“Greenberg has accomplished a magnificent literary feat. He has taken a great German work, until now all but inaccessible to English readers, and made it into a sparkling English poem, full of verve and wit. Greenberg's translation
lives
;
it is done in a modern idiom but with respect for the original text; I found it a joy to read.”—Irving Howe (on the earlier edition)
A classic of world literature, Goethe’s
Faust
is a philosophical and poetic drama full of satire, irony, humor, and tragedy. Martin Greenberg re-creates not only the text’s varied meter and rhyme but also its diverse tones and styles—dramatic and lyrical, reflective and farcical, pathetic and coarse, colloquial and soaring. His rendition of
is the first faithful, readable, and elegantly written translation of Goethe’s masterpiece available in English. At last, the Greenberg
is available in a single volume, together with a thoroughly updated translation, preface, and notes.