The legend of Faust grew up in the sixteenth century, a time of transition between medieval and modern culture in Germany. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) adopted the story of the wandering conjuror who accepts Mephistopheles`s offer of a pact, selling his soul for the devil`s greater knowledge; over a period of 60 years he produced one of the greatest dramatic and poetic masterpieces of European literature.

David Luke`s recent translation, specially commissioned for The World`s Classics series, has all the virtues of previous classic translations of Faust, and none of their shortcomings. Cast in rhymed verse, following the original, it preserves the essence of Goethe`s meaning without sacrifice to archaism or over-modern idiom. It is as near an `equivalent` rendering of the German as has been achieved.