Loosely connected with Faust: Part One and the German legend of Faust, this book is a dramatic epic rather than a strictly-constructed drama. It is conceived as an act of homage to classical Greek culture and inspired above all by the world of story-telling and myth at the heart of the Greek tradition, as well as owing some of its material to the Arabian Nights tales. David Luke's translation of Faust: Part One won the European Poetry Translation Prize in 1989. Here he again imitates the varied verse-forms of the original, and provides a readable translation. Other works by David Luke includes Goethe: Selected Verse and Goethe: Conversations and Encounters.