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"Faust" is based on the ancient German legend of an alchemist who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and youth. In order to seek a new life, Faust signed a contract with the devil Mephistopheles and mortgaged his soul to the devil, and the devil had to fulfill all Faust's demands. If one day Faust thinks he is satisfied, then his soul will belong to the devil. So Mephistopheles used magic to give Faust a strange experience. He tasted the joy and bitterness of love, showed his skills in governing the country, performed extraordinary feats on the battlefield, and wanted to build a paradise on earth on a beach... Just when he was intoxicated with the longing for a better future, he couldn't help but say that he was satisfied. When the devil was about to take away his soul, an angel came and saved Faust's soul. This work demonstrates the broad, profound and noble content of life, and praises the enterprising spirit of human beings' continuous self-improvement.

"Faust" is the representative work of the great German poet Goethe, and is known as the encyclopedia of human spiritual evolution in the history of literature. Through the gambling match between the study scholar Faust and the devil, it shows the enterprising spirit of self-improvement of the emerging bourgeois intellectuals. The whole book contains both beautiful poetry and tortuous philosophy, distinct character descriptions and vivid plot demonstrations. This book is my country's first prose translation, making it easier for readers to understand the plot and ideological implications of the original work.

Goethe's "Faust" is a masterpiece that he devoted his whole life to writing and has a total of 12,110 lines from beginning to end. Based on the ancient legend of a German alchemist who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and youth, he used the opposite meaning to demonstrate the broad, profound and noble content of life, and sang a triumphant song for the enterprising spirit of human self-improvement that has resounded throughout the world.

"The Sorrows of Young Werther" is an epistolary novel written in the first person. It not only conveys the transitional period in Europe from the ancient feudal system to the bourgeoisie, but also the strong desire of the young and middle-aged generation to pursue "personality liberation", "emotional freedom", "restoration of the natural social state" and "establishing equal relationships between people". It also clarifies the author's own distinct position. Werther is a young man who yearns for freedom and equal life. He has the sentimentality, frankness and cuteness of young people, and his extreme thoughts. He met Charlotte at a dance and fell in love with her at first sight. However, Charlotte was already engaged and deeply in love with her fiancé Albert. Werther couldn't help but fall deeply in love. This love that had no results from the beginning but always worked hard made Werther struggle. The misery made him almost unable to bear it. In the end, Werther committed suicide by drinking a bullet with the belief that "if you cannot live for love, you will die for love."

"Faust (Part 1)" has a total of 4612 lines of poetry and 60 lines of prose. The entire book was first published in 1808, and the writing process took nearly 40 years. The first part is mainly composed of two parts, one is the scholar's play, and the other is Gretchen's play. The scholar's play not only embodies the satire of scholars and academics, but also foreshadows the trends and problems of modern natural science. The Gretchen play staged Faust's emotional experience in the small world. Specifically, it was the "love tragedy" between Faust, an aristocratic young man, and the common girl Gretchen: Faust's temptation led the innocent girl Gretchen to commit a crime and suffer the disaster of "extermination." Annotations are added to the translation, mainly intellectual explanations, divided into marginal notes and footnotes; each scene is preceded by a brief "explanation", which is an explanation of the title, and a brief explanation of the written history, plot, poetry and drama form; "Brief Commentary" is dealt with when necessary, summarizing the issues involved and adding additional comments.

"The Sorrows of Young Werther (Selected Novels and Short Stories by Goethe)" selects two short stories and short stories by Goethe. In addition to "The Sorrows of Young Werther", there is also a lighter work that tells a pleasant story - "A Bizarre Pair of Neighborhood Children". "The Sorrows of Young Werther (Selected Short Stories by Goethe)" is one of the "Time Library" series.