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.