The Best Translation of Faust, Part Two
Faust, Part Two was written in German. 3 recommended editions, ranked — with Gröblé’s verdict on which to read first.
David Luke
Oxford University Press · 2008 · 304 pages
Luke's Part Two is as good as his Part One, which matters more here because the second half goes full allegorical. The classical Walpurgis Night and Helen scenes stay navigable in his verse.
Every recommended edition, compared
Kaufmann's bilingual edition runs German facing English. His English is literal rather than musical, but for Part Two, where Goethe gets cryptic even in German, seeing both pages at once is the move.
Atkins works in plain prose, no verse pretensions. Built as a scholarly crib for the Suhrkamp collected works, so it's where you go to settle what a line actually says in German.
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Reading Faust, Part Two in translation
Faust, Part Two was written in German, so unless you read German, the translator decides the book you actually experience — its register, its pace, how it sounds read aloud. Two editions of the same work can feel like different books.
The ranking above is Gröblé’s: one reader’s verdict on which English gets you closest, not a publisher’s blurb. Start with the top pick; reach for the others when you want a different angle on the original.