#17 in Drama & theatre
Faust
- 306
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Faust” is a drama of ideas that owes much of its life to Mephistopheles, the tempter with the wit and the best scenes. Goethe’s tragedy in two parts turns on a bargain with the devil, and some readers find Faust himself hard to like. It was written for the stage, though it is rarely performed whole, and comes most easily to those used to reading plays.
Worth knowing Goethe worked on Faust for some sixty years, from the early Urfaust of the 1770s to Part Two, finished shortly before his death and published in 1832. Part One (1808), with the pact with Mephistopheles and the Gretchen tragedy, is what most readers mean by Faust and stands on its own; Part Two is far longer and stranger. It is written in verse, so the translation matters more than usual.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Faust is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, usually known in English as Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two. Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two are written in rhymed verse. Although rarely staged in its entirety, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages. Faust is considered by many to be Goethe's magnum opus and the greatest work of German literature.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 306 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 68% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Drama & theatre average of 7.6. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 39 | 13% |
| Hardcover | 7.5 | 267 | 87% |
Frequently asked
How long is Faust?
It has 306 pages — longer than 95% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.5 and 8.0, closest to this book.
