Faust - Definition and Overview

Faust is the protagonist of a popular German tale that has been used as the basis for many different fictional works. It concerns the fate of a learned gentleman, Faust, who summons the Devil, who in the tale is usually called Mephistopheles, and offers to sell him his soul if the Devil will serve him for a given period of time. This legend has also inspired the western culture's literary classic Faust by German writer and humanist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Historical origins

The tale has some basis in history. Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480-1540) was a German alchemist who was born in the village of Knittlingen, Württemberg. A German chapbook about his sins was translated into English in 1587, where it came to the attention of Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, in turn, was studied by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and as such the fictional Faust came to overshadow the historical Faust, about whom little is known. Another very possible inspiration for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is John Dee (1527-1609), who practiced forms of alchemy and science and developed Enochian magic.

Works which retell or allude to the Faust tale

Drama

• Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
• Dorothy L. Sayers's The Devil to Pay
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part One
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part Two
• Michel Carre's Faust et Marguerite

Opera

• Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele (1868)
• Havergal Brian's Faust
• Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust (1916-25)
• D'Hervé's Le Petit Faust
• Charles Gounod's Faust (1859)
• Sergei Prokofiev's opera based on Bryusov's The Fiery Angel
• Ludwig Spohr's Faust
• Heinrich Zoellner's Faust

Music

• Hector Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust (1845-46) (sometimes performed in staged opera versions)
• Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 75 no 3 (1809) Song - Aus Goethes Faust: "Es war einmal ein König"
• Charles Gounod's Ballet music from his opera Faust (1859). The ballet occurs as an interlude in the Fourth Act during the Walpurgis Night scene familiar from Goethe's Faust Part 1. The ballet or ballet music is often performed independent of the opera.
• Franz Liszt's A Faust Symphony (1854-57)
• Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (1906-07)
• Modest Mussorgsky: "Mephistopheles' song of the flea", is just that: a version of the song that Mephistopheles sings in the tavern scene of Goethe's Faust, pt. 1.
• Alfred Schnittke's cantata Faust (1982-83)
• Franz Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade (1814)
• Robert Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust (completed 1853)
• Richard Wagner's Faust overture (1840, originally intended as the first movement of a Faust symphony)
• Art Zoyd's song "Faust"
• Avantgarde/progressive black metal band Arcturus's album, La Masquerade Infernale (1997) alludes to the tale and is dedicated to the "Faustian spirit."
• Melodic power metal band Kamelot's albums, Epica (2003) and The Black Halo (2005) are loosely based on Faust."

Poetry

• Heinrich Heine's "Der Doktor Faust"

Prose fiction

• Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita
• Tom Holt's Faust Among Equals
• Alfred Jarry's Faustroll
• Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus
• Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer
• Terry Pratchett's Faust Eric
• Michael Swanwick's Jack Faust
• Ivan Turgenev's Faust
• Douglass Wallop's The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant
• Zoran Z<caron>ivković's Time-gifts
• Valery Bryusov's The Fiery Angel: the tavern scene from Goethe's Faust, Part 1, is spliced into the rest of Bryusov's storyline.

Movies

• F. W. Murnau's Faust (1926)
• The Band Wagon
• Peter Cook and Dudley Moores Bedazzled (1967), remade in 2000.
• Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
• Jan Svankmajer's Faust (1994 film) (1994)
• I Was A Teenage Faust
• Álex Ollé's Fausto 5.0

Musicals

• The Little Shop of Horrors
• Damn Yankees

Anime and manga

• Shaman King (A character in Shaman King, Faust VIII, is a descendant of Dr. Faust)

Comic books

• The comic book Faust was published in the 80s and 90s by artist Tim Vigil and writer David Quinn. The book follows a story template similar to the opera Faust, but is an updated version. Rebel Studios, and independant label originally published it, but it was later picked up by Avatar Press and a subsequent sequal series was created. Both are extremely sexual and violent series.

• Felix Faust is a magical supervillain in the universe of DC Comics. He appeared first in 1962 as an adversary of the Justice League of America.

Nonfiction

• Bertrand Russell's essay "A Free Man's Worship"

Pen name

"Minister Faust" is a pen name for Canadian writer, broadcaster and activist Malcolm Azania; as Minister Faust, he wrote the science fiction novel and social satire The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad.

Video game

Faust is a character in the Guilty Gear X series of fighting games. Some consider him the most balanced character in the series. Faust is also a sidequest boss in the PSX RPG, Legend of Dragoon. At the height of the Dragon Campaign, he was the most powerful Wingly sorcerer in the world.

See also

• Walpurgis Night
• The Brocken a.k.a. Blocksberg
• Brocken specter

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Faust

• Devilish Deeds in Staufen (http://www.internationalliving.com/postcards.cfm?pcard=2379)
• Pacts with the Devil: Faust and Precursors (http://www.usao.edu/~facshaferi/FAUST.HTML)
• E-texts:
  • At Projekt Gutenberg-DE:
    • Goethe's Faust, part 1 (http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/goethe/faust1/faust_to.htm)
    • Goethe's Faust, part 2 (http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/goethe/faust2/faust2.htm)
    • Heine's Der Doktor Faust (http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/heine/fstheine/fstheine.htm)
  • Marlowe's Dr. Faustus (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/faustus.html)
• Jan Svankmajer's Faust (http://www.illumin.co.uk/svank/films/faust/faust.html)

Faust is also the name of a German krautrock band. See Faust (band).

Faust is also the German word for fist, although the name "Faust" may be related to Italian "Fausto" rather than the German word.