Emerson vs Faust, 1873

"The day that Emerson dined with us with [George Henry] Lewes there was some talk after dinner about Goethe, -- and in the course of it Emerson said energetically, "I hate 'Faust.' It is a bad book." Lewes was amazed. The agreement of opinion concerning it of Carlyle and Emerson is interesting. Emerson does not like the "Dichtung and Wahrheit"; values the "Italian Journey," -- and is accustomed to carry with him the "Sprüche" when he travels. He had them this year on the Nile."

-- Journal, C. E. Norton, London, April 20-May 10 1873, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. I, p. 488.