Faust

It was poor planning on my part reading Faust in January, because it doesn't fit the category for my 12 Month Classics Challenge, because I haven't always wanted to read it. However, it is the first title for my other classics challenge, and for that challenge I have some blogging prompts.

WHEN I Discovered This Classic
WHY I Chose to Read It
WHAT Makes It A Classic
WHAT I Thought of This Classic
WILL It Stay A Classic
WHO I’d Recommend It To

I am not really sure when I discovered Faust. I think I heard of Goethe while I was in high school, and I'm fairly certain that my first knowledge of the name "Faust" was because of the opera. At some point in the last few years, as I've been assembling a list of books that are gaps in my knowledge, I decided that Faust was one of them. I saw a review of this particular translation, and it sounded promising, so I ordered it.

I think Faust is a classic partially because the basic story has had many retellings in many forms--including Goethe's own revisions--over time. The poetry was the best part for me. I'm assuming that the translation was really well done, because there were none of the issues that you often run into with translated poetry. It isn't a book that I enjoyed all that much--except again--the poetry, but I'm sure it will remain a classic.

I would recommend it to my daughter and oldest son, especially since they could read the original German, too. And I think they would enjoy it.