GoetheÕs 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 GoetheÕs genius creates some of the most beautiful passages in literature. Here too we experience GoetheÕs characteristic humor, the excitement and eroticism of the witchesÕ Walpurgis Night, and the moving emotion of GretchenÕs tragic fate.

This authoritative edition, which offers Peter SalmÕs 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 GoetheÕs words.