Goethe: Faust Part One

Offers a survey of early Faust stories and a detailed reading of Faust Part One.

Nicholas Boyle offers a detailed reading of Faust Part One, as well as a fascinating survey of early versions of the Faust story. He emphasises the poetic and dramatic coherence of the work and traces its links with the thought and culture of Goethe's time.Nicholas Boyle begins with a fascinating survey of earlier versions of the Faust story. He then offers a detailed reading of Faust Part One, emphasising the poetic and dramatic coherence of the work and tracing its links with the thought and culture of Goethe's time. The play emerges as a tragic poem which may, to a certain extent, be read independently of Faust Part Two.