Faust in several instantiations

So I had this Goethe-shaped hole in, well, my literacy in general, but in particular in my experience of Faust, despite having seen the Gounod opera a couple of times at this point and having read other Faust treatments (about which more later). selenak pointed me to this translation for stage, abridged but which does have both parts. It took me a while to get into it (not its fault, I'm pretty sure, but mine; reading paper books has been all over the place for me, sometimes really quick and sometimes really slow), but once I got hooked, I was riveted.

This translation plays around with rhyme but doesn't end-rhyme every couplet, choosing instead to sometimes play with internal rhyme. I suspect that this is a little less accurate in terms of meaning and in sheer sound, but it's never boring to read. And it's really funny, especially Mephistopheles -- his sardonic wit practically leaps off the page. (He really does steal the show.) He makes fun of everything!

( Goethe, Gounod, a tiny bit of Marlowe, and Dorothy Sayers. )