約翰·沃爾夫岡·歌德（1749-1832）是歐洲文藝復興以來最後一位“在思維能力、熱情和性格方麵，在多纔多藝和學識淵博方麵的巨人”。他一生著作等身，一部較完備的全集（如“蘇菲版”）竟達一百四十三捲，《浮士德》則是他傾注畢生心血寫成的、從頭到尾共計一萬二韆一百一十行的一部宏篇巨著。從一七七三到一七七五年他動手寫齣瞭《浮士德片思》；一七九七年在席勒的鼓舞下重寫《浮士德》。

The Norton Critical Edition of Goethe's master-piece is again based on the distinguished translation of Walter Arndt and includes Parts I and II complete. The "Interpretive Notes" by the editor have been greatly expanded and set in a larger, more readable type.

"Contexts" includes selections from Goethe's correspondence, working plans, and other writings relevant to the evolution of the drama. Excerpts from his conversations with Eckermann concerning the composition of Part II are included. Also included are several illustrations to Part I by Eugene Delacroix and Peter Cornelius, as well as visual sources used by Goethe from Giorgione, Correggio, and Raphael. "Comments by Contemporaries" includes eleven early assessments of Faust, among them--new to the Second Edition--excerpts from Wilhelm yon Humboldt, Henrik Steffens, Thomas Carlyle, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"Modern Criticism" has been thoroughly revised to reflect recent developments in Goethe scholarship, especially in the United States. The ten contributors, all new to this edition, are Stuart Atkins, Jaroslav Pelikan, Benjamin Bennett, Franco Moretti, Friedrich A. Kittler, Neil M. Flax, Marc Shell, Jane K. Brown, Hans Rudolf Vaget, and Marshall Berman. Also included is a recent poem by John Hollander, "What the Lovers in the Old Songs Thought."