Doctor Faust - who is he? "Folk book about Dr. Faust" Dr. Faust author.

Source: The tragedy "Faust" and other works

Biography

Information about the life of the historical Faust is extremely scarce. He was born, apparently, around 1480 in the city of Knittlingen, in 1508, through Franz von Sickingen, he received a teacher's job in Kreuznach, but was forced to flee from there because of the persecution of his fellow citizens. As a warlock and astrologer, he traveled around Europe, posing as a great scientist, boasted that he could perform all the miracles of Jesus Christ or “recreate from the depths of his knowledge all the works of Plato and Aristotle, if they ever died for mankind” ( from a letter of the learned abbot Trithemius, 1507).

In 1539 his trace is lost.

In the German city of Wittenberg on Collegienstrasse there is a memorial plaque according to which Faust lived in 1480-1540, of which in Wittenberg from 1525 to 1532. However, there are some records of the terrible death of a warlock. In 1540, late in the autumn night, a small hotel in Württemberg was shaken by the roar of falling furniture and the clatter of feet, which were replaced by heart-rending screams. Later, the locals claimed that on this terrible night a storm broke out in a clear sky; blue flames shot out several times from the chimney of the hotel, and the shutters and doors in it began to slam on their own. Screams, groans, incomprehensible sounds continued for at least two hours. Only in the morning, the frightened owner and servants dared to enter the room, where it all came from. On the floor of the room, among the fragments of furniture, lay the crouched body of a man. It was covered with monstrous bruises, abrasions, one eye was gouged out, the neck and ribs were broken. It seemed that the unfortunate man was beaten with a sledgehammer. It was the disfigured corpse of Dr. Johann Faust. The townspeople claimed that the demon Mephistopheles broke the doctor's neck, with whom he entered into an agreement for 24 years. At the end of the term, the demon killed Faust and doomed his soul to eternal damnation.

The image of Faust in literature

Prototype

The literary prototype of the legend of Faust was the old modern Greek, early Christian Tale of Eladius, who sold his soul to the devil; in turn, the same story gave rise to the Russian "The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn" (XVII century), with a similar plot.

"People's book"

In the Renaissance, when faith in magic and the miraculous was still alive, and, on the other hand, science liberated from the bonds of scholasticism won outstanding victories, which was portrayed by many as the fruit of the union of a daring mind with evil spirits, the figure of Dr. Faust quickly gained legendary outlines and wide popularity. In 1587 in Germany, in the edition of Spies, the first literary adaptation of the Faust legend appeared, the so-called "folk book" about Faust: "Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreiten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler etc.” (The story of Dr. Faust, the famous wizard and warlock). The book is woven with episodes dated at one time to various sorcerers (Simon the Magus, Albert the Great, etc.) and related in it to Faust. In addition to oral legends, the source of the book was modern writings on witchcraft and "secret" knowledge (books by the theologian Lerheimer, a student of Melanchthon: "Ein Christlich Bedencken und Erinnerung von Zauberey", 1585; book by I. Vir, student of Agrippa Nettesheim: "De praestigiis daemonum", 1563, German translation 1567, etc.). The author, apparently a Lutheran cleric, portrays Faust as a daring impious man who allied with the devil in order to acquire great knowledge and power ("Faust grew eagle wings for himself and wanted to penetrate and study all the foundations of heaven and earth." other than arrogance, despair, audacity and courage, similar to those titans that poets tell about, that they piled mountains on mountains and wanted to fight against God, or similar to an evil angel who opposed himself to God, for which he was overthrown by God as arrogant and arrogant"). The final chapter of the book tells of Faust's "terrible and terrifying end": he is torn apart by demons, and his soul goes to hell. It is characteristic at the same time that Faust is given the features of a humanist. These features are noticeably enhanced in the 1589 edition.

In 1603, Pierre Caillé publishes a French translation of the popular book about Faust.

Faust gives lectures on Homer at the University of Erfurt, at the request of students calls the shadows of the heroes of classical antiquity, etc. The humanists' passion for antiquity is embodied in the book as a "godless" connection between the lustful Faust and Beautiful Helen. However, despite the author's desire to condemn Faust for his godlessness, pride and daring, the image of Faust is still fanned with a certain heroism; the whole Renaissance era is reflected in his face with its inherent thirst for unlimited knowledge, the cult of unlimited possibilities of the individual, a powerful rebellion against medieval quietism, dilapidated church-feudal norms and foundations.

The popular book about Faust was used by the English playwright of the 16th century. Christopher Marlo, who wrote the first dramatic treatment of the legend. His tragedy "The tragical history of the life and death of Doctor Faustus" (ed. in 1604, 4th ed., 1616) (The tragic story of Doctor Faust, Russian translation by K. D. Balmont, Moscow, 1912, earlier in the journal "Life", 1899, July and August) depicts Faust as a titan, seized with a thirst for knowledge, wealth and power. Marlo enhances the heroic features of the legend, turning Faust into a bearer of the heroic elements of the European Renaissance. From the folk book, Marlo learns the alternation of serious and comic episodes, as well as the tragic ending of the legend of Faust - the ending, which is connected with the theme of the condemnation of Faust and his daring impulses.

Widman

The folk book also underlies G. R. Widman’s lengthy work on Faust (Widman, Wahrhaftige Historie, etc.), published in Hamburg in 1598. Widman, in contrast to Marlo, strengthens the moralistic and clerical-didactic tendencies of the “folk book”. For him, the story of Faust is first and foremost a tale of the "terrible and heinous sins and misdeeds" of the famed warlock; he pedantically furnishes his exposition of the legend of Faust with "necessary reminders and excellent examples" that should serve to the general "instruction and warning".)

In the footsteps of Widmann, Pfitzer followed in 1674, publishing his adaptation of the folk book about Faust. The theme of Faust gained exceptional popularity in Germany in the second half of the 18th century. among the writers of the Sturm und Drang period (Lessing - fragments of an unrealized play, Müller the painter - the tragedy "Fausts Leben dramatisiert" (Life of Faust, 1778), Klinger - the novel "Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt" (Life, deeds and death Faust, 1791, Russian translation by A. Luther, Moscow, 1913), Goethe - the tragedy "Faust" (1774-1831), Russian translation by N. Kholodkovsky (1878), A. Fet (1882-1883), V. Bryusov ( 1928), etc.). Faust attracts writers-stormers with his daring titanism, his rebellious encroachment on traditional norms. Under their pen, he acquires the features of a "stormy genius", violating the laws of the surrounding world in the name of unlimited individual rights. The Stürmers were also attracted by the "Gothic" flavor of the legend, its irrational element. At the same time, the sturmers, especially Klinger, combine the theme of Faust with sharp criticism of the feudal-absolutist order (for example, the picture of the atrocities of the old world in Klinger's novel: the arbitrariness of the feudal lord, the crimes of monarchs and the clergy, the depravity of the ruling classes, portraits of Louis XI, Alexander Borgia, etc.) .

Faust by Goethe

The theme of Faust reaches its most powerful artistic expression in Goethe's tragedy. The tragedy reflected with considerable relief the whole versatility of Goethe, the whole depth of his literary, philosophical and scientific searches: his struggle for a realistic worldview, his humanism, etc.

If in Prafaust (1774-1775) the tragedy is still fragmentary, then with the appearance of the prologue In Heaven (written 1797, published in 1808), it acquires the grandiose outlines of a kind of humanistic mystery, all the numerous episodes of which are united by the unity of artistic design. Faust grows into a colossal figure. He is a symbol of the possibilities and destinies of mankind. His victory over quietism, over the spirit of denial and disastrous emptiness (Mephistopheles) marks the triumph of the creative forces of mankind, its indestructible vitality and creative power. But on the way to victory, Faust is destined to go through a series of "educational" steps. From the "small world" of burgher everyday life, he enters the "big world" of aesthetic and civic interests, the boundaries of the sphere of his activity are expanding, they include more and more new areas, until the cosmic expanses of the final scenes are revealed before Faust, where the searching creative spirit of Faust merges with creative forces of the universe. The tragedy is permeated with the pathos of creativity. Here there is nothing frozen, unshakable, everything here is movement, development, incessant "growth", a powerful creative process that reproduces itself at ever higher levels.

In this regard, the very image of Faust is significant - a tireless seeker of the "right path", alien to the desire to plunge into inactive peace; the hallmark of Faust's character is "discontent" (Unzufriedenheit), forever pushing him on the path of relentless action. Faust ruined Gretchen, as he grew eagle wings for himself, and they draw him outside the stuffy burgher chamber; he does not close himself in the world of art and perfect beauty, because the realm of classical Helen turns out to be just an aesthetic appearance in the end. Faust longs for a great cause, tangible and fruitful, and he ends his life as the leader of a free people who builds their well-being on a free land, winning the right to happiness from nature. Hell loses its power over Faust. The indefatigably active Faust, having found the "right path", is honored with a cosmic apotheosis. Thus, under the pen of Goethe, the old legend about Faust takes on a profoundly humanistic character. It should be noted that the closing scenes of Faust were written during the period of the rapid rise of young European capitalism and partly reflected the successes of capitalist progress. However, Goethe's greatness lies in the fact that he already saw the dark sides of the new social relations and in his poem tried to rise above them.

In Goethe's tragedy, Faust looks at the world with extreme pessimism, cursing everything that exists in the world, starting with lies and conceit and ending with family, love and hope, and is ready to commit suicide. However, even more cynical and world-hating Mephistopheles appears to him, having made a bet with the Lord on whether Faust can be saved from him (a similar bet can be found in the Old Testament, in the Book of Job). After that, Faust, with complete indifference to the afterlife, sells his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for worldly pleasures. Under the terms of the agreement, Faust's soul goes to Mephistopheles at the moment when Faust glorifies any moment of his life (in the early versions of the legend, Faust's soul went to Mephistopheles after 24 years).

In the original legends about Faust, Faust makes attempts to marry, but under the pressure of Mephistopheles, who opposes marriage, as a custom established by the Lord, he indulges in fornication. In Goethe's interpretation, there is no conflict between Faust and Mephistopheles about marriage. Instead, Mephistopheles indulges Faust's desire to get closer to Gretchen (although, in fact, there is no question of marriage with her), however, he treats Faust's feelings with extreme cynicism and believes that they come down only to carnal attraction. After Faust and Mephistopheles kill Gretchen's brother, Valentine, in a fight, they leave the city, and Faust does not remember Gretchen until he sees her ghost at the coven. After that, he goes to the aid of Gretchen, who was convicted for killing the daughter she conceived from Faust, but in the end he leaves the girl who has gone mad to die in prison. Also, although both the Folk Book and The Tragic History of Dr. Faust contain attempts by Faust to turn to Heaven, in Goethe's version such reflections were completely excluded. However, as in earlier versions of the Faust legend, a significant amount of text is devoted to the jokes and magical tricks of Faust and Mephistopheles.

The second part is enriched by the transfer of the action to the Ancient world - a complex plot interweaving between the modern Middle Ages to Faust and bygone times, which, by the way, are so close from a philosophical point of view to Goethe and his enlightened time, ideologically dating back to the times of antiquity.

By the end of the tragedy, Faust retains all his cynicism and curses Care, for which she blinds him. However, despite all his cynicism, Faust decides that since his work will bring great benefits to people, he is experiencing the greatest moment of his life. Thus, his contract with Mephistopheles is completed and his soul must go to hell, and the bet concluded between Mephistopheles and the Lord about whether Faust can be saved is also completed. However, unlike the "People's Book" according to which Faust went to hell, in Goethe's version, despite the fulfillment of the terms of the agreement and the fact that Mephistopheles acted with the permission of the Lord, angels steal Faust's soul from Mephistopheles and take it to heaven.

Image in the era of romanticism

At the beginning of the XIX century. the image of Faust attracted romantics with its gothic outlines. Faust is a wandering charlatan of the 16th century. - Appears in Arnim's novel "Die Kronenwächter", I Bd., 1817 (Guardians of the Crown). The legend of Faust was developed by Grabbe (“Don Juan und Faust”, 1829, Russian translation by I. Kholodkovsky in the journal “Vek”, 1862), Lenau (“Faust”, 1835-1836, Russian translation by A. Anyutin [A. V. Lunacharsky], St. Petersburg, 1904, the same, translated by N. A-nsky, St. Petersburg, 1892), Heine ["Faust" (a poem intended for dancing, "Der Doctor Faust". Ein Tanzpoem ..., 1851) and etc.]. Lenau, the author of the most significant development of the theme of Faust since Goethe, portrays Faust as an ambivalent, wavering, doomed rebel.

In vain dreaming of "connecting the world, God and himself," Faust Lenau falls victim to the machinations of Mephistopheles, who embodies the forces of evil and corrosive skepticism that make him related to Goethe's Mephistopheles. The spirit of denial and doubt triumphs over the rebel, whose impulses turn out to be wingless and useless. Lenau's poem marks the beginning of the collapse of the humanistic concept of the legend. Under the conditions of mature capitalism, the theme of Faust in its Renaissance-humanistic interpretation could no longer receive a full-fledged embodiment. The "Faustian spirit" flew away from bourgeois culture, and it is no coincidence that at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. we do not have artistically significant adaptations of the legend of Faust.

In Russia, A. S. Pushkin paid tribute to the legend of Faust in his wonderful Scene from Faust. With echoes of Goethe's "Faust" we meet in "Don Giovanni" by A. K. Tolstoy (the prologue, the Faustian features of Don Giovanni, languishing over the solution of life - direct reminiscences from Goethe) and in the story in the letters "Faust" by J.S. Turgenev.

At Lunacharsky

In the XX century. The most interesting development of the theme of Faust was given by A. V. Lunacharsky in his drama for reading Faust and the City (written in 1908, 1916, published by Narkompros, P., in 1918). Based on the final scenes of the second part of Goethe's tragedy, Lunacharsky draws Faust as an enlightened monarch, dominating the country he conquered from the sea. However, the people guarded by Faust is already ripe for liberation from the bonds of autocracy, a revolutionary upheaval is taking place, and Faust welcomes what has happened, seeing in it the realization of his long-standing dreams of a free people in a free land. The play reflects a premonition of a social upheaval, the beginning of a new historical era. The motifs of the Faustian legend attracted V. Ya. Bryusov, who left a complete translation of Goethe's Faust (part 1 published in 1928), the story The Fiery Angel (1907-1908), and the poem Klassische Walpurgisnacht (1920).

100 Great Series: One Hundred Great Mysteries

Nikolai Nikolaevich Nepomniachtchi

Andrey Yurievich Nizovsky

SECRETS OF HISTORY

THE LEGEND OF DOCTOR FAUST

From the depths of centuries, a legend has come to us about a man who, with the help of Satan - an angel cast into hell because of pride and a desire to equal the power of the Creator - also decided to challenge God, mastering the secrets of the world and his own destiny. For the sake of this, he did not regret even his immortal soul, promised to the owner of the underworld in payment for this union. This is one of the "eternal images" of world literature.

In the Renaissance, he found his embodiment in the face of Dr. Faust - the hero of a German medieval legend, a scientist who made an alliance with the devil for the sake of knowledge, wealth and worldly pleasures. This hero had his prototypes. According to the "Historical Lexicon", entries in German church books, lines from letters, travel notes indicate that in 1490 a certain Johann Faust was born in the city of Knitlingen (Principality of Württemberg). The name of Johann Faust, Bachelor of Theology, is listed in the University of Heidelberg lists for 1509. Sometimes he is mentioned as Faust from Simmern, sometimes as a native of the town of Kundling, who studied magic in Krakow, where at that time it was taught openly. It is known that Faust was engaged in magic tricks, quackery, alchemy, and made horoscopes.

It is clear that this did not cause approval among respectable citizens. Faust was expelled from Nornberg and Ingolstadt. He led a hectic life and suddenly, like a ghost, appeared here and there, confusing and outraging the public. The little that is known about Faust testifies to the great wounded pride of this man. He liked to call himself "the philosopher of philosophers." Even during his lifetime, legends began to form about this strange person, in which ancient legends about magicians, anecdotes about wandering scholars, motifs from early Christian lives and medieval demonological literature were intertwined. Moreover, among the people, Faust was not taken seriously, but rather, with regret and mockery: “Faust left, holding his sides, From the Auerbach cellar, Sitting astride a barrel of wine, And everyone around saw it. He comprehended black magic, And the devil was rewarded for it. The church treated Faust more severely. In 1507, the abbot of the Sponheim monastery, Johann Trithemius, wrote to the court astrologer and mathematician of the Elector of the Palatinate: “The person you write to me about ... who dares to call himself the head of necromancers is a vagabond, idle talker and swindler.

So, he came up with a suitable, in his opinion, the title of "Master George Sabellicus Faust Jr., a storehouse of necromancy, an astrologer, a successful magician, a palmist, an aeromancer, a pyromancer and an outstanding hydromancer." The priests also told me that he boasted of such a knowledge of all sciences and such a memory that if all the works of Plato and Aristotle and all their philosophy were completely forgotten, then he would completely restore them from memory and even in a more elegant form. And having appeared in Würzburg, he no less presumptuously said in a large assembly that there was nothing worthy of surprise in the miracles of Christ, he himself undertakes at any time and as many times as he likes to do everything that the Savior did. True, Faust's boasts remained boasts - he failed to accomplish anything outstanding. It was said that Faust enjoyed the patronage of the rebellious imperial knight Franz von Sickengen and the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, and that he was always accompanied by "a dog disguised as a devil." On the outskirts of the city of Wittenberg, the ruins of the castle are still preserved, which are called the "House of Faust". Here, for many years after the death of Faust, alchemists worked, among whom stood out Christopher Wagner, who called himself a student of Faust. The Wittenberg alchemists made various magical objects, in particular, the mysterious "black mirrors". Various desperate people who were eager to join magic were also trained here. The real Faust died in 1536 or 1539 in the town of Staufer (Breisgau).

And in the second third of the 16th century, folk stories about Dr. Faust were recorded, and on their basis, in 1587, the Frankfurt publisher I. Spies published the book “The Story of Dr. Faust, the famous sorcerer and warlock”. It told about how a scientist named Faust made a pact with the devil, because otherwise he could not know “what drives the world and what this world is based on”; how at the imperial court he evoked images of ancient heroes and philosophers, how he showed students the living Helen of Sparta, because of whom the Trojan War broke out and with whom the sorcerer himself subsequently entered into a love affair; how before his death he repented of his deed, but this did not save Faust from the claws of the devil, who dragged the soul of the warlock to hell. Among the many transcriptions, alterations and translations of this book that flooded Europe, experts single out the books of the French doctor of theology Victor Caillé (1598), the Nuremberg doctor Nikolaus Pfitzer (1674), who first spoke about Faust's love for a certain "beautiful but poor maid", and an anonymous book "Believing Christian" (1725). But the greatest success was waiting for the drama of the Englishman Christopher Marlo "The Tragic History of Doctor Faust", first published in 1604.

Marlo himself claimed that his drama was based on some old manuscript he found in one of the Scottish castles, but it is known that Marlo was prone to hoaxes and, moreover, this story was already well known in Europe by that time. But Goethe, of course, made the name of Faust truly immortal. Under his pen, the image of Faust became a symbol of the entire modern Western civilization, which, under the influence of Gnostic teachings, abandoned God and turned onto a technocratic path of development in the name of mastering the secrets of the world, in the name of knowledge, wealth and worldly pleasures. The price of this turn is known - the rejection of immortality.

And the end of this path is also known: "There is no Faust. His end is terrible. Let us all be forced to make sure How a brave mind is defeated, When he transgresses the law of heaven."

His trace is lost.

Faust by Goethe

Doctor Faust

The theme of Faust reaches its most powerful artistic expression in Goethe's tragedy. The tragedy reflected with considerable relief the whole versatility of Goethe, the whole depth of his literary, philosophical and scientific searches: his struggle for a realistic worldview, his humanism, etc.

If in Prafaust (1774-1775) the tragedy is still fragmentary, then with the appearance of the prologue In Heaven (written 1797, published in 1808), it acquires the grandiose outlines of a kind of humanistic mystery, all the numerous episodes of which are united by the unity of artistic design. Faust grows into a colossal figure. He is a symbol of the possibilities and destinies of mankind. His victory over quietism, over the spirit of denial and disastrous emptiness (Mephistopheles) marks the triumph of the creative forces of mankind, its indestructible vitality and creative power. But on the way to victory, Faust is destined to go through a series of "educational" steps. From the "small world" of burgher everyday life, he enters the "big world" of aesthetic and civic interests, the boundaries of the sphere of his activity are expanding, they include more and more new areas, until the cosmic expanses of the final scenes are revealed before Faust, where the searching creative spirit of Faust merges with creative forces of the universe. The tragedy is permeated with the pathos of creativity. Here there is nothing frozen, unshakable, everything here is movement, development, incessant "growth", a powerful creative process that reproduces itself at ever higher levels.

In this regard, the very image of Faust is significant - a tireless seeker of the "right path", alien to the desire to plunge into inactive peace; the hallmark of Faust's character is "discontent" (Unzufriedenheit), forever pushing him on the path of relentless action. Faust ruined Gretchen, as he grew eagle wings for himself, and they draw him outside the stuffy burgher chamber; he does not close himself in the world of art and perfect beauty, because the realm of classical Helen turns out to be just an aesthetic appearance in the end. Faust longs for a great cause, tangible and fruitful, and he ends his life as the leader of a free people who builds their well-being on a free land, winning the right to happiness from nature. Hell loses its power over Faust. The indefatigably active Faust, having found the "right path", is honored with a cosmic apotheosis. Thus, under the pen of Goethe, the old legend about Faust takes on a profoundly humanistic character. It should be noted that the closing scenes of Faust were written during the period of the rapid rise of young European capitalism and partly reflected the successes of capitalist progress. However, Goethe's greatness lies in the fact that he already saw the dark sides of the new social relations and in his poem tried to rise above them.

The image of Faust in the era of romanticism

At the beginning of the XIX century. the image of Faust attracted romantics with its gothic outlines. Faust is a wandering charlatan of the 16th century. - Appears in Arnim's novel "Die Kronenwächter", I Bd., 1817 (Guardians of the Crown). The legend of Faust was developed by Grabbe (“Don Juan und Faust”, 1829, Russian translation by I. Kholodkovsky in the journal “Vek”, 1862), Lenau (“Faust”, 1835-1836, Russian translation by A. Anyutin [A. V. Lunacharsky], St. Petersburg, 1904, the same, translated by N. A-nsky, St. Petersburg, 1892), Heine ["Faust" (a poem intended for dancing, "Der Doctor Faust". Ein Tanzpoem ..., 1851) and etc.]. Lenau, the author of the most significant development of the theme of Faust since Goethe, portrays Faust as an ambivalent, wavering, doomed rebel.

In vain dreaming of "connecting the world, God and himself," Faust Lenau falls victim to the machinations of Mephistopheles, who embodies the forces of evil and corrosive skepticism that make him related to Goethe's Mephistopheles. The spirit of denial and doubt triumphs over the rebel, whose impulses turn out to be wingless and useless. Lenau's poem marks the beginning of the collapse of the humanistic concept of the legend. Under the conditions of mature capitalism, the theme of Faust in its Renaissance-humanistic interpretation could no longer receive a full-fledged embodiment. The "Faustian spirit" flew away from bourgeois culture, and it is no coincidence that at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. we do not have artistically significant adaptations of the legend of Faust.

Faust in Russia

In Russia, A. S. Pushkin paid tribute to the legend of Faust in his wonderful Scene from Faust. With echoes of Goethe's "Faust" we meet in "Don Giovanni" by A. K. Tolstoy (the prologue, the Faustian features of Don Giovanni, languishing over the solution of life - direct reminiscences from Goethe) and in the story in the letters "Faust" by J.S. Turgenev.

Faust at Lunacharsky

In the XX century. The most interesting development of the theme of Faust was given by A. V. Lunacharsky in his drama for reading Faust and the City (written in 1908, 1916, published by Narkompros, P., in 1918). Based on the final scenes of the second part of Goethe's tragedy, Lunacharsky draws Faust as an enlightened monarch, dominating the country he conquered from the sea. However, the people guarded by Faust is already ripe for liberation from the bonds of autocracy, a revolutionary upheaval is taking place, and Faust welcomes what has happened, seeing in it the realization of his long-standing dreams of a free people in a free land. The play reflects a premonition of a social upheaval, the beginning of a new historical era. The motives of the Faustian legend attracted V. Ya. Bryusov, who left a complete translation of Goethe's Faust (part 1 printed in), the story "The Fiery Angel" (-1908), as well as the poem "Klassische Walpurgisnacht" ().

List of works

• Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreiten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler etc. (The story of Dr. Faust, the famous wizard and warlock), (1587)
• G. R. Widman, Wahrhaftige Historie etc., (1598)
• Achim von Arnim "Die Kronenwächter" (Guardians of the Crown), (1817)
• Heinrich Heine: Faust (Der Doktor Faust. Ein Tanzpoem), a poem assigned for dancing (1851)
• Theodore Storm: Field-Puppeteer (Pole Poppenspäler), short story (1875)
• Heinrich Mann: Teacher Gnus (Professor Unrat), (1904)
• Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus (1947)
• Roger Zelazny & Robert Sheckley: "If at Faust you don't succeed" (1993)
• Michael Swanwick: Jack Faust (Jack Faust) (1997)
• Roman Mohlmann: Faust und die Tragodie der Menschheit (2007)

Plays

Rembrandt. "Faust", engraving

• Christopher Marlo: The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus, (1590)
• John Rich: The Necromancer (1723)
• Goethe:
  • Prafaust (Urfaust)
  • Faust, ch. 1 (Faust I)
  • Faust, part 2 (Faust II)
• Friedrich Maximilian Klinger: Faust, his life, deeds and overthrow into hell (Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt) (1791)
• Ernst August Klingemann: Faust (1816)
• Christian Dietrich Grabbe: Don Juan and Faust (1828)
• A. S. Pushkin. Scene from Faust
• Nikolaus Lenau: Faust (1836)
• I. Turgenev. Faust, (1856)
• Friedrich Theodor Fischer: Faust. Tragedy in two parts (Faust. Der Tragödie dritter Teil) (1862)
• A. V. Lunacharsky: Faust and the city, 1908
• Michel de Gelderode. Death of Doctor Faust, 1926
• Dorothy Sayers: (The Devil to Pay) (1939)
• wolfgang bauer: Herr Faust spielt Roulette (Herr Faust plays roulette) (1986)
• Günther Mahal (Hrsg.): Doktor Johannes Faust - Puppenspiel (Dr. Johannes Faust - Puppet Theatre).
• Werner Schwab: Faust: Mein Brustkorb: Mein Helm. (1992)
• Pohl, Gerd-Josef: Faust - Geschichte einer Höllenfahrt, 1995

Faust in the visual arts

Faust in cinema

• Gonzalo Suarez: The Strange Case of Doctor Faust ()
• Brian Yuzna: Faust - prince of darkness ()

Other

The character of the computer game Faust is named after Faust: Seven traps for the soul - playing as Faust must unravel several stories, the character of which was the demon Mephistopheles

Faust also appears in the Guilty Gear anime-style fighting game series. However, unlike the real Faust, this character has nothing to do with Mephistotle, although he was also a doctor. According to the legend of the game, one day a girl died during an operation, and Faust went crazy. Putting a bag on his head and taking his scalpel with him, he began to fight the Gears, trying to protect some of his crazy ideas and principles.

Bibliography

• Faligan Z., Histoire de la légende de Faust, P., 1888;
• Fischer K., Goethes Faust, Bd I. Die Faustdichtung vor Goethe, 3. Aufl., Stuttgart, 1893;
• Kiesewetter C., Faust in der Geschichte und Tradition, Lpz., 1893;
• Frank R., Wie der Faust entstand (Urkunde, Sage und Dichtung), B., 1911;
• Die Faustdichtung vor, neben und nach Goethe, 4 Bde, B., 1913;
• Gestaltungen des Faust (Die bedeutendsten Werke der Faustdichtung, seit 1587), hrsg. v. H. W. Geissler, 3 Bde, Munich, 1927;
• Bauerhorst K., Bibliographie der Stoff- und Motiv-Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, B. - Lpz., 1932;
• Korelin M., Western legend about Dr. Faust, Vestnik Evropy, 1882, book. 11 and 12;
• Frishmut M., Faust type in world literature, Vestnik Evropy, 1887, book. 7-10 (reprinted in the book: Frishmut M., Critical essays and articles, St. Petersburg, 1902);
• Beletsky AI, The legend of Faust in connection with the history of demonology, "Notes of the Neophilological Society at St. Petersburg University", vol. V and VI, 1911-1912;
• Zhirmunsky V., Goethe in Russian Literature, Leningrad, 1937.

See also the articles dedicated to the writers mentioned in this article.

Booker Igor 06/13/2019 at 14:33

Everyone has heard the name of Dr. Faust. Became a cult hero of literature back inXVI century eke, he forever remained in the memory of descendants. But a real person named Faust has little in common with his illustrious image, and little is known for certain about him.

According to reliable sources, Johann Georg Faust, or Georg Faust, was born around 1480 in Knittlingen, and died in 1540 (1541) in or near the town of Staufen im Breisgau. His whole life was spent in approximately one geographical place - the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Faust combined the combined talents of an alchemist, magician, healer, astrologer and soothsayer.

If you accidentally see a chubby volume devoted to the biography of Faust on the counter of a bookstore, do not believe your eyes. No, you are not being led by the nose: in that hypothetical book, everyday life at the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century, the literary and artistic image of Faust, and much more interesting things can be described in detail. There will be no biography of Faust in the folio, since even the most complete and scrupulous biography will fit perfectly on several sheets of A4 format, and at the same time, not everything written on them will be true.

As the contemporary German literary historian Günther Mahal observed, "a jungle of question marks surrounds the historical figure of Faust."

In all the testimonies of contemporaries about Faust, he is called Georg, or Jörg (Jörg). The name Johann first pops up two decades after the death of the alchemist. A sorcerer and healer, Faust at the end of the last century would have been called a psychic in Russia. Unlike Kashpirovsky or Chumak, Faust did not have a huge television audience, but his name crossed the borders of not only Germany, but also Europe and remained in the memory of posterity.

Unlike the seven ancient Greek cities that argued among themselves as to the birthplace of the great Homer, only three German towns claim to be the cradle of the famous Faust: Knittlingen, already named above, Helmstadt near Heidelberg and the place of Roda in Thuringia mentioned only in the legend. The victory was won by Knittlingen, which today houses the Faust Museum and its archive. As a matter of fact, the winner was determined thanks to a document that has survived to this day on the acquisition of real estate by a magician in these parts. It is dated 1542.

Unfortunately, only a copy of this document made in pencil by Karl Weisert in 1934 has survived to this day. The original burned down during World War II. The authenticity of the archival document, handwritten by a school teacher, is officially certified by the signature and seal of the then burgomaster of the city of Lehner dated March 3, 1934. In addition to this paper, the testimony of Johann Manlius has been preserved. In a letter to his teacher, written in 1563, he mentions an acquaintance with Faust from Knittlinger, whom he called "a cesspool full of devils" ( Scheisshaus vieler Teufel).

The teacher of this witness was the famous theologian and reformer, an associate of Luther, nicknamed the Teacher of Germany (Praeceptor Germaniae) by the humanist Philipp Melanchthon. And he called Faust, adopted during the Renaissance, the Latinized pseudonym Faustus, which in translation meant "lucky".

After so many centuries, it is very difficult to judge who the said Faust really was. Some saw him as a deceiver, charlatan and adventurer, while others saw him as a philosopher, alchemist, soothsayer, palmist and healer. In some sources, Faust is insultingly referred to as "a vagabond, an empty talker and a tramp-deceiver." Apparently, it was about a wandering magician.

By the way, it is worth noting that even today some people are negatively disposed towards psychics (at the same time, they did not approach them even a cannon shot), others were cautious out of envy of their success, etc. In addition, until 1506 there is not a single document that would highlight the activities of Dr. Faust.

In one of the letters, our hero is attested with the following words: "Master Georg Sabellicus Faust Jr. (Georg Sabellicus Faust der Jüngere) is a storehouse for necromancers, an astrologer, the second of magicians, a palmist, an aeromancer, a pyromancer, the second of hydromancers." Perhaps this is an example of a successful "PR" of the sorcerer, who pretended to be a specialist in reading lines on his hand, in clouds, fog and the flight of birds (auspices), as well as being able to predict and guess by fire, water and smoke.

The Vatican Library has preserved a letter from the Benedictine abbot from Würzburg Johannes Trithemius (Iohannes Trithemius), sent by him on August 20, 1507 to the mathematician and court astrologer in Heidelberg Johann Firdung (Johann (es) Virdung, 1463-1535), in which the Kabbalist Trithemius describes the tricks of Faust with boys. According to this learned man, when the pedophile Faust was threatened with exposure of his homosexual addictions, he disappeared. Dr. Faust was called the great sodomite and necromancer in documents that are stored in the archives of the city of Nuremberg.

According to the abbot Trithemius, Faust boasted of such knowledge of all sciences and such a memory that if all the works of Plato and Aristotle and all their philosophy were completely forgotten, then he, “like the new Ezra of Judea, would completely restore them from memory even in a more elegant form". And also, as Faust said more than once, he "takes at any time and any number of times to do everything that the Savior did," says Trithemius.

It is not known whether Trithemius was an initiate, but some have argued that he predicted a schism two years before the appearance of Luther, an English translator of his works announced a fire in London in 1647 that would devastate the capital of this island 19 years later.

The natural philosopher Johann Trithemius, whose students were the notorious Agrippa Nettesheim and Theophrastus Paracelsus, spoke rather dismissively about Faust and his abilities, which involuntarily makes one wonder if it was envy that drove him with a pen and whether he was slandering his fellow craftsmen.

However, much more was told about other abilities of the magician and wizard, which resembled more circus tricks than playful adventures with boys. During another toast in honor of a drinking buddy, Faust in a tavern swallowed a boy servant who poured wine over the edge of a mug. And once at the fair, Faust covered a basket with chicken eggs with his cloak, and chickens immediately hatched from it. In Vogel's Leipzig Chronicle it is written: "There are rumors among the people that once, when the cellarers in the Auerbach wine cellar could not roll out an unopened barrel of wine, the famous warlock Dr. Faust mounted it and by the power of his spell the barrel itself jumped into the street" .

In 1520, Faust compiled a birth chart for the influential Archbishop-Elector George III of Bamberg. It should be noted that this is a sign of considerable recognition of the merits of the sorcerer, since His Eminence was one of the highest church hierarchs in the German-speaking countries. "Also, X guilders were given and sent to Dr. Faustus the Philosopher," the archbishop-elector's valet pedantically testified in lowercase letters. Ten guilders at that time was a princely payment.