Faust: Parts One and Two

Von Goeth, Johann Wolfgang

Verlag: The Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, 1981

Beschreibung

As new condition forest green boards with elaborately decorated gold front and rear covers, gold page edges on all three sides, color illustrated front and rear endsheets, and a traditional three hubbed spine. Illustrated with drawings by Engelbert Siebertz that were created "by the artist between 1848 and 1851. They are reproduced from a maginficent edition of Faust, Eine Tragodie published in two volumes by J.G. Cotta/scher Verlag in 1854 and 1858." - from the copyright page. Translated by George Madison Priest. "Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480-1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldy pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a limited term. Faust is bored and depressed with his life as a scholar. After an attempt to take his own life, he calls on the Devil for further knowledge and magic powers with which to indulge all the pleasure and knowledge of the world. In response, the Devil's representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust's soul, and Faust will be eternally enslaved. During the term of the bargain, Faust makes us of Mephistopheles in varous ways. In Goethe's drama, and many subsequent versions of the story, Mephistopheles helps Faust seduce a beautiful and innocent girl, usually named Gretchen, whose life is ultimately destroyed when she gives birth to Faust's bastard son. Realizing this unholy act she drowns the child and is held for murder. However, Gretchen's innocence saves her in the end, and she enters Heaven after execution. In Goethe's rendition, Faust is saved by God via his constant striving - in combination with Gretchen's pleadings with God in the form of the eternal feminine. However, in the early tales, Faust is irrevocably corrupted and believes his sins cannot be forgiven; when the term ends, the Devil carries him off the Hell." - from wikipedia. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 003471

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Faust: Parts One and Two

Verlag: The Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania

Erscheinungsdatum: 1981

Einband: Hardcover

Illustrator: Siebertz, Engelbert

Zustand: As New