Faust: A Legend of Modern Times Essay -- Literature Essays Stories

As the children of a melting pot burnish of British, French and German gos, the Ameri give the gate consciousness is uniquely poised to ring upon the impact of one of the most prevalent and oft-retold legends of the modern age Faust. German in origin but moreover a culmination of diverse historical figures and indigenous lore, the story of Faust is that of a man who sells his soul to the bait for youth, wealth, pleasure, power or whatever else the writer in question can think to attribute to him. The legends themes touching so frequently on the subjects of the metaphysical and the struggle of good and evil in a Christian fabulous setting, it is little wonder that the story has caught the attention and inflamed the imagination of literally hundreds of storytellers from all over Europe and, more recently, North America. Enjoying in superfluous of five centuries of exposure through books, plays, opera and film, not to mention its prefatorial concepts permeating to the depths of modern speech and expression, Faust is indeed one of the most illustrious singular legend of modern times. Yet Faust is a malleable figure, gaining influence just as much as it gave, to finally become an dental amalgam of half a dozen countries sensibilities. Faust was also a real person. Although accounts vary, in his translation of Goethes Faust (pub. 1803-1833 trans. pub. 1961) Walter Kaufman is able to pinpoint the real Johann Fausts birth to around 1480, in the town of Knittlingen, Wrttemberg, near Stuttgart in modern-day Southeast Germany (12). He is thought to have studied magic -a field still regularly taught at many schools of the time-- at the University of Cracow in Poland, and is said to have been a colleague of Martin Luther and Phillip Melanchthon, alth... .... Mystica, The. Paragraphs 3-9. 09 November 2003. Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. Ed. Irving Ribner. New York Macmillian Publishing Company, 1985. 87. Mason, Eudo C. Goethes Faust Its Genesis and Purpor t. Los Angeles University of California Press, 1967. 389. McLean, Adam. alchemical Drama of Goethes Faust, The. Alchemy Website, The. Paragraph 2. 27 November 2003. Montgomery, Paul. Review Notes and Study lease to Goethes Faust. New York Monarch Press, 1963. 5. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Wanderer and His Shadow, The. Gay Science With a approach in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, The. Trans. Josephine Nauckhoff and Adrian Del Caro. Cambridge University Press, 2001. 237. Young, T. Personal interview. Rec. 19 November 2003.