MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST): Hither to me! VOICE (from within, dying away): Henry! Henry!(less)

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Oct 31, 2010 Cameron rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Faust" is a story about a very successful scholar(Faust) who is unsatisfied with life and decides to make a deal with the devil for unlimited knowledge and worldy pleasures. He makes this deal with Mephistopheles(a demon) and the agreement is that Meph will be his servant on Earth and at the very moment he experiences "true happiness" he shall die and be cast to hell to serve the Devil. This is one of my favorite pieces of literature. Faust is a very relatable character due to the fact that he...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Nicholas Whyte rated it 1 of 5 stars

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1488893.html

It really took me ages to grind through this, and I'm not sure that it was worth it. Rather ambitiously I got hold of the Wordsworth edition which includes not only Part I and Part II of Faust, but also an earlier draft of Part I (the Urfaust) just in case you are sufficiently interested to know what the original version might have looked like.

Part I is the more digestible version (and the Urfaust even more so). Heinrich Faust, a scholar who is trying to...more http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1488893.html

It really took me ages to grind through this, and I'm not sure that it was worth it. Rather ambitiously I got hold of the Wordsworth edition which includes not only Part I and Part II of Faust, but also an earlier draft of Part I (the Urfaust) just in case you are sufficiently interested to know what the original version might have looked like.

Part I is the more digestible version (and the Urfaust even more so). Heinrich Faust, a scholar who is trying to reconcile the life of the mind with the lusts of the flesh, signs a deal with Mephistopheles (who9 first appears, and I am not making this up, in the shape of a poodle) to get whatever he wants, notably the pretty girl Gretchen. There are various rustic and studenty comic interludes, but it all goes wrong and she is executed for infanticide (I think; it's a bit obscure).

Part II, in five tedious acts, is more a pageant of Goethe's knowledge (and adaptation) of German and classical mythology than anything resembling an actual plot. Faust sets up a kingdom which seems to be co-located between medieval Germany and ancient Greece in order to seduce Helen of Troy (after the end of the Trojan war). There are complicated bits with emperors battling each other (one of whom may be Napoleon, who was around at the time of composition) and I really didn't follow much of it.

I think that either part would be pretty much impossible to stage. The characters do very little but wander up and down declaiming verse, and some of the directions are surely unimplementable (the well-trained poodle, as noted above; various stunts required in Part II). I assume that Goethe wrote it for intellectual house parties to recite to each other while lounging around the formal gardens sipping white wine.

Despite the fact that I really didn't enjoy Faust much, I did have some fun spotting themes that have carried through to later literature. Quite a lot of Part I reminded me of Buffy, with the students, young lurve, supernatural powers and diabolical figures tempting our lead character. That may be my imagination; I'm quite sure, however, that Roger Zelazny drew on Faust's construction of his magical castle to seduce Helen when writing the latter part of Jack of Shadows - he was a fan of German literature.

I suppose I should read (or, better, somehow watch) the Marlowe version to get another perspective on the story. (And then reread Michael Swanwick's take on it.)(less)

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Jun 30, 2010 Daniel Pecheur rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-masterpieces, plays, world-literature

My favorite work of literature ever written. I absolutely love Goethe's Faust I; it is definitely the most sublime and inspiring work of literature in my mind. I think that the story of Dr. Faust alone is fascinating, but the version created by the German Romantic Goethe, whose genius can only be rivaled by Shakespeare, perhaps, is by far the most excellent, widely surpassing the play of Marlowe. My favorite quote from literature is in the monologue between Faust and his friend Wagner in Act I w...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy, poetry, classics

My review:
Faust is the classic tale of man's introspection in his pursuit of life, where great wisdom brings greater bruden. Finished in 1832, this 'closet drama' has a gothic style with all advantages of Elizabethan inspiration from the likes of Shakespeare and every scientific, religious, philosophical, achaeological... engineering down to the kitchen sink available to him. Really--if you're the type who likes to look into your authors, Goethe is a fascinating genius of a man. Like most people...more My review:
Faust is the classic tale of man's introspection in his pursuit of life, where great wisdom brings greater bruden. Finished in 1832, this 'closet drama' has a gothic style with all advantages of Elizabethan inspiration from the likes of Shakespeare and every scientific, religious, philosophical, achaeological... engineering down to the kitchen sink available to him. Really--if you're the type who likes to look into your authors, Goethe is a fascinating genius of a man. Like most people with a story to be told, he projects himself into the shoes of Faust quite fluently.

To keep my synposis brief, Heinrich Faust is a dying breed among the world's professions: the alchemist--a scientist of worldly metals and unworldly essences, forever searching for the universal and complete truth. In the beginning, god and Mephistopholes (Satan) are chatting before the pearly gates about the weakness of mortals and eventually their challenging opinions come to a bet against the soul of Faust. God Believes that Faust, although capable of unwholesome things, being a creature of several sciences, will know his soul's purity before his end, and so Satan sets out to tempt him. Some introductions follow of how inconsolable Faust has become of late, to the point that he sends an understudy away to take his own life, but he is stopped and so Satan and Faust meet. Faust, being the scholar that he is, eventually agrees to Satan's promise but on an oath agreeing that only if Faust should attain a moment so blissful that he wished it would last forever would Satan have his soul. Now, on to the slightly more interesting stuff.

Faust is divided into two parts. For those of you who really like to look into an author's work, this is a diamond mine for you. Looking at Goethe's life will reveal deep personal connection, but even on the surface this division on plots sets the stage for parallelisms between Faust's life, painstakingly placed enigmas between two lovers Faust has and their reasons for failed fatherhood. Although there were not as many conflicts/arguments of spirituality, philosophy, or even sinful knowledge as I would have liked, I think the neutrality is a design of enjoyment.

Like most pieces of the great art (har har, it's an alchemy pun!) Faust is written in in more rhyme/meter than it is prose; because the piece is written and translated beyond the period of nominative pronouns like thy and thou, this makes the reading flow like textual ambrosia for even the most modernized reader. That being said, it is a very long imbibe in two parts. I strongly recommend this book to anyone of its intended religious audience as well as anyone who can just enjoy a good smart-read.(less)

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Feb 05, 2012 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazing-writing, horror-stories, mind-fucked

This was mostly confusing as hell. I'm usually a fast reader so I had to take pains to slow down and reread some of the pages to actually get a grip of all the ideas laid there. Needless to say it took me more than a month to finish reading this and even after that I still had to read it a second time just to be sure I understood everything. I love Goethe but I can't deny I had a few choice words for him while reading this book.

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Oct 18, 2010 Jesse Lopes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The dilemma of Faust as Goethe presents it is definitely the most urgent tale of modernity (this side of the works of Dostoyevsky, but, forgive me, I'm paying lip service). How can knowledge satisfy power-cravings? How can love reign supreme when it is maintained by the naive? An endlessly absorbing and eclectic tale, filled to the brim with good humor and pathos to, in the words of Francis Bacon, weigh, ponder, and consider!

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Aug 22, 2012 Clayton rated it 5 of 5 stars

For me to write a review of Faust is a little unfair to the rest of you, since Part I of it is, without exception, my favorite book of all time. I'm not sure how many times I've read it, but every time I do, I love it a little more. Margaret is the single most lovably tragic character ever written, and Faust is always forgivable, despite all the terrible things he does to her. Like Elective Affinities, Faust is a study in action and consequence, in this case, the consequences of wish-fulfillment...more

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Jul 11, 2012 John H.D. Lucy rated it 1 of 5 stars

It's not like I'm unfamiliar with so-called plays that should never be performed on stage. I'm a big fan of Ibsen and some of his plays are just impossible to put on stage and maintain any integrity with the original. This, though, I'm not a big fan of. Goethe might have gotten two or three stars out of me if he hadn't written the second part. The first part has a lot of theatrical qualities which would be quite fun to watch; reading, too, was enjoyable. The second part, on the other hand, jumps...more

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Mar 15, 2008 matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetic-rapture

So intense and detailed and dense in the best way I want to come back to it but am kind of intimidated that my experience of reverence and awe I experienced while reading it in High School (I was a weird kid) isn't going to repeat itself.

This is....just profound. Goethe knew more or less all that was to be known and yet his poetry is informed by his extreme erudition and not dragged down by it.

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Jul 25, 2011 Myth Girl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mythology, literature

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 09, 2013 Daniel Mello rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've rated this play Four Stars simply for the pure history of its construction. The prose itself, imagery and all, is wildly poetic, as can be expected of the era, and Von Goethe delivers a fanciful story of love and loss. However, my enjoyment of the tale was lost within the excessive ballads and seemingly forced rhyme structure. Many times throughout, I found myself wondering why Von Goethe chose the words he did, not to mention their absurd usage, and realized that any interpretation of the...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Four - Faust Part Two - p. 135 - 240	3	8	Mar 03, 2013 01:27am
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Three - Faust Part Two - p. 135 - 240	7	5	Mar 03, 2013 01:06am
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Two - Faust Part One - p. 63 - 133	27	18	Feb 18, 2013 04:29pm
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week One - Faust Part One - p. 3 - 62	16	22	Feb 15, 2013 08:26pm
Classic Literature - Pretentious or Valid?	12	126	Feb 14, 2013 12:03pm
Goodreads Librari...: Restore series?	7	41	Feb 13, 2013 07:30am
Brain Pain: * Schedule for Discussions - Faust I & II (Goethe)	1	11	Jan 27, 2013 08:27am

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About Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include h...more

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