I've started reading one version translated from Gothe's original. I knew Gothe wrote a play but I did not ralize his Faust was one giant poem. There are rhymes everywhere in the translation I have.
As to actual novel versions based on the play, I am aware of two version; one written by Thomas Mann and one by David Mamet. Anyone ever read either of these?
edited 29th Dec '11 8:05:07 AM by WillKeaton
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I wouldn't say that Mann's Dr. Faustus is a re-telling of Goethe's play. But it's an excellent piece of literature. Essentially, this time Faustus is a genius musician who "sells his soul" for being able to create the ultimate in music and get some along the way. Highly recommended, if you're not discouraged by Mr Mann's as-long-as-possible-sentence style.
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One of the Manns also wrote a book called "Mephisto" that was based pretty tightly on the life of a Nazi profiterring actor whose biggest role was said demon. The book was actually banned for some time because detailing the life of real, living persons without their permissions violates personal rights in Germany (and it was published in a act or rebellion by the publishers anyway, if I remember right...). It's legal nw because everyone is already dead. :)
Also, long sentences are what German literatury tradition consinders good style/art. The Manns are pushing the limit for me but you should read somebody like Kleist and you know how to get a headache from one sentence.
You might also want to look into Bulgakov, The Master And Margarita is a great read and once you're in it starts to drip with Faust, although there's a lot going on besides that.
Charlie Tunoku is a lover and a fighter.

I just got an eReader as a christmas gift and amoung other books I hoped to download I was hoping to read Faust. However there are meny different versions avaiable and after downloading three I found them all to be written in the same format one would use in a manuscript for a play. I was hoping to find a prose version of the story, written like a novel. My question thus becomes, which version of the story and corresponding author should I read?