/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21658717]

I'm about to reread Faust by Goethe. I read the book about a decade ago and I hated it but now I feel I'm more mature to appreciate it. Any particular English translation I should read? I want to be in the same page with goethe fags if I quote a line or two in the future

[Anonymous No.21658747]

>>21658717
>Any particular English translation I should read?
If you can understand english, you can just read the original version. It is not hard to understand, honestly.
Faust = fist; and so on.

[Anonymous No.21658832]

>>21658717
Arndt's translation is pretty good.

[Anonymous No.21659473]

>>21658832
Thanks, have a (you), anon

[Anonymous No.21660027]

Original German:
>Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
>Juristerey und Medicin,
>Und leider auch Theologie!
>Durchaus studirt, mit heißem Bemühn.
>Da steh’ ich nun, ich armer Thor!
>Und bin so klug als wie zuvor;

David Luke:
>Well, that’s Philosophy I’ve read,
>And Law and Medicine, and I fear
>Theology too, from A to Z;
>Hard studies all, that have cost me dear.
>And so I sit, poor silly man,
>No wiser now than when I began.

Stuart Atkins:
>I’ve studied now, to my regret,
>Philosophy, Law, Medicine,
>and—what is worst—Theology
>from end to end with diligence.
>Yet here I am, a wretched fool
>and still no wiser than before.

Bayard Taylor:
>I’ve studied now Philosophy
>And Jurisprudence, Medicine,—
>And even, alas! Theology,—
>From end to end, with labor keen;
>And here, poor fool! with all my lore
>I stand, no wiser than before:

Philip Wayne:
>Philosophy have I digested
>The whole of Law and Medicine
>From each its secrets I have wrested
>Theology, alas, thrown in
>Poor fool, with all this sweated lore,
>I stand no wiser than I was before.

Anna Swanwick:
>I have, alas! Philosophy,
>Medicine, Jurisprudence too,
>And to my cost Theology,
>With ardent labour, studied through.
>And here I stand, with all my lore,
>Poor fool, no wiser than before.

Walter Kaufmann:
>I have, alas, studied philosophy,
>Jurisprudence and medicine too,
>And, worst of all, theology,
>With keen endeavor, through and through—
>And here I am, for all my lore,
>The wretched fool I was before.

Walter Arndt:
>I have pursued, alas, philosophy
>Jurisprudence, and medicine,
>And, help me God, theology,
>With fervent zeal through thick and thin
>And here, poor fool, I stand once more,
>No wiser than I was before.

[Anonymous No.21660070]

Many people here say Goethe's prose is exceptional. Is this true even in English?

[Anonymous No.21660123]

>>21658747
fpbp

[Anonymous No.21660240]

>>21660027
For me it’s Atkins.

[Anonymous No.21660463]

>>21660027
I feel Atkins works better for me as well, I don't need rhymes. I'll study German if I wanted to. I need to understand what's going on.

[Anonymous No.21660718]

>>21658832
Thanks, Anon.

[Anonymous No.21660849]

>>21660027
Jesus fucking Christ, the English translations all read like shit. Goethe isn't worth it if you're not reading him in German.

[Anonymous No.21660857]

>>21658747
very archaic, but still understandable in my view as long as you understand "Marlowe" meant "Goethe" back then

[Anonymous No.21660868]

>>21658747
>Faust = Fist
>Goethe = Goat
>Mephistopheles = Myfistofphallus

[Anonymous No.21660918]

>>21660849
>just learn a dying language bro
Nah, I’m good.

[Anonymous No.21660927]

>>21660918
then read a briliant english writer, I bet you haven't read all the works of even authors the average person could name

[Sage No.21661887]

>>21658717
> and I hated it
You got filtered faggot

[Anonymous No.21661926]

>>21660918
>submit to the anglo menace in its war against culture
No thank you I have a soul

[Anonymous No.21661939]

>>21660027
The David Luke translation sounds like it was written for third graders

[Anonymous No.21662528]

>>21660927
I’m not criticizing Goethe or German culture, I’m just saying that through the vissicitudes of history and fate German is becoming increasingly irrelevant. What proportion of German citizens are more literate in Turkish than in German at this point?