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Faust  By  cover art

Faust

By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Narrated by: Tim Habeger
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Editorial reviews

The protagonist of Goethe's masterpiece has become one of the most enduring and well-known characters in Western literature. Faust, in his ambition, makes an arrangement with the devil Mephistopheles: Mephistopheles will do everything Faust desires while the alchemist lives, and in exchange, Faust will serve the devil in Hell after his death. The arrangement hinges on the catch that if Faust encounters a moment that he wishes will last forever, he will die in that moment. Narrator Tim Habeger's Faust is world-weary and cynical, and Habeger's low-key performance avoids theatrics, instead providing a solid interpretation of Goethe's work.

Publisher's summary

Goethe's masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental Faust, an audacious man boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experience or knowledge can lead him to a moment he would wish to last forever.

Public Domain (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Faust

Average customer ratings
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  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Performance
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Story
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Where's Part II???

Any additional comments?

This audio book is advertised as unabridged, and true it is the unabridged recording of Part I of George Madison Priest's excellent translation of Goethe's classic story, but where is Part II? I feel that calling this an unabridged version is very misleading - in fact I feel cheated out of hearing the centuries long controversial redemption of Goethe's Faust at the end of Part II. Hope Audible corrects this and publishes Part II - unabridged.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Naught more absurd in this world can I find ...

... Than is a devil who despairs.

Sitting on the shelf with the children of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton and Coleridge, Goethe's Faust is amazing in its poetry and depth. There are parts of this play/poem which seem to capture the whole drama of Man's fall and redemption within a single rhyming couplet.

David Constatine's translation modernizes this amazing piece of High German lit, but George Madison Priest's translation (THIS translation) seems, at least to me, to have a more seductive flow and more tempting poetry. Tim Habager's rnarration flirts with Priest's translation with a musical, clear and headlong force.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great work, decent translation, poor narration

What did you love best about Faust?

This is such a deep, architectonic work for Western civilzation -- and at the same time filled with wonderful humor. Goethe was a master.

What didn’t you like about Tim Habeger’s performance?

It was laborious and monotonic. I can understand that there would be difficulties dealing with the poem's meter and rhyme, but frequently I had the sense that he hadn't practiced and was just reading it through for the first time -- strange, misplaced pauses, inadequate differentiation of mood and tone. The reading did nothing to illuminate the text -- quite the opposite.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lifeless performance of a classic - waste of time!

What did you love best about Faust?

Faust is Faust, there's rich character in the exchanges.

What did you like best about this story?

I love the story, I didn't like anything at all about this performance of it, except that it was an excellent sleep-aid.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Quite monotone, listless pace. He has a great voice but the performance he gave here was not easy to endure.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible Narration

I was having trouble parsing the play to begin with which is one of the reasons I decided to listen to an audio version. From experience with Shakespeare, I know that sometimes you just have to listen to "catch" the rhythm and meaning.

But listening to the narration by Tim Habeger, I got the sense that he didn't understand it either. While he wasn't quite monotone, his inflection wasn't matching up with the what the text was trying to say. It seemed to me like he was reading the play like he would read any other poem, without regard for the actual story.

On top of that, he mis-read multiple words in the prologue. For instance, he read "ever" as "over" and "through" as "though". In my mind, it really sounded like he was reading Faust for the very first time while narrating - and this just ISN'T the type of story you can read cold like that and have it make any sense at all.

I'm going to revisit this at some point and when I do I'll come back and adjust my star rating for the story but I didn't even make it out of the prologues in this audible version.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Faust! But reading... ouch!

Put fine wine in a red Solo cup and leave it out overnight. This flat and bitter gutter scup will less than this reading taste a fright.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Only Faust Pt 1

This does not include second part of Faust. Not an easy audiobook to listen to. Even with constant backing up, I don't think i got everything out of it

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Painful to listen to

I've been wanting to read Faust forever, but this performance was extremely hard to listen to. I had to give up. They Read stage directions out loud...

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good read

The classic story is more easily- followed in this format. Narrator is a little too theatr

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Would have been nice if it was both parts

reader is great. poem is great...but the description leads you to believe it is both parts, and it is not.

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1 person found this helpful