Goethe's "Faust": The Plan and Purpose of the Completed Work (Classic Reprint) - Couverture souple

Austen, Jane R.

9781451011692: Goethe's "Faust": The Plan and Purpose of the Completed Work (Classic Reprint)

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1451011695 ISBN 13 : 9781451011692

Editeur : Forgotten Books, 2018

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BEING a giant among works of poetry, Goethe's "Faust" suffers the fate of almost all things gigantic, be they the work of nature or of human genius. Many men of note have admitted that the first impression which they received from the reading of "Faust" did not entirely come up to their expectations. But have we not all heard of similar comments on St. Peter's in Rome, on Beethoven's symphonies, on Raphael's Sistine Madonna, on Mont Blanc, or on Niagara? There are objects that transcend our powers of immediate comprehension and require a more gradual process of familiarization. Besides, it is a well-established fact that we generally approach such objects of universal admiration with unduly exaggerated expectations. As the best music demands repeated hearings before it admits us to an intimate appreciation of its subtlest charms, so also must the greatest works of literature be read again and again, and more in a reverential than in a purely critical spirit, before they reveal to us their innermost beauty and meaning. But whereas a work of average, or even more than average rank may hardly sus-tain our interest on a second or third perusal, the truly great work will become the more attractive the more we grow familiar with it. Thus it is with Goethe's "Faust." In this statement the great majority of the serious-minded readers of "Faust" will probably concur, even if with certain individual modifications and reservations, if we are willing to confine what has been said to the First Part. If, however, you are not prepared to admit the same, or nearly the same, for the Second Part, those who are the most ardent students of "Faust" will tell you it is because you have not read it often enough. This much is true, many critics of sound taste and judgment, especially in more recent years, have claimed that the long- maligned Second Part of Goethe's "Faust" has gradually acqu

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