Faust: A Tragedy, Part One - Couverture souple

Translation of Faust would certainly seem to require some sort of Preface or word of apology to introduce it to the English reader ;seeing that from the first translation of Scenes from Faust by Shelley in 1820, Lord F. L. Gower s(afterwards Lord EU esmere) of nearly the whole poem in 1823, Dr. A nster sof the whole in 1828, and Mr. Hayward sprose translation in 1833, down to Mr. Scoones s(in verse) last year, some twoscore and more translations, with or without notes, have already issued from the press. My own reasons for attempting a new one are probably the same that have influenced each successive translator, namely, that former translations, excellent as in many respects they have been, have failed to satisfy myself, and that I felt there was still room for a further effort, with the aid offormer endeavours and all the advantages of the (present time, to lay before the reader unacquainted with This is perhaps an exaggeration. The actual number of translation of Part I. in the British Museum is twenty-eight, and it is hardly proba Uethat there are a dozen more not in that library.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org

Robert David MacDonald (1929 - 2004) was born in Elgin, Scotland. After originally training as a musician, he worked as a Director, Playwright and Translator. As an Assistant Director, he worked at both the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and for the Royal Opera House. In 1971, he became Co-Artistic Director of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he directed fifty plays and wrote fifteen for the venue before his retirement in 2003. The plays that he wrote for the Glasgow Citz include The De Sade Show (1975), Chinchilla (1977), Summit Conference (1978), also seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson and Gary Oldman, A Waste of Time (1980), Don Juan (1980), Webster (1983), Britannicus (2002) and Cheri (2003). As a translator, MacDonald translated over seventy different plays and opera from over ten different languages including The Threepenny Opera, Tamerlano, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, The Marriage of Figaro, Orpheus and The Human Voice, Conversation at Night, Shadow of Angels, The Balcony, The Government Inspector, Tasso, Faust I and II, Ibsen's Brand and Hedda Gabler, Lermontov's Maskerade, Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Moliere's School for Wives and Don Juan, Pirandello's Enrico Four, Racine's Phedre, Schiller's Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans and Don Carlos, Chekhov's The Seagull, Verne's Around the World In Eighty Days, Wedekind's Lulu and Goethe's Clavigo. His adaptation of War and Peace ran for two seasons on Broadway and received an Emmy award when shown on U.S television. The Finborough Theatre has previously presented Robert David MacDonald's versions of Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers (2004) and The Representative (2006)