Faust
October 2013
Unit 2 - Lesson 8
Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Background
German fortune-teller
and magician
 He is noted not for
actual events in his
life rather for the
legends that concern
him
 These legends became
the basis for numerous
literary and musical
works

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
History
He was reputedly a schoolteacher in
various cities in Germany
 Faust traveled about performing tricks of
magic and telling peoples fortunes.
 Several scholars of his own time depicted
him as an unscrupulous charlatan
 Other accounts have him under the
patronage of the archbishop of Cologne

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Reformation
Many believed in his
supernatural powers
including Martin
Luther and other
leaders of the
Reformation in
Germany
 By the late 16th century
stories of other
magicians were
attributed to Faust

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Literature
The first published account of Faust appeared in
Historia von Dr.Johann Fausten (1587)
 According to this source, Faust made a
compact with the devil, Mephistopheles, to
gain all of the knowledge he desired
 The compact was that Faust would have all the
knowledge he desired for 24 years at which time
Mephistopheles would come to collect his soul
for eternity

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Other Versions
The narrative appeared in English in 1587
 In German verse in 1588
 Appeared in French prose by 1592
 In 1589 a play The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus
was written by the English playwright
Christopher Marlowe

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Goethe
The most famous version of
Faust legend was a poetic
drama Faust(1808) by the
German poet and playwright
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
 This work differed from the
others in that Faust genuinely
wants to extend his
knowledge
 In the end he is not damned

Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Other Literature

After Goethe’s second part of Faust (1831)
was published three other works in
German on Faust would be written:
dramatic epic Faust (1835) by Nikolaus
Lenau
 Heinrich Heine’s ballad Faust (1851)
 The novel Doktor Faustus (1948) by Thomas
Mann
 The
Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Next step

Hand out Christ and
Culture books and
read the story of
Faust
Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8
Coming Up

Next lecture – The

Unit Quiz on Friday
Philosophers
Faust - Unit 2:Lesson 8