Rightshelf

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

My review of Faust comes exceedingly late since I finished the book two months ago. I didn't write about it because (a) I am lazy and (b) I am ashamed.

Ashamed because . . . well . . . I'm afraid that I was just underwhelmed. I went in with high expectations. Faust is, after all, a masterwork. But the problem is that I just don't think that Goethe's poetry translates well into English. I thought that this problem was just incidental to the last book of poetry I read that was written by Goethe. But no.

It's a genuine pity. I feel as if I am missing out and at the very least, this should serve as an incentive for me to learn German and appreciate Goethe in the original. I suppose that since I liked The Sorrows of Young Werther, I felt that I would connect with a Faust translation that was undertaken by the excellent Walter Kaufmann. Alas, I really did not.

Perhaps the book will grow on me in the future. But even if I eventually gain an appreciation for the translation, I have a hard time accepting the way in which Faust was saved without having even shown any remorse for having gone over to Mephistopheles's side. It was a cheap cop-out on the part of Goethe to keep Faust from facing the consequences of his actions. It would have been far more satisfying to have seen Faust either repent and be saved, or be consigned to damnation for his sins. If memory serves--it has been a long time since I read this--Marlowe's Faust does indeed refuse to repent and pays the consequences. There is no reason why Goethe could not have been as justifiably merciless.