The Vicissitudes of Faustianism: A Primer
By now, in your study, you must recognize something of a "Faustian" tradition. A few months ago, one might assume you had understandly only the foggiest notion. But now, ah but now, all of you are Faust specialists!
Like the original story of the Fall from the Garden of Eden, that old felix culpa story, or patient Job, or prideful Oedipus, that enormous effusion of tragic agony, the Faust legend constitutes one of Western culture's seminal and most frequently elaborated themes.
As specialists, then, write an in-class final exam essay that serves to introduce the novice, the non-Faust specialist, to this legendary character, this heroic sinner, this tragic figure. Note that the question has little interest in a mere gloss of his character; rather the question asks you to delve into the formidable questions the character and the tradition represent.
Have fun, stay up late, grow tired, but look out for your adversary who walketh about, seeking whom he may devour....
This was a pretty strange freshman English class. Probably the only normal thing we read was Hamlet. Then it was Pico, Martin Luther, Nietze, and Gide all the way. And I guess Marlowe's Faustus and Goethe's Faust are pretty normal too. But not both of them, plus Thomas Mann's Dr. Faust, in the space of a sememster. (I love Mann's Faust, though -- incredible music and philosophy and a whole lot more in that thing.)
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