"Douglas Langworthy’s new translation of Goethe’s Faust fills an important void in American translations of German drama and presents a version of this masterpiece suitable for the stage and classroom. It is immensely readable: in place of Goethe’s rhyming knittelvers, which can sound like Dr. Seuss to American ears, Langworthy provides a rhythmic and colloquial blank verse that feels both classical and contemporary.

Langworthy has expertly trimmed the gargantuan text while maintaining Goethe’s structure. Usually in the classroom, and on the rare occasions Faust is performed on the American stage, attention is paid only to the early first part of the play, which ends in Gretchen’s death. This ignores the picaresque and philosophically profound second part, where Goethe expands the Faust legend almost logarithmically. This translation, which was originally made for New York’s Target Margin Theatre, has a momentum, even in the sprawling second half, which makes it Goethe’s grand design accessible for undergraduate students and possible to produce on the American stage.

~ Walter Bilderback, Dramaturg, The Wilma Theater

“This has been a really interesting text for me to read -- as a poet, I can "hear" the rhythm of many of the speeches and can see how his corrections strengthened both the sound and the sense of the text. It's a terrific translation -- I would love to see it staged."  ~ S.B.