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.