readers require and the points which are interesting only to special students of the work.
In many instances, I have simply illustrated the text by parallel passages. Where I have discovered these, in Goethe’s works or correspondence, they have often been of service in suggesting (in the absence of any direct evidence) the probable time when certain scenes were written, and thereby the interests or influences which may have then swayed the author’s mind. The variation in tone between different parts of the work, though sometimes very delicate, is always perceptible; and the reader to whom the original is an unknown tongue needs all the side-lights which can be thrown upon its translated forms.
The “Paralipomena” (Supplementary Fragments) to Faust have not heretofore been given by any English translator. Yet in a work of such importance we may also learn from what the author has omitted, not less than from what he has accepted. The variations made in his original design assist us to a clearer comprehension of the design itself. I consider, therefore, that the passages of the “Paralipomena” have, properly, the character of explanatory notes; and for this reason I have inserted each, as nearly as possible, in its appropriate place, instead of giving them in a body, as in the standard German edition of Goethe.
Perhaps the most satisfactory commentary on Faust would be a biography of Goethe, written with special reference to this one work. In the Chronology of Faust (Appendix II.) I have given such particulars as are necessary to the illustration of its interrupted yet life-long growth. It has not been found possible to combine the Notes and the Chronology without confusing the material; yet the two should be taken as parallel explanations, which the reader needs to follow at the same time. In conclusion, let me beg him not to be discouraged, if, on the first reading, the meaning of some passages, and their significance as portions of an “incommensurable” plan,—as Goethe himself characterized it,—should not be entirely clear. When he has become
