Faust (Part One)

Name: Faust (Part One)
ISBN: 9787100220088

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / 谷裕The Commercial Press · ChinaOct 2024

4.8

Word count: 131K words
Chapters: 38
ISBN: 9787100220088

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Summary

Faust: Part One comprises 4,612 lines of verse and 60 lines of prose. The complete work was first published in 1808, and its composition spanned nearly 40 years. Part One consists mainly of two parts: the Scholar's Tragedy and the Gretchen Tragedy. The Scholar's Tragedy not only represents the culmination of satire on scholars and academia but also foreshadows the direction and problems of modern natural science. The Gretchen Tragedy stages Faust's emotional experience in the small world—specifically, the "love tragedy" between Faust, here a young nobleman, and the commoner girl Gretchen: Faust's seduction leads the innocent young woman Gretchen to commit crimes and suffer the destruction of her entire family. The translation adds annotations, chiefly explanatory notes, in the form of marginal notes and footnotes; each scene is preceded by a brief "Introduction" serving as a title explanation and a concise account of the work's composition history, plot, and poetic-dramatic form; where necessary, a "Brief Commentary" is provided, summarizing the issues involved and adding commentary.

Editor's review

Part One of Faust is the opening of Goethe's monumental literary work, composed over more than sixty years; this Commercial Press edition is highly regarded for its rigorous translation and detailed annotations. The book is not only the pinnacle of German classical literature but also a philosophical verse drama that transcends its era and explores the essence of human nature. In the editor's view, its core value lies in presenting humanity's eternal dilemmas and aspirations: Dr. Faust's longing for knowledge, love, power, beauty, and creation, and his wager with the devil Mephistopheles, dramatically embody the contradiction between the infinite striving and the finite reality of the human spirit. With magnificent poetic power and profound speculation, Goethe integrates the spirit of the Enlightenment, the passion of Romanticism, and reverence for classical form. Reading this book is by no means mere literary appreciation but a dialogue with a great soul. The Commercial Press translation preserves the poetic rhythm and philosophical depth of the original to the greatest extent and is suited to repeated reading. For modern readers, Faust's insatiable striving can still illuminate our own difficulties with the loss of faith and the search for meaning in the technological age.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Deep readers with a strong interest in European classical literature and philosophical thought
Readers who wish to understand the core of German spiritual culture and the origins of Western modernity
Students and researchers of literature who need to read classic texts closely
Enthusiasts who appreciate the verse-drama form and can immerse themselves in the beauty of language, rhythm, and imagery

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment or quick, fast-food reading
Readers completely unfamiliar with European historical and cultural background and unwilling to explore it

Reading tips

It is advisable to read the translator's preface or introduction first to understand Goethe's life, the creative background, and the main lines of thought.
Keep notes while reading to sort out character relationships, core plot points, and philosophically rich monologues and dialogues.
Do not feel compelled to understand everything at once; read in sections and repeatedly, and consult relevant research materials to deepen understanding.

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.

版权信息
译者序
第一部简要说明
献词
舞台序幕
天堂序剧
悲剧·第一部
第一部分学者剧
夜
钟声与合唱
城门外
书斋一
书斋二
莱比锡的奥尔巴赫地下酒窖
女巫的丹房
第二部分格雷琴剧
大街上一
傍晚
小路上
邻妇家中
大街上二
花园
花园小屋
森林与洞窟
格雷琴的小屋
玛尔特的花园
水井边
壁龛
夜晚
大教堂
瓦尔普吉斯之夜
瓦尔普吉斯之夜的梦
阴天·野地
夜·旷野
牢房
附录一歌德手绘草图
附录二手稿影印及说明
附录三致谢

FAQ

What are the main differences between Part One and Part Two of Faust?

Part One focuses more on personal experience, with Faust's scholarly predicament and his love tragedy with Gretchen as the main threads; its structure is relatively compact and its dramatic quality strong. Part Two has a broader vision, involving politics, history, classical aesthetics, and ultimate redemption; it is more heavily symbolic and allegorical, and its philosophical speculation is more abstract and profound.

What are the features of this translation?

The Commercial Press edition generally adopts translations by renowned translators such as Guo Moruo or Qian Chunqi, rendering verse with verse and striving to preserve the poetic quality and rhythm of Chinese while remaining faithful to the original ideas. The translation usually includes extensive scholarly annotations to help readers understand cultural allusions and historical background.

What prior knowledge should one prepare before reading Faust?

Familiarity with basic European Christian cultural background, the core currents of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and common allusions in ancient Greek mythology will be very helpful. But it is not essential; an excellent translation and annotations can themselves guide the reader into this grand world.

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About the author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Author · Germany · 1749–1832

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German thinker, writer and scientist, and the most celebrated representative of Weimar Classicism. Born in Frankfurt am Main, he rose to fame in 1774 with The Sorrows of Young Werther, an epistolary novel whose heartfelt emotional portrayal moved many readers of the time. Over the following decades he continued to write; his masterpiece, the verse drama Faust, took many years to complete and explores striving, temptation and redemption, exerting a profound influence. The library holds 40 of his works, including several versions of Faust, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the four-volume Collected Translations of Feng Zhi, spanning literature, foreign literature, classics, world masterpieces, essays and modern poetry. His writing combines philosophical reflection with lyricism across many genres, and holds an important place in German and world literature.

谷裕 Author

Gu Yu is an author about whom little public information is available. The library holds two works under this name, both Chinese translations of Goethe's Faust, covering respectively the first and second parts of the verse drama. The existing categories place these works under literature and foreign literature, indicating that the translator's focus lies in rendering German literary classics into Chinese. Together the two volumes trace the full arc of Faust, from his scholarly striving and his pact with the devil to his pursuit of classical beauty and of a life of deeds, a text whose verse form, philosophical dialogue and shifting monologue demand both linguistic skill and literary sensitivity from the translator. Gu Yu's versions offer Chinese readers accessible texts through which to approach Goethe's original, and hold some reference value in the field of translated foreign literature. Owing to limited sources, details of the translator's life, education and research interests cannot be confirmed.