Satoshi Akima:

>Although I am not aware of a complete translation of Faust Part II by
>him generally Walter Kaufman is regarded as the best translator of Goethe
>into the English language.  I recommend the following translation of Part
>I with translations of the relevant sections of Part II for listening to
>the Mahler 8th.  I don't think Kaufman has been really surpassed as a
>translator of many German masters.  Better still learn German.

Well, unlike so many of the things I sound off on, I actually happen to
know something of English translations of Goethe's Faust.  It was the
subject of my dissertation.  Kaufman's translation in my opinion isn't
anything to write home about (I was *very* disappointed), especially since
he fudges the forms of Part II, which, to me, is part of the point.  Louis
MacNiece did what remains the best modern translation of Part I.  He didn't
get around to Part II.  Bayard Taylor has his problems, as do they all, but
he still achieves the closest synthesis of form and meaning of anyone.  If
you can discount the Victorian archaisms of diction, his rendering of the
final scene (the one Mahler set) remains to me one of the high achievements
of American letters.

Steve Schwartz