Faust, First Part

Goethe’s Faust #1 of 2

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Peter Salm (Translator)

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. Here, in Faust, Part I, the tremendous versatility of Goethe’s genius creates some of the most beautiful passages in literature. Here too we experience Goethe’s characteristic humor, the excitement and eroticism of the witches’ Walpurgis Night, and the moving emotion of Gretchen’s tragic fate.

This authoritative edition, which offers Peter Salm’s wonderfully readable translation as well as the original German on facing pages, brings us Faust in a vital, rhythmic American idiom that carefully preserves the grandeur, integrity, and poetic immediacy of Goethe’s words.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Plays, Poetry, German Literature, Drama, Literature

327 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1808

About the author

A master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem Faust , published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.

George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .

With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.

Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.

Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.

Reviews

[Jovana Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedno od najvažnijih dela nemačkog romantizma iz pera slavnog Getea,za današnje vreme sam primetila da je manje popularno i voljeno zbog svoje forme,dramski spev može da deluje malo nerazuman mlađoj publici(i meni samoj je bio pomalo nerazumljiv u srednjoj školi kada smo ga prvi put radili na času) no i pored toga nosi izuzetnu pouku koja je i van epohe samog romantizma.

Godine 1790. objavljen je Faust, fragment ,dok je 1808. stupio na scenu završeni prvi deo koji se od Fragmenta razlikuje novim scenama i trostrukim uvodom.Ti uvodi su: Posveta, Predigra u pozorištu, Prolog na nebu, kao i nov podnaslov Tragedija. Samom delu Gete je dao podnaslov tragedija, mada ga teoretičari i istoričari književnosti smatraju dramskim spevom.
Slede spojleri! :)

U Posveti se govori o samom dugom procesu stvaranja i rada na ovom delu,u Predigri u pozorištu se posmatra pozorište iz ugla upravnika,pesnika i komičara.
Prolog na nebu je zanimljiv jer uvodi Boga i Mefistofela na scenu i njihovu opkladu : da je Faust isti kao i svi ostali ljudi sklon strastima i svemu što je prolazno i kratkovečno.
Mefistofel se pojavljuje kod Fausta u radnoj sobi i oni sklapaju dogovor i tada kreću mala i velika uživanja.Od Auerbahovog podruma sa pijanim studentima do susreta sa četrnaestogodišnjom Margaretom(Gretom) gde ga ljubav zaslepi i on po prvi put oseća strast,sreću,bol i čežnju.Greta je siromašna i naivna,iskrena,potpuno se prepušta ludoj ljubavi prema Faustu,nedorasla Faustu u lepotu,učenosti ,otmenosti i to mu otvoreno kaže,tu njenu jednostavnost Faust ceni ali i iskorišćava,pod njegovim uticajem otruje majku,zbog njega i njen brat umre a vrhunac je čedomorstvo koje sama Greta učini,zbog Fausta poludi i završi na vešalima dok je on sa Mefistom na Valpurginoj noći i zabavlja se sa vešticama.Faustovim antagonizmom je Gete izrazio sve najljudskije u svima nama,izjednačava ga sa svakodnevnim čovekom upravo ta borba dobra i zla unutar čoveka,nekad prevagne dobro nekad zlo(Svako nosi u sebi Mefistovo zlo i Margaretino dobro).

Čitajući ovo po drugi put,3 godine nakon prvog čitanja,mnogo bolje razumem tekst i vrednost ovog dela,tako da bih preporučila zrelijem uzrastu za čitanje.

[thefogweaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nisam mislila da cu ovoliko uzivati ❤️ pravo remek-delo! Jedva cekam drugi deo 😍
P.S. preporuka je da uzmete delo sa predgovorom Mirjane Ivankovic, dosta olaksa citanje, a mislim i da Geteova biografija igra ovde kljucnu ulogu.

[Endzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Celokupna radnja ovog dela moze da bude prebacena na zeleni venac i apsolutno nista ne bi bilo toliko magicno i misteriozno. Jedna zvezdica je licni utisak ova druga je samo zato sto je Gete ovo napisao po uzoru na zeleni venac(ovo je cinjenica borite se sami sa njom)

[чарна · Rating 2 out of 5]

bilo bi možda čak i 5 da nisu zajedno sjebali četrnaestogodišnju devojčicu.
zapravo moj omiljeni motiv u pričama, bilo je dosta dobrih citata i bilo mi je interesantno da čitam al najviše na svetu mrzim ove pedofilčine koji se lagano opravdavaju i treba da crkne najgorom smrću, nek se mefisto pobrine za to kao što je u originalnoj legendi.

[malciky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Јохан Фауст је један тежак педофил и наркоман сваки дан шета са сотоном и јури осмакиње по Лајпцигу Молим ауторитете да се укључе. Хвала пуно
Иначе, живи у Борчи 3

[Anya's Chapter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reči bez.

[milica · Rating 4 out of 5]

isk ovo sam obeležila samo zbog reading goal ono što sam pročitala nije loše apdejtovaću za godinu dana s dobrim mišljenjem

[佳和菜 Шарчевић · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tako ja od požude teturam
k uživanju, a sred uživanja
ponovo čeznem sav za požudom