Description

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Goethe's classic, enlivened by Randall Jarrell's fine translation and Peter Sís's dark, dreamy illustrations

Randall Jarrell's translation of Faust is one of his most important achievements. In 1957 he inscribed Goethe's motto on the first page of his notebook--"Ohne Hast aber ohne Rast" ("Without haste but without rest")--and from then until his death in 1965 he worked on the masterpiece of his "own favorite daemon, dear good great Goethe." His intent was to make the German poetry free, unrhymed poetry in English. He all but finished the job before he died, and the few lines that remained untouched--"Gretchen's Room"--were rendered into English by Robert Lowell.

This elegant new edition features numerous beautiful line drawings and jacket lettering by the renowned Czech artist Peter Sís, author of the award-winning books Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei and Tibet: Through the Red Box.

About the Author

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The German poet, novelist, playwright, courtier, scientist, and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) ranks among the greatest authors of Western literature. His best known writings include The Sorrows of Young Werther (his first novel) and Faust (a drama in two parts).

Randall Jarrell, born in 1914 in Nashville, Tennessee, was a prolific and widely respected poet, critic, translator, and fiction writer. A friend and contemporary to Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, Jarrell received the National Book Award (amid other honors) for his verse. He also served as U.S. Poet Laureate. Jarrell died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1965.

Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. He was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Art in London. Peter is a seven-time winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year, a two-time Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honoree, and has won the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal twice. Peter's books, Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain were all named Caldecott Honor books by the American Library Association. The Wall was also awarded the Robert F. Sibert Medal.

In addition, Peter Sís is the first children’s book illustrator to win the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. He was chosen to deliver the 2012 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture for the Association for Library Service to Children. Peter won the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is considered the most prestigious in international children's literature, given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People.

Peter Sís lives in the New York City area with his wife and children.

Praise For…

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“Jarrell's lines, house-trained and pellucid, hover around truism, then skip ahead into originality . . . His ageless voice . . . pushes through the skein of Goethe's” —Wayne Koestenbaum, Bookforum