Faust: a tragedy PDF
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FAUST This page intentionally left blank johann wolfgang von GOETHE FAUST a tragedy parts one & two fully revised Translated from the German by MARTIN GREENBERG Introduction by W. Daniel Wilson New Haven and London Revised En glish translation copyright © 2014 by Martin Greenberg. Introduction copyright © 2014 by W. Daniel Wilson. Part One En glish translation copyright © 1992 by Martin Greenberg. Part Two En glish translation copyright © 1998 by Martin Greenberg. Complete edition (Parts One and Two and Introduction) published 2014. Parts One and Two published separately by Yale University Press in 1992 and 1998. Translator’s Note fi rst published in the Sewanee Review, vol. 122, no. 1, winter 2014. Copyright © 2013 by Martin Greenberg. All rights reserved. Th is book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce). Set in Minion type by Westchester Book Group. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN: 978- 0- 300- 18969- 8 (paperback) Library of Congress Control Number: 2013956843 A cata logue record for this book is available from the British Library. Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the memory of Robert Warshow, boyhood friend, college mate and dear companion spirit in manhood, so early, so very early cut off And to the memory of Herbert Howarth, no sooner united by understanding, sympathy and aff ection than snatched away —Martin Greenberg This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Introduction by W. Daniel Wilson, ix Translator’s Note, xix FAUST: A Tragedy Part One, 3 Part Two, 169 Notes, 443 vii This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION W. Daniel Wilson Goethe’s Faust is considered not only the most important work of Germany’s greatest writer, but a seminal text of world literature. Its legacy is im mense both in Germany and beyond. Th e impact of the wider Faust tradition, which began with the 1587 chapbook history of Dr. Johann Faustus and boasted such canonical works as Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus (1604), is oft en diffi cult to distinguish from that of Goethe’s play. But his work defi nitely inspired such seminal works—t o mention only music and novels— as Schubert’s haunting song Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel (1814) and Charles Gounod’s opera Faust (1859), as well as Th omas Mann’s challenging multi- layered work Dr. Faustus (1947) and Mikhail Bulgakov’s anti- Stalinist novel Th e Master and Margarita (fi rst published 1967). And its continuing vitality is expressed in a lively fi lmic reception. Goethe worked on Faust off and on over sixty years of a long life. Born in 1749 into the family of an in dep en dently wealthy Frankfurt patrician, he enjoyed private tutoring and the consciousness of be- longing to the privileged. His early literary work is part of the fi rst German youth literary movement, the Sturm und Drang or “Storm and Stress,” which became an En glish expression for youthful revolt. Th ese writers took up social themes, but the po liti cal situation in German- speaking lands, which were not a unifi ed country but hun- dreds of tiny to large semi- independent territories, precluded po liti cal action, so the young men had to be content with radical gesturing. ix
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