Doctor Faustus author. Great mystics in reality: Doctor Faustus

Booker Igor 08/05/2011 at 15:43

Everyone has heard the name of Doctor Faustus. Became a cult hero of literature back inXVI century eke, he will forever remain in the memory of descendants. That's just a real man The name Faust has little in common with his famous 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 city of Staufen im Breisgau. His entire life was spent in approximately one geographical place - the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Faust combined the combined talents of an alchemist, a magician, a healer, an astrologer and a fortuneteller.

If you accidentally see on the counter of a bookstore a plump volume dedicated to the biography of Faust, do not believe your eyes. No, you are not being led by the nose: that hypothetical book may detail everyday life at the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century, literary and artistic image Faust and many other interesting things. The tome will not contain a biography of Faust, since even the most complete and scrupulous biography will easily fit on several A4 sheets of paper, and not everything written on them will be true.

As the modern German literary historian Günther Mahal noted, “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. The name Johann first appears two decades after the alchemist’s death. A medicine man and healer, Faust at the end of the last century would be 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 the birthplace of the great Homer, only three German towns claim to be the cradle of the famous Faust: the already named Knittlingen, Helmstadt near Heidelberg and the town of Roda in Thuringia, mentioned only in legend. Knittlingen won, where today there is a Faust Museum and its archive. As a matter of fact, the winner was determined thanks to a document that has survived to this day about the magician’s acquisition of real estate 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 Lener 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 meeting Faust of 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), the humanist Philip Melanchthon. And he called Faust by the Latinized pseudonym Faustus, adopted during the Renaissance, which translated meant “lucky one.”

After so many centuries, it is very difficult to judge who the mentioned Faust actually was. Some saw him as a deceiver, a charlatan and an adventurer, while others saw him as a philosopher, alchemist, fortune teller, palm reader and healer. In some sources, Faust is insultingly referred to as “a tramp, an empty talker and a tramp-deceiver.” Apparently, it was about a traveling 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 within a cannon shot), others were cautious out of envy of their successes, etc. In addition, before 1506 there is not a single document that covers the activities of Doctor Faustus.

In one of the letters, our hero is certified in the following words: “Master Georg Sabellicus Faust the Younger (Georg Sabellicus Faust der Jüngere) is a treasure trove for necromancers, an astrologer, the second of the magicians, a palmist, an aeromancer, a pyromancer, the second of the hydromancers.” Perhaps this is an example of a successful “PR” for a sorcerer who posed as a specialist in reading lines on the hand, clouds, fog and the flight of birds (auspicion), as well as being able to predict and tell fortunes by fire, water and smoke.

The Vatican Library preserves a letter from the Benedictine abbot of Würzburg, Johannes Trithemius, sent by him on August 20, 1507 to the mathematician and court astrologer in Heidelberg, 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 in danger of having his homosexual addictions exposed, he went into hiding. Doctor Faustus was called the great sodomite and necromancer in documents kept in the archives of the city of Nuremberg.

According to Abbot Trithemius, Faustus 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 have completely restored them from memory even in a more elegant form". And also, as Faustus said more than once, he “undertakes himself at any time and as many times as he wants to do everything that the Savior did,” reports Trithemius.

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

The natural philosopher Johann Trithemius, whose students were the well-known Agrippa of Nettesheim and Theophrastus Paracelsus, spoke rather disparagingly about Faust and his abilities, which involuntarily makes one wonder whether envy was driving his pen and whether he was laying false accusations against his fellow craftsman.

However, much more was said about the other abilities of the magician and wizard, which were more reminiscent of circus tricks than playful adventures with boys. During the next toast in honor of his drinking companion, Faust in the tavern swallowed a servant boy who poured wine over the edge of the mug. And once at a fair, Faust covered a basket of chicken eggs with his cloak, and chickens immediately hatched from it. Vogel’s “Leipzig Chronicle” records: “There are rumors among the people that once, when the cellar workers in the Auerbach wine cellar were unable to roll out an unopened barrel of wine, the famous warlock Doctor Faustus sat astride it and, by the power of his spell, the barrel itself galloped out into the street.” .

In 1520, Faust cast a birth horoscope for the influential Bamberg Archbishop-Elector George III. It should be noted that this is a sign of considerable recognition of the sorcerer’s merits, since His Eminence was one of the highest church hierarchs in German-speaking countries. “Also X guilders were given and sent to Doctor Faustus the philosopher,” - this is exactly what the valet of the Archbishop-Elector pedantically testified in lowercase letters. Ten guilders at that time was a princely fee.

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 position as a teacher in Kreuznach, but had to flee from there due to persecution of his fellow citizens. As a warlock and astrologer, he traveled around Europe, posing as a great scientist, boasting 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 were ever lost to humanity” ( from a letter from the learned abbot Trithemius, 1507).

In 1539 his trace was lost.

During the Renaissance, when faith in magic and the miraculous was still alive, and, on the other hand, outstanding victories were won by science liberated from the bonds of scholasticism, which many saw as the fruit of the union of a daring mind with evil spirits, the figure of Doctor Faustus quickly acquired legendary shape and wide popularity. In 1587 in Germany, in the publication of Spies, the first literary adaptation of the legend of Faust, the so-called “people's book” about Faust, appeared: “Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreiten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler etc.” (The story of Doctor Faustus, the famous wizard and warlock). The book contains episodes that were once associated with various sorcerers (Simon the Magus, Albert the Great, etc.) and attributed 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 of Nettesheim: “De praestigiis daemonum”, 1563, German translation 1567, and etc.). The author, apparently a Lutheran cleric, portrays Faust as a daring wicked man who entered into an alliance with the devil in order to acquire great knowledge and power (“Faust grew eagle’s wings and wanted to penetrate and explore all the foundations of heaven and earth.” “His falling away means nothing nothing but arrogance, despair, insolence and courage, similar to those titans about whom the poets tell that they piled mountains upon 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 impudent and vain"). 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 that Faust is given the features of a humanist. These features are noticeably strengthened in the 1589 edition.

In 1603 Pierre Caillet published a French translation folk book about Faust.

Faust gives lectures on Homer at the University of Erfurt, at the request of students he evokes the shadows of heroes of classical antiquity, etc. The humanists’ passion for antiquity is personified in the book as the “godless” connection between the lustful Faust and the Beautiful Helen. However, despite the author’s desire to condemn Faust for his atheism, pride and daring, the image of Faust is still shrouded in a certain heroism; in his person the entire Renaissance era is reflected with its inherent thirst for limitless knowledge, the cult of unlimited personal possibilities, a powerful rebellion against medieval quietism, dilapidated church-feudal norms and foundations.

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

Apparently, at the beginning of the 17th century, Marlowe’s tragedy was brought by English traveling comedians to Germany, where it was transformed into a puppet comedy, which became widespread (by the way, Goethe owes a lot to it when creating his “Faust”). The people's book also underlies G. R. Widman's lengthy work on Faust (Widman, Wahrhaftige Historie etc.), published in Hamburg in 1598. Widman, in contrast to Marlowe, strengthens the moralistic and clerical-didactic tendencies of the “people's book.” For him, the story of Faust is, first of all, a story about the “terrible and disgusting sins and misdeeds” of the famous warlock; He meticulously equips his presentation of the legend of Faust with “necessary reminders and excellent examples” that should serve as a general “education and warning.”

Pfitzer followed in Widmann's footsteps, publishing his adaptation of the folk book about Faust in 1674.

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The theme of Faust gained exceptional popularity in Germany in the second half of the 18th century. among writers of the period of “Storm and Drang” [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 - tragedy “Faust” (1774-1831), Russian translation by N. Kholodkovsky (1878), A. Fet (1882-1883), V. Bryusov ( 1928) and others]. Faust attracts sturmer writers with his daring titanism, his rebellious encroachment on traditional norms. Under their pen, he acquires the features of a “stormy genius”, trampling upon the laws of the surrounding world in the name of unlimited individual rights. Sturmers were also attracted by the “Gothic” flavor of the legend, its irrational element. At the same time, the Stürmers, especially Klinger, combine the theme of Faust with a sharp critique 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 clergy, the depravity of the ruling classes, portraits of Louis XI, Alexander Borgia, etc.) .

Main article: Faust (Goethe's tragedy)

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

If in “Prafaust” (1774-1775) the tragedy is still fragmentary in nature, then with the advent of the prologue “In Heaven” (written 1797, published 1808) it takes on the grandiose outlines of a kind of humanistic mystery, all the numerous episodes of which are united by the unity of the artistic concept. Faustus grows into a colossal figure. He is a symbol of the possibilities and destinies of humanity. His victory over quietism, over the spirit of negation and disastrous emptiness (Mephistopheles) marks the triumph of the creative forces of humanity, its indestructible vitality and creative power. But on the path to victory, Faust is destined to go through a number of “educational” steps. From the “small world” of burgher everyday life, he enters the “big world” of aesthetic and civil interests, the boundaries of his sphere of activity are ever expanding, they include more and more new areas, until the cosmic expanses are revealed to Faust final scenes, where the searching creative spirit of Faust merges with the creative forces of the universe. The tragedy is permeated with the pathos of creativity. There is nothing frozen or unshakable here, everything here is movement, development, constant “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; A distinctive feature of Faust's character is “discontent” (Unzufriedenheit), which always pushes him onto the path of tireless action. Faust destroyed Gretchen, because he grew eagle wings and they draw him beyond the stuffy burgher's upper room; he does not confine himself to the world of art and perfect beauty, for the kingdom of classical Helen ultimately turns out to be just an aesthetic appearance. 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 from nature the right to happiness. Hell loses its power over Faust. The tirelessly active Faust, who has found the “right path,” is awarded cosmic apotheosis. Thus, under the pen of Goethe, the ancient legend of Faust takes on a deeply humanistic character. It should be noted that the final scenes of Faust were written during the period of the rapid rise of young European capitalism and partially reflected the successes of capitalist progress. However, Goethe's greatness lies in the fact that he already saw the dark sides of new public relations and in his poem he tried to rise above them.

IN early XIX V. The image of Faust with its Gothic outlines attracted romantics. Faust - a traveling 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 magazine “Vek”, 1862), Lenau (“Faust”, 1835-1836, Russian translation by A. Anyutin [A. V. Lunacharsky], St. Petersburg, 1904, the same, trans. N. A-sky, St. Petersburg, 1892), Heine [“Faust” (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 after Goethe, portrays Faust as an ambivalent, hesitant, doomed rebel.

Vainly dreaming of “uniting the world, God and himself,” Faust Lenau falls victim to the machinations of Mephistopheles, who embodies the forces of evil and corrosive skepticism, which make him similar to Goethe’s Mephistopheles. The spirit of denial and doubt triumphs over the rebel, whose impulses turn out to be wingless and worthless. Lenau's poem marks the beginning of the collapse of the humanistic concept of the legend. In the conditions of mature capitalism, the theme of Faust in its Renaissance-humanistic interpretation could no longer receive full embodiment. The "Faustian spirit" flew away from bourgeois culture, and it is no coincidence that late XIX and 20th centuries we do not have any significant artistic adaptations of the legend of Faust.

In Russia, A. S. Pushkin paid tribute to the legend of Faust in his wonderful “Scene from Faust.” We encounter echoes of Goethe’s “Faust” in “Don Juan” by A.K. Tolstoy (prologue, Faustian features of Don Juan, languishing over the solution to life - direct reminiscences from Goethe) and in the story in letters “Faust” by J.S. Turgenev.

In the 20th 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, ed. Narkompros, P., in 1918). Based on the final scenes of the second part of Goethe's tragedy, Lunacharsky portrays Faust as an enlightened monarch ruling over the country he conquered from the sea. However, the people under Faust’s tutelage are already ripe for liberation from the bonds of autocracy, a revolutionary coup takes place, and Faust welcomes what has happened, seeing in it the fulfillment of his long-standing dreams of a free people on a free land. The play reflects a premonition of a social revolution, the beginning of a new historical era. The motives of the Faustian legend attracted V. Ya. Bryusov, who left full translation“Faust” by Goethe (part 1 published in 1928), story “ Fire Angel" (1907-1908), as well as the poem "Klassische Walpurgisnacht" (1920).

List of works

Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreiten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler etc. (The story of Doctor Faustus, 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 intended for dancing (1851)

Theodor Storm: Pole Poppenspäler, short story (1875)

Heinrich Mann: Professor Unrat, (1904)

Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus (1947)

Roman Möhlmann: Faust und die Tragödie der Menschheit (2007)

Roger Zelazny & Robert Sheckley: "If at Faust you don't succeed" (1993)

Or “recreate from the depths of your subconscious all the works of Plato and Aristotle, if they ever died for humanity” (from the letter of the learned abbot Trithemius, 1507). In 1532, the authorities of Nuremberg banned the entry into the city of “the great sodomite and necromancer Doctor Faustus” ( Doctor Faustus, dem großen Sodomiten und Nigromantico in furt glait ablainen) . After 1539, his trace is lost.

"People's Book"

"Faust" by Goethe

The theme of Faust reaches its most powerful artistic expression in Goethe's tragedy of the same name. The tragedy reflected in significant relief all the versatility of Goethe, all the depth of his literary, philosophical and scientific quests: his struggle for a realistic worldview, his humanism, etc. In Goethe, Faust’s name is Heinrich, not Johann.

If in “Prafaust” (1774-1775) the tragedy is still fragmentary in nature, then with the advent of the prologue “In Heaven” (written 1797, published 1808) it takes on the grandiose outlines of a kind of humanistic mystery, all the numerous episodes of which are united by the unity of the artistic concept. Faustus grows into a colossal figure. He is a symbol of the possibilities and destinies of humanity. His victory over quietism, over the spirit of negation and disastrous emptiness (Mephistopheles) marks the triumph of the creative forces of humanity, its indestructible vitality and creative power. But on the path to victory, Faust is destined to go through a number of “educational” steps. From the “small world” of burgher everyday life, he enters the “big world” of aesthetic and civic interests, the boundaries of his sphere of activity are ever expanding, they include more and more new areas, until the cosmic expanses of the final scenes are revealed to Faust, where the searching creative spirit of Faust merges with creative forces of the universe. The tragedy is permeated with the pathos of creativity. There is nothing frozen or unshakable here, everything here is movement, development, constant “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; A distinctive feature of Faust's character is “discontent” (Unzufriedenheit), which always pushes him onto the path of tireless action. Faust destroyed Gretchen, since he grew eagle wings for himself, and they draw him beyond the stuffy burgher's upper room; he does not confine himself to the world of art and perfect beauty, for the kingdom of classical Helen ultimately turns out to be just an aesthetic appearance. 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 from nature the right to happiness. Hell loses its power over Faust. The tirelessly active Faust, who has found the “right path,” is awarded cosmic apotheosis. Thus, under the pen of Goethe, the ancient legend of Faust takes on a deeply humanistic character. It should be noted that the final scenes of Faust were written during the period of the rapid rise of young European capitalism and partially reflected the successes of capitalist progress. However, Goethe's greatness lies in the fact that he already saw the dark sides of new social relations and in his poem tried to rise above them.

In the era of romanticism

At the beginning of the 19th century. The image of Faust with its Gothic outlines attracted romantics. Faust - a traveling charlatan of the 16th century. - appears in Arnim's novel "Guardians of the Crown" (1817). The legend of Faust was developed by Grabbe (“Don Juan and Faust”, 1829, Russian translation by N. Kholodkovsky in the magazine “Vek”, 1862), Lenau (“Faust”, 1835-1836, Russian translation by A. Anyutina, St. Petersburg , 1904, the same, trans. N. A-sky, St. Petersburg, 1892), Heine (“Faust. Poem intended for dancing,” 1847), etc. Lenau, the author of the most significant development of the theme of Faust after Goethe, depicts Faust ambivalent, wavering, doomed rebel.

Vainly dreaming of “uniting the world, God and himself,” Faust Lenau falls victim to the machinations of Mephistopheles, who embodies the forces of evil and corrosive skepticism, which makes him similar to Goethe’s Mephistopheles. The spirit of denial and doubt triumphs over the rebel, whose impulses turn out to be wingless and worthless. Lenau's poem marks the beginning of the collapse of the humanistic concept of the legend.

In Russia

In Russia, A. S. Pushkin paid tribute to the legend of Faust in his wonderful. We encounter echoes of Goethe’s “Faust” in “Don Juan” by A. K. Tolstoy (prologue, Faustian features of Don Juan, languishing over the solution to life - direct reminiscences from Goethe) and in the story in the letters of I. S. Turgenev.

In his reading drama “” (1908, 1916), A. V. Lunacharsky, based on the final scenes of the second part of Goethe’s tragedy, portrays Faust as an enlightened monarch, ruling over the country he conquered from the sea. However, the people under Faust’s tutelage are already ripe for liberation from the bonds of autocracy, a revolutionary coup takes place, and Faust welcomes what has happened, seeing in it the fulfillment of his long-standing dreams of a free people on a free land. The play reflects a premonition of a social revolution.

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 novel “Fire Angel” (1907-1908), as well as the poem “Klassische Walpurgisnacht” (1920).

List of works

• Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten, dem weitbeschreiten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler etc. (The story of Doctor Faustus, the famous wizard and warlock), (1587)
• G. R. Widman, Wahrhaftige Historie etc., (1598)
• Achim von Arnim. "Die Kronenwächter" (Guardians of the Crown), (1817)
• Friedrich Maximilian Klinger: Faust, his life, deeds and descent into hell (Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt)(1791)Theodor Storm: Ernst
• Ernst August Klingemann: Faust (1816) Puppeteer Field (Pole Poppenspäler), novella (1875)
• Heinrich Mann: Teacher Unrat, (1904)
• Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus (Doctor Faustus) (1947)
• Roger Zelazny & Robert Sheckley: “If at Faust you don’t succeed” (1993)
• Michael Swanwick: Jack\Faust (1997)
• Roman Mohlmann: Faust und die Tragödie der Menschheit (2007)
• Adolfo Bioy Casares "Faust's Eve" (1949)
• Johann Spies: "The Legend of Doctor Johann Faust, the great and famous sorcerer, magician and deceiver."
• Christopher Marlowe: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, (1590)
• John Rich: The Necromancer (1723)
• Goethe:
  • Prafaust (Urfaust)
  • Faust, part 1 (Faust I)
  • Faust, part 2 (Faust II)
• Friedrich Müller: Faust's Leben (Faust), (1778)
• Christian Dietrich Grabbe: Don Juan and Faust (1828)
• A. S. Pushkin. Scene from "Faust"
• Nikolaus Lenau: Faust (1836)
• Heinrich Heine: Faust (Der Doktor Faust. Ein Tanzpoem), a poem assigned for dancing (ballet libretto) (1851)
• I. S. Turgenev. Faust, (1856)
• Friedrich Theodor Fischer: Faust. Tragedy in two parts (Faust. Der Tragödie dritter Teil) (1862)
• A. V. Lunacharsky: , 1908
• Michel de Gelderod. Death of Doctor Faustus, 1926
• Yuri Yurchenko. Faust and Helen, tragedy in verse in three acts, magazine Playwright No. 4, 1994; publishing house ACADEMIA, M., 1999.
• 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 (Doctor John Faust - Puppet Theater).
• Werner Schwab: Faust: Mein Brustkorb: Mein Helm. (1992)
• Pohl, Gerd-Josef: Faust - Geschichte einer Höllenfahrt Textfassung für die Piccolo Puppenspiele, 1995

The image of Faust in other arts

In fine arts

Faust is also found in the anime-style fighting game series Guilty Gear. However, unlike the real Faust, this character is in no way connected with Mephistopheles, 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 defend his ideas and principles.

One of the characters in the anime Shaman King is Faust VIII, a direct descendant of the legendary warlock. This Faust is a brilliant doctor, fanatically devoted to the revival of his tragically deceased wife Eliza using the art of black magic, which he gleaned from the tomes of his ancestor.

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Notes

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 of Doctor Faustus, “Bulletin of Europe”, 1882, book. 11 and 12;
• Frishmuth M., The Type of Faust in World Literature, “Bulletin of Europe”, 1887, book. 7-10 (reprinted in the book: Frishmut M., Critical essays and articles, St. Petersburg, 1902);
• Beletsky A.I., 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.
• Ruigby L. Faust / Trans. from English D. Kuntashova. - M.: Veche, 2012. - 416 p., ill. - (Great historical figures). - 2000 copies, ISBN 978-5-9533-5154-6
• The Warlocks of Johann Faust. Volume I. Natural and unnatural magic / N. Novgorod, 2015. - ISBN 978-5-99069-24-4-2
• The Warlocks of Johann Faust. Volume II. Grimoires of the Great Warlock / N. Novgorod, 2015. - ISBN 978-5-9907322-0-9

Excerpt characterizing Faust, Johann Georg

The countess was so tired of the visits that she did not order to receive anyone else, and the doorman was only ordered to invite everyone who would still come with congratulations to eat. The Countess wanted to talk privately with her childhood friend, Princess Anna Mikhailovna, whom she had not seen well since her arrival from St. Petersburg. Anna Mikhailovna, with her tear-stained and pleasant face, moved closer to the countess’s chair.
“I’ll be completely frank with you,” said Anna Mikhailovna. – There are very few of us left, old friends! This is why I value your friendship so much.
Anna Mikhailovna looked at Vera and stopped. The Countess shook hands with her friend.
“Vera,” said the countess, turning to eldest daughter, obviously unloved. - How come you have no idea about anything? Don't you feel like you're out of place here? Go to your sisters, or...
Beautiful Vera smiled contemptuously, apparently not feeling the slightest insult.
“If you had told me long ago, mamma, I would have left immediately,” she said, and went to her room.
But, passing by the sofa, she noticed that there were two couples sitting symmetrically at two windows. She stopped and smiled contemptuously. Sonya sat close to Nikolai, who was copying out poems for her that he had written for the first time. Boris and Natasha were sitting at another window and fell silent when Vera entered. Sonya and Natasha looked at Vera with guilty and happy faces.
It was fun and touching to look at these girls in love, but the sight of them, obviously, did not arouse a pleasant feeling in Vera.
“How many times have I asked you,” she said, “not to take my things, you have your own room.”
She took the inkwell from Nikolai.
“Now, now,” he said, wetting his pen.
“You know how to do everything at the wrong time,” said Vera. “Then they ran into the living room, so everyone felt ashamed of you.”
Despite the fact that, or precisely because, what she said was completely fair, no one answered her, and all four only looked at each other. She lingered in the room with the inkwell in her hand.
- And what secrets could there be at your age between Natasha and Boris and between you - they’re all just nonsense!
- Well, what do you care, Vera? – Natasha said intercedingly in a quiet voice.
She, apparently, was even more kind and affectionate to everyone than always that day.
“Very stupid,” said Vera, “I’m ashamed of you.” What are the secrets?...
- Everyone has their own secrets. We won’t touch you and Berg,” Natasha said, getting excited.
“I think you won’t touch me,” said Vera, “because there can never be anything bad in my actions.” But I’ll tell mommy how you treat Boris.
“Natalya Ilyinishna treats me very well,” said Boris. “I can't complain,” he said.
- Leave it, Boris, you are such a diplomat (the word diplomat was in great use among children in the special meaning that they attached to this word); It’s even boring,” Natasha said in an offended, trembling voice. - Why is she pestering me? You will never understand this,” she said, turning to Vera, “because you have never loved anyone; you have no heart, you are only madame de Genlis [Madame Genlis] (this nickname, considered very offensive, was given to Vera by Nikolai), and your first pleasure is to cause trouble for others. “You flirt with Berg as much as you want,” she said quickly.
- Yes, I certainly won’t start chasing a young man in front of guests...
“Well, she achieved her goal,” Nikolai intervened, “she said unpleasant things to everyone, upset everyone.” Let's go to the nursery.
All four, like a frightened flock of birds, got up and left the room.
“They told me some troubles, but I didn’t mean anything to anyone,” said Vera.
- Madame de Genlis! Madame de Genlis! - Laughing voices said from behind the door.
Beautiful Vera, who had such an irritating, unpleasant effect on everyone, smiled and, apparently unaffected by what was said to her, went to the mirror and straightened her scarf and hairstyle. Looking at her beautiful face, she apparently became even colder and calmer.

The conversation continued in the living room.
- Ah! chere,” said the countess, “and in my life tout n”est pas rose. Don’t I see that du train, que nous allons, [not everything is roses. - given our way of life,] our condition will not last long for us! And all this is a club, and its kindness. We live in the village, do we relax? Theaters, hunting and God knows what. Well, how did you arrange all this? I’m often surprised at you, Annette. You, at your age, ride in a carriage alone, to Moscow, to St. Petersburg, to all the ministers, to all the nobility, you know how to get along with everyone, I’m surprised, how did this work out? I don’t know how to do any of this.
- Oh, my soul! - answered Princess Anna Mikhailovna. “God forbid you know how hard it is to remain a widow without support and with a son whom you love to the point of adoration.” “You’ll learn everything,” she continued with some pride. – My process taught me. If I need to see one of these aces, I write a note: “princesse une telle [Princess so and so] wants to see such and such” and I go myself in a cab at least two, at least three times, at least four, until I achieve what I need. I don't care what anyone thinks of me.
- Well, well, who did you ask about Borenka? – asked the Countess. - After all, yours is already a guard officer, and Nikolushka is a cadet. There is no one to bother. Who did you ask?
- Prince Vasily. He was very nice. Now I agreed to everything, reported to the sovereign,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna said with delight, completely forgetting all the humiliation she went through to achieve her goal.
- That he has aged, Prince Vasily? – asked the Countess. – I haven’t seen him since our theaters at the Rumyantsevs’. And I think he forgot about me. “Il me faisait la cour, [He was trailing after me,” the countess recalled with a smile.
“Still the same,” answered Anna Mikhailovna, “kind, crumbling.” Les grandeurs ne lui ont pas touriene la tete du tout. [The high position did not turn his head at all.] “I regret that I can do too little for you, dear princess,” he tells me, “order.” No, he is a nice man and a wonderful family member. But you know, Nathalieie, my love for my son. I don't know what I wouldn't do to make him happy. “And my circumstances are so bad,” Anna Mikhailovna continued with sadness and lowering her voice, “so bad that I am now in the most terrible situation. My miserable process is eating up everything I have and is not moving. I don’t have, you can imagine, a la lettre [literally], I don’t have a dime of money, and I don’t know what to outfit Boris with. “She took out a handkerchief and began to cry. “I need five hundred rubles, but I have one twenty-five-ruble note.” I am in this position... My only hope now is Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he does not want to support his godson - after all, he baptized Borya - and assign him something for his maintenance, then all my troubles will be lost: I will have nothing to outfit him with.
The Countess shed tears and silently thought about something.
“I often think, maybe this is a sin,” said the princess, “and I often think: Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhoy lives alone... this is a huge fortune... and what does he live for? Life is a burden for him, but Borya is just beginning to live.
“He will probably leave something for Boris,” said the countess.
- God knows, chere amie! [dear friend!] These rich people and nobles are so selfish. But I’ll still go to him now with Boris and tell him straight out what’s going on. Let them think what they want about me, I really don’t care when my son’s fate depends on it. - The princess stood up. - Now it’s two o’clock, and at four o’clock you have lunch. I'll have time to go.
And with the techniques of a St. Petersburg business lady who knows how to use time, Anna Mikhailovna sent for her son and went out into the hall with him.
“Farewell, my soul,” she said to the countess, who accompanied her to the door, “wish me success,” she added in a whisper from her son.
– Are you visiting Count Kirill Vladimirovich, ma chere? - said the count from the dining room, also going out into the hallway. - If he feels better, invite Pierre to dinner with me. After all, he visited me and danced with the children. Call me by all means, ma chere. Well, let's see how Taras distinguishes himself today. He says that Count Orlov never had such a dinner as we will have.

“Mon cher Boris, [Dear Boris,”] said Princess Anna Mikhailovna to her son when Countess Rostova’s carriage, in which they were sitting, drove along the straw-covered street and drove into the wide courtyard of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhy. “Mon cher Boris,” said the mother, pulling her hand out from under her old coat and with a timid and affectionate movement placing it on her son’s hand, “be gentle, be attentive.” Count Kirill Vladimirovich is still for you Godfather, and your future fate depends on it. Remember this, mon cher, be as sweet as you know how to be...
“If I had known that anything other than humiliation would come out of this...” the son answered coldly. “But I promised you and I’m doing this for you.”
Despite the fact that someone’s carriage was standing at the entrance, the doorman, looking at the mother and son (who, without ordering to report themselves, directly entered the glass vestibule between two rows of statues in the niches), looking significantly at the old cloak, asked who they wanted whatever, the princesses or the count, and, having learned that the count, said that their Lordships are worse off now and their Lordships do not receive anyone.
“We can leave,” the son said in French.
- Mon ami! [My friend!] - said the mother in a pleading voice, again touching her son’s hand, as if this touch could calm or excite him.
Boris fell silent and, without taking off his overcoat, looked questioningly at his mother.
“Darling,” Anna Mikhailovna said in a gentle voice, turning to the doorman, “I know that Count Kirill Vladimirovich is very ill... that’s why I came... I’m a relative... I won’t bother you, dear... But I just need to see Prince Vasily Sergeevich: because he is standing here. Report back, please.
The doorman sullenly pulled the string upward and turned away.
“Princess Drubetskaya to Prince Vasily Sergeevich,” he shouted to a waiter in stockings, shoes and a tailcoat who had run down from above and was peeking out from under the ledge of the stairs.
The mother smoothed out the folds of her dyed silk dress, looked into the solid Venetian mirror in the wall and walked briskly up the staircase carpet in her worn-out shoes.
“Mon cher, voue m"avez promis, [My friend, you promised me,” she turned again to the Son, exciting him with the touch of her hand.
The son, with lowered eyes, calmly followed her.
They entered the hall, from which one door led to the chambers allocated to Prince Vasily.
While the mother and son, going out into the middle of the room, intended to ask for directions from the old waiter who jumped up at their entrance, a bronze handle turned at one of the doors and Prince Vasily in a velvet fur coat, with one star, in a homely manner, came out, seeing off the handsome black-haired a man. This man was the famous St. Petersburg doctor Lorrain.
“C"est donc positif? [So, is this true?] - said the prince.
“Mon prince, “errare humanum est”, mais... [Prince, it is human nature to make mistakes.] - answered the doctor, rasping and pronouncing Latin words in a French accent.
– C"est bien, c"est bien... [Okay, okay...]
Noticing Anna Mikhailovna and her son, Prince Vasily released the doctor with a bow and silently, but with a questioning look, approached them. The son noticed how suddenly deep sorrow was expressed in his mother's eyes, and smiled slightly.
- Yes, in what sad circumstances did we have to see each other, Prince... Well, what about our dear patient? - she said, as if not noticing the cold, insulting gaze directed at her.
Prince Vasily looked questioningly, to the point of bewilderment, at her, then at Boris. Boris bowed politely. Prince Vasily, without answering the bow, turned to Anna Mikhailovna and answered her question with a movement of his head and lips, which meant the worst hope for the patient.
- Really? - Anna Mikhailovna exclaimed. - Oh, this is terrible! It’s scary to think... This is my son,” she added, pointing to Boris. “He himself wanted to thank you.”
Boris bowed politely again.
- Believe, prince, that a mother’s heart will never forget what you did for us.
“I’m glad that I could do something pleasant for you, my dear Anna Mikhailovna,” said Prince Vasily, straightening his frill and in his gesture and voice showing here, in Moscow, in front of the patronized Anna Mikhailovna, even greater importance than in St. Petersburg, at Annette’s evening Scherer.
“Try to serve well and be worthy,” he added, turning sternly to Boris. - I'm glad... Are you here on vacation? – he dictated in his dispassionate tone.
“I’m waiting for an order, your Excellency, to go to a new destination,” answered Boris, showing neither annoyance at the prince’s harsh tone, nor a desire to engage in conversation, but so calmly and respectfully that the prince looked at him intently.
- Do you live with your mother?
“I live with Countess Rostova,” said Boris, adding again: “Your Excellency.”
“This is the Ilya Rostov who married Nathalie Shinshina,” said Anna Mikhailovna.
“I know, I know,” said Prince Vasily in his monotonous voice. – Je n"ai jamais pu concevoir, comment Nathalieie s"est decidee a epouser cet ours mal – leche l Un personnage completement stupide et ridicule.Et joueur a ce qu"on dit. [I could never understand how Nathalie decided to come out marry this dirty bear. A completely stupid and funny person, and a player, they say.]
– Mais tres brave homme, mon prince, [But a kind person, Prince,” Anna Mikhailovna remarked, smiling touchingly, as if she knew that Count Rostov deserved such an opinion, but asked to have pity on the poor old man. – What do the doctors say? - asked the princess, after a short silence and again expressing great sadness on her tear-stained face.
“There is little hope,” said the prince.
“And I really wanted to thank my uncle again for all his good deeds to both me and Bora.” C"est son filleuil, [This is his godson," she added in such a tone, as if this news should have greatly pleased Prince Vasily.
Prince Vasily thought and winced. Anna Mikhailovna realized that he was afraid to find in her a rival in the will of Count Bezukhy. She hastened to reassure him.
“If it weren’t for my true love and devotion to my uncle,” she said, pronouncing this word with particular confidence and carelessness: “I know his character, noble, straightforward, but he has only the princesses with him... They are still young...” She bowed her head and she added in a whisper: “Did he fulfill his last duty, prince?” How precious are these last minutes! After all, it can’t be worse; it needs to be cooked if it is that bad. We women, Prince,” she smiled tenderly, “always know how to say these things.” It is necessary to see him. No matter how hard it was for me, I was already used to suffering.
The prince apparently understood, and understood, as he did at the evening at Annette Scherer’s, that it was difficult to get rid of Anna Mikhailovna.
“Wouldn’t this meeting be difficult for him, chere Anna Mikhailovna,” he said. - Let's wait until evening, the doctors promised a crisis.
“But you can’t wait, Prince, at these moments.” Pensez, il va du salut de son ame... Ah! c"est terrible, les devoirs d"un chretien... [Think, it’s about saving his soul! Oh! this is terrible, the duty of a Christian...]
A door opened from the inner rooms, and one of the count's nieces entered, with a gloomy and cold face and a strikingly disproportionate long waist to her legs.
Prince Vasily turned to her.
- Well, what is he?
- All the same. And as you wish, this noise... - said the princess, looking around Anna Mikhailovna as if she were a stranger.
“Ah, chere, je ne vous reconnaissais pas, [Ah, dear, I didn’t recognize you,” Anna Mikhailovna said with a happy smile, walking up to the count’s niece with a light amble. “Je viens d"arriver et je suis a vous pour vous aider a soigner mon oncle. J'imagine, combien vous avez souffert, [I came to help you follow your uncle. I can imagine how you suffered," she added, with participation rolling my eyes.
The princess did not answer anything, did not even smile, and immediately left. Anna Mikhailovna took off her gloves and, in the position she had won, sat down on a chair, inviting Prince Vasily to sit next to her.
- Boris! “- she said to her son and smiled, “I’ll go to the count, to my uncle, and you go to Pierre, mon ami, in the meantime, and don’t forget to give him the invitation from the Rostovs.” They call him to dinner. I think he won't go? - she turned to the prince.
“On the contrary,” said the prince, apparently out of sorts. – Je serais tres content si vous me debarrassez de ce jeune homme... [I would be very glad if you would save me from this young man…] Sitting here. The Count never asked about him.
He shrugged. The waiter led the young man down and up another staircase to Pyotr Kirillovich.

Pierre never had time to choose a career for himself in St. Petersburg and, indeed, was exiled to Moscow for rioting. The story told by Count Rostov was true. Pierre participated in tying up the policeman with the bear. He arrived a few days ago and stayed, as always, at his father's house. Although he assumed that his story was already known in Moscow, and that the ladies surrounding his father, who were always unkind to him, would take advantage of this opportunity to irritate the count, he still went after his father’s half on the day of his arrival. Entering the drawing room, the usual abode of the princesses, he greeted the ladies who were sitting at the embroidery frame and behind a book, which one of them was reading aloud. There were three of them. The eldest, clean, long-waisted, stern girl, the same one who came out to Anna Mikhailovna, was reading; the younger ones, both ruddy and pretty, differing from each other only in that one had a mole above her lip, which made her very beautiful, were sewing in a hoop. Pierre was greeted as if he were dead or plagued. The eldest princess interrupted her reading and silently looked at him with frightened eyes; the youngest, without a mole, assumed exactly the same expression; the smallest one, with a mole, of a cheerful and giggling character, bent over the embroidery frame to hide a smile, probably caused by the upcoming scene, the funnyness of which she foresaw. She pulled the hair down and bent down, as if she was sorting out the patterns and could hardly restrain herself from laughing.
“Bonjour, ma cousine,” said Pierre. – Vous ne me hesonnaissez pas? [Hello, cousin. Don't you recognize me?]
“I recognize you too well, too well.”
– How is the count’s health? Can I see him? – Pierre asked awkwardly, as always, but not embarrassed.
– The Count is suffering both physically and morally, and it seems that you took care to cause him more moral suffering.
-Can I see the count? - Pierre repeated.
- Hm!.. If you want to kill him, completely kill him, then you can see. Olga, go and see if the broth is ready for uncle, it’s time soon,” she added, showing Pierre that they were busy and busy calming his father down, while he was obviously busy only upsetting him.
Olga left. Pierre stood, looked at the sisters and, bowing, said:
- So I’ll go to my place. When it is possible, you tell me.
He went out, and the ringing but quiet laughter of the sister with the mole was heard behind him.
The next day, Prince Vasily arrived and settled in the count's house. He called Pierre to him and told him:
– Mon cher, si vous vous conduisez ici, comme a Petersbourg, vous finirez tres mal; c"est tout ce que je vous dis. [My dear, if you behave here as in St. Petersburg, you will end very badly; I have nothing more to tell you.] The Count is very, very sick: you don’t need to see him at all.
Since then, Pierre was not disturbed, and he spent the whole day alone upstairs in his room.
While Boris entered his room, Pierre was walking around his room, occasionally stopping in the corners, making threatening gestures towards the wall, as if piercing an invisible enemy with a sword, and looking sternly over his glasses and then starting his walk again, uttering unclear words, shaking shoulders and arms outstretched.
- L "Angleterre a vecu, [England is finished," he said, frowning and pointing his finger at someone. - M. Pitt comme traitre a la nation et au droit des gens est condamiene a... [Pitt, as a traitor to the nation and people rightly, he is sentenced to ...] - He did not have time to finish his sentence on Pitt, imagining himself at that moment as Napoleon himself and, together with his hero, having already made a dangerous crossing through the Pas de Calais and conquered London - when he saw a young, slender and handsome officer entering him He stopped. Pierre left Boris as a fourteen-year-old boy and definitely did not remember him; but, despite this, in his characteristic quick and welcoming manner, he took him by the hand and smiled friendly.
- Do you remember me? – Boris said calmly, with a pleasant smile. “I came with my mother to the count, but he seems to be not entirely healthy.
- Yes, he seems unwell. “Everyone worries him,” Pierre answered, trying to remember who this young man was.
Boris felt that Pierre did not recognize him, but did not consider it necessary to identify himself and, without experiencing the slightest embarrassment, looked him straight in the eyes.
“Count Rostov asked you to come to dinner with him today,” he said after a rather long and awkward silence for Pierre.
- A! Count Rostov! – Pierre spoke joyfully. - So you are his son, Ilya. As you can imagine, I didn’t recognize you at first. Remember how we went to Vorobyovy Gory with m me Jacquot... [Madame Jacquot...] a long time ago.
“You’re mistaken,” Boris said slowly, with a bold and somewhat mocking smile. – I am Boris, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. Rostov’s father’s name is Ilya, and his son’s name is Nikolai. And I didn’t know any m me Jacquot.
Pierre waved his arms and head as if mosquitoes or bees were attacking him.

Indeed, this mystical and gothic tragedy found crowds of fans around the world, and the names of the heroes became household names. In Russia, Nikolai Kholodkovsky and other representatives of the literary diaspora were involved in translating the work about the warlock, which took about 60 years to create.

In addition, the tragedy "Faust" was a favorite book, which borrowed a non-trivial plot to create "The Master and Margarita". Although the author " Heart of a Dog” and used to say that there are no prototypes, researchers agree that Satan is incredibly similar to “part of that force that always wants evil and always does good” -.

History of creation

The great German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe worked on his brainchild “Faust” almost all his life, so readers can trace the change in the poet’s worldview under the yoke of the era, which begins in his work with “Storm and Drang” and ends with romanticism.

This work, which brought Goethe laurels of honor, was conceived by the author at the age of 22-23, and he finished it just before his death. Of course, the writer has other worthy works that made up his literary heritage, but it was “Faust” that became the pinnacle of German poetry.

The master of words was inspired by ancient folklore; According to legend, Faust had a prototype who lived in the first half of the 16th century. The real Johann Georg Faust is a semi-legendary wandering doctor and warlock, whose biography has become a burning topic for literary works.

Therefore, Goethe is not an innovator at all, because the work entitled “The Stories of Doctor Johann Faust, the Famous Sorcerer and Warlock” was published back in 1587. In addition, Jacob Michael Lenz, Friedrich Maximilian Klinger and other writers relied on the image of the charlatan, and theater workers often used this hero for pantomimes and puppet shows.

According to legend, young Faust received a bachelor's degree in theology, and then began to study “practical magic” at the University of Krakow. After Johann comprehended the “basics of science,” he set off to wander the world, where, in front of the eyes of a shocked public, he pretended to be a magician and said that he was able to perform miracles, as well as restore from the depths of his own subconscious the works of ancient philosophers, or.

It is quite natural that the authorities did not like the adventures of Johann, who instilled all kinds of nonsense in passers-by. Therefore, Faust was soon expelled from Ingolstadt, and then higher authorities, the heads of Nuremberg, forbade the “great sodomite and necromancer Doctor Faust” to enter the city. Goethe could not help but be inspired by such a colorful character, but literary pages named the main character Henry, and not the name of his namesake.

In the period from 1774 to 1775, Goethe wrote the work “Prafaust”, presenting the main character to readers as an obstinate rebel who wants to comprehend the secrets of the universe. In 1790 the regulars bookstores saw an excerpt from Faust, and the first part was published only in 1808. The first part of the tragedy is distinguished by its fragmentary and self-sufficient scenes, while the composition of the second is a single whole.

Goethe began the second part of the tragedy 17 years later. It is worth saying that it is difficult for an unprepared reader to understand, for Goethe immerses literature lovers not only in an extravagant plot, but also in philosophical reflections, mystical associations and unsolved mysteries. The poet shows the “spectators” the life of his contemporary society. Thus, the owner of the book feels an inextricable connection between the present and the past.

The “Helena” episode, which was conceived back in 1799, was completed by the poet in 1826, and four years later Goethe sat down to write “The Classical Walpurgis Night”. In the mid-summer of 1831, shortly before his own death, the writer completed his seminal work. Next, the unsurpassed genius sealed the creation in an envelope and bequeathed it to be published only after his death: the second part of Faust was published in 1832, in the 41st volume of the Collected Works.

Image and plot

The biography of the fictional Faust is shrouded in an aura of mystery. It is known that his whole life is a tireless quest. The protagonist's father was a doctor, who instilled in his son a boundless love of science.

Despite the subtleties of healing, Faust's parent could not save all the patients. During the plague epidemic, thousands of patients died every day. Then Faust turned to heaven with a prayer that God would stop the flow of deaths. But since the young man did not receive help, he rejected religion and began to immerse himself in science. If you look at Faust's workroom, you can see a lamp, glass flasks, test tubes, books and chemicals.

The author introduces readers to Faust on the first pages of the work. Goethe immediately immerses readers in philosophy, in a debate about the values ​​of humanity and considers the problems of “heaven, earth and hell.” In the first scene, the archangels, Mephistopheles and God appear before the eyes of the bookworms. A dialogue arises between representatives of different authorities of good and evil, in which the name of Faust was mentioned for the first time.

The ruler of heaven assures the tempter that the doctor is a faithful slave, and Mephistopheles notices the contradictory nature of the hero, giving him the following description:

“And he is eager to fight, and loves to take on obstacles, and sees a goal beckoning in the distance, and demands stars from the sky as a reward and the best pleasures from the earth.”

Then God gave Mephistopheles the opportunity to tempt Faust, believing that the young man’s instincts would lead him out of any dead end. It is noteworthy that the tempter meets the doctor when he has already passed his difficult life path.

The evil spirit appeared to Faust when he was thinking about suicide, because he was disappointed in his efforts. It should be noted that Mephistopheles, like Woland, is not at all like the devil from naive folk legends. For example, in the work “The Night Before Christmas” the owner of horns and hooves does not shine with intelligence, while the ruler of hell is devilishly smart and does not seem to readers to be an exceptional embodiment of evil.

Mephistopheles, who wants to emerge victorious from the bet, pushes Faust to do bad things, but unexpectedly, the main character, in “moments of testing,” reveals positive sides. The first thing the debater suggests to his new acquaintance is to go to a local tavern for a feast of students. The devil hopes that Faust will spend his time idly in the company of strong drinks and forget about his research, but it is not so easy to break Faust, because this hero does not accept the society of alcohol lovers.

Then, with the help of witchcraft, the devil returns Faust's youth in the hope that main character will succumb to romantic feelings. Indeed, the doctor falls in love with the beautiful Margarita, but here too Mephistopheles was defeated, because this scientist’s passion is then replaced by true love.

Film adaptations

The tragedy of the struggle between good and evil has become a favorite theme for directors, so avid film fans have seen more than one film adaptation of the famous “Faust”. We list the most popular of them.

"Faust" (1926)

German film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau was inspired by the German legend and presented the public with a silent film of the same name. The plot of the film is not much different from the immortal original: Archangel Michael and Satan, who boasts that he can seduce any mortal on earth, make a bet, the subject of which is the famous alchemist Faust.

It is noteworthy that the filmmaker was based not only on the work of Goethe, but also on the work of another writer, the English poet Christopher Marlowe. The main roles went to actors Göst Ekman Sr. (Faust) and Emil Jannings (Mephistopheles).

"The Beauty of the Devil" (1950)

Frenchman Rene Clair made a film based on Goethe's tragedy, seasoning the original plot with a free interpretation. The picture tells how the cunning Mephistopheles offers Professor Faustus to gain youth and beauty, and he agrees without hesitation. Now Mephistopheles' main goal is to quickly get the soul of his patient.

The brilliant cast included Michel Simon, Gerard Philip, Paolo Stoppa, Gaston Modot and others.

"Faust" (2011)

The Russian director also kept up with the trends and amazed cinema lovers with his vision of “Faust”, and the creator of the film received the Golden Lion award for his creation at the 68th Venice Film Festival.

The plot revolves around the first part poetic work and the audience enjoys love line between Faust and Margarita. Alexander Sokurov allowed such actors as Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinsky, Isolde Duhauk and Hanna Schygulla to try on memorable characters.

• In 2014, the series “The Alchemist” started on television. Elixir of Faust”, where the main roles went to, and. Despite the intriguing title, the serial film only has references to Goethe's work, because the film tells the story of a secret community of alchemists who strive to know the truth.
• Goethe placed an etching on the cover of the book entitled “The Alchemist in His Study.” But in the 18th century the name of the engraving was changed to "Faust".

• French composer Charles Gounod composed the opera Faust, and the libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré.
• The tragedy presents two types of scientists: Faust, who strives to know the truth based on his own life experience, and his antipode Wagner - a bookworm, confident that the essence of life and the secrets of nature can only be revealed by the scientific works of his predecessors.

Quotes

“Manage yourself, make a decision,
Even at the cost of destruction."

“What is known is of no use,
One unknown is needed.”

“But again lack of will and decline,
And lethargy in thoughts, and confusion.
How often does this mess
Enlightenment is coming!

“Let them alternate throughout the entire century
Happy rock and unhappy rock.
In tirelessness all the time
A person finds himself."

“Learn to achieve success honestly
And attract thanks to the mind.
And the trinkets, booming like an echo,
It’s a fake and no one needs it.”

Look at the death of Faust, everyone!
May his fate turn away the wise
From the reserved realm of knowledge,
Whose depth are brave minds
It will lead you into temptation - to do deeds of darkness.
Christopher Marlowe "The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus"

The story of a scientist who sold his soul to the devil and was destroyed by him is known to us thanks to Goethe. In his interpretation, Faust - real man Renaissance, a powerful mind, obsessed with knowledge and dreaming of serving humanity. In other versions of this story, the famous doctor is just a run-of-the-mill charlatan or a poor lost soul. If only the real-life prototype of Faust knew that his fate would become a symbol...

The story of Faust is one of the most popular urban legends in Europe. And, like all urban legends, it has “confirmations” in reality. On one of the houses in the German city of Wittenberg hangs a sign with the inscription: “Johann Faust (c. 1480 - c. 1540), astrologer, alchemist, lived here between 1525 and 1532.” His name appears in the lists of students at the University of Heidelberg for 1509, as well as in the lists presented for the degree of bachelor of theology. It was as if nothing extra was even added to the biography of this medieval scientist.

Except for the pact with the devil.

Adventurer and Warlock

The real Johann Georg Faust was born around 1480 (modern researchers also call 1466) in the tiny German town of Knitlingen (principality of Württemberg). Although researchers differ on this point: sometimes the towns of Simmern, Kundling, as well as Helmstadt near Heidelberg or Roda are considered his place of birth. He apparently came from a wealthy family, although who his parents were is unknown. Young Johann obviously had enough money and time to get a good education - mostly on his own. According to another version, he studied magic in Krakow, where in those days it was possible to do this completely freely. In any case, he was always interested in the occult sciences.

A learned monk who studied the works of Arab mathematicians and astronomers in Barcelona, ​​which maintained ties with the Cordoba Caliphate. He was one of the first Europeans to become acquainted with Arabic numerals and actively promoted them in scientific circles. He restored and improved the abacus (counting board), studied the structure of the celestial sphere, and developed the design of the astrolabe. Teacher of the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto II. Thanks to the latter's patronage, he made a career that culminated in his election as Pope in 999.

There were rumors that Gilbert studied Arab works not only on mathematics, but also on magic and astrology, and also communicated with the devil himself, who allegedly helped him take the papal chair after the scientist beat him at dice. According to the same information, he was predicted that the devil would seize him when he was in Jerusalem - and he tore him to pieces while the Pope was reading mass in the Church of St. Mary of Jerusalem. However, there was someone to support these rumors, because Gilbert had many enemies: among the clergy he became famous not only for his learning, but also for his active fight against simony (the sale of church positions) and concubinage (the custom of clergy keeping mistresses, contrary to celibacy).

The young man’s thirst for knowledge turned out to be considerably spoiled by his vanity. At the age of 25, he awarded himself the title of master, or more precisely, a whole magnificent title: “Master George Sabellicus Faustus the Younger, fount of necromancy, astrologer, successful magician, palmist, aeromancer, pyromancer and outstanding hydromancer.” In those days, to obtain the title of master, it was necessary to comprehend university knowledge before the age of twelve; this academic degree was the equivalent of a doctor of science. Our young warlock wanted everything at once.

Johann Faust traveled extensively throughout Germany, calling himself “the philosopher of philosophers” and praising his supernatural memory - supposedly all the works of Plato and Aristotle are contained there. He made a very good living by drawing up horoscopes and demonstrating various tricks at fairs. Faust is first mentioned in the city records of Gelnhausen, where in 1506 he appears with “magic” tricks. He was engaged in alchemy, fortune-telling, and treatment according to healer’s recipes. Despite the fact that, judging by historical sources, he was unable to accomplish anything outstanding, Johann acquired high-ranking patrons - these were the knight Franz von Sickingen and the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg.

In 1507, on the recommendation of the knight von Sickingen, Faust received a position as a school teacher in the city of Kreuznach (now Bad Kreuznach), but was soon asked to leave his post. Not because he continued to study witchcraft, but for pedophilia. In the same year, the name of the sorcerer is mentioned in an indignant letter from the abbot of the Spongheim monastery, a very famous scientist Johann Trithemius, to the court astrologer and mathematician of the Elector of the Palatinate Johann Firdung: “The man about whom you are writing to me... who has the audacity to call himself the head of the necromancers is a vagabond , an empty talker and a swindler."

It is strange that such an obvious adventurer still considered it necessary to receive an academic education and enter the University of Heidelberg, where he was not the last student. Unless, of course, the Johann Faust mentioned in the lists is the one who interests us.

Evidence of the appearance of Johann Faust in various German cities is quite numerous. In 1513, the prominent German humanist scientist Conrad Mutian Rufus met with him in one of the taverns in Erfurt. In 1520, Faust drew up a horoscope for the bishop of the city of Bamberg, for which he received a good sum of 10 guilders. It is known that he tried to teach at several universities, but did not stay anywhere for long - either at his own request, or because of the hostility of his colleagues. However, the thirst for knowledge still played a role, providing Faust with a good reputation by the end of his life as a capable and energetic scientist. At the end of the 1530s, colleagues already spoke of him with respect, especially noting his knowledge of astrology and medicine. But after 1539 his trace is lost.

According to the version that people in Germany like to tell tourists, Faust died in 1540 in one of the hotels in Württemberg. Allegedly, on this day a storm broke out in a clear sky: furniture fell in the hotel, invisible steps rumbled, doors and shutters slammed, blue flames burst out of the chimney... In the morning, when all this Armageddon ended, his disfigured body was found in Faust’s room. According to the townspeople, it was the devil himself who came to take the soul of the warlock, with whom he entered into an agreement 24 years ago. Modern researchers prefer to explain the death of the scientist as an explosion during an alchemical experiment.

There is a hypothesis that there were actually two Fausts: one of them, Georg, was active from 1505 to 1515, and the other, Johann, in the 1530s. This could explain the contradictions in the scientist’s biography and numerous inconsistencies regarding his origin and education. According to other versions, the prototypes of Faust could be Pope Sylvester II, Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon and Johannes Trithemius.

Life after death

Legends that the famous astrologer and alchemist sold his soul to the devil began to take shape during the lifetime of the historical Johann Faust. Why did they start talking about him? It is very likely that the savvy magician was actually a PR genius: he could not only support legends about himself, but also compose them himself, and also have a good “agent network” throughout Germany and adjacent regions. And the fact that among these stories there were some that did not fit into any gates - Goebbels also said that the more monstrous the lie, the easier it is for people to believe in it.

A Dominican monk, he taught at a Dominican school in Cologne (among his students was Thomas Aquinas). He composed commentaries on all works of Aristotle known at that time. In addition to theology, he was interested in the natural sciences, and created several large-scale works systematizing all the knowledge collected at that time in zoology, botany, mineralogy, and astronomy. He was engaged in alchemical experiments, and for the first time managed to obtain arsenic in its pure form. Invented logarithms. For his encyclopedic knowledge he received the respectful nickname Doctor Universalis (Comprehensive Doctor). In the twentieth century, he was canonized by the Catholic Church and proclaimed the patron saint of scientists.

Like all alchemists, Albertus Magnus was also considered a magician. He was credited with the authorship of several occult works, which, however, is now considered dubious. But the authorship of the “Small Alchemical Code” - a kind of Bible of alchemists - is undeniable. According to legend, he managed to create an artificial man - a homunculus.

The degree of veracity of such legends can be judged at least by the most famous ones. So, they said that he was accompanied everywhere by a black poodle who could turn into a person - supposedly it was the demon Mephistopheles himself. It was also believed that the German emperor owed his victories in Italy solely to the magical art of Faust, and not to the tactical skills of his commanders. And in Venice and Paris, at the court of King Francis I, Faust allegedly even tried to ascend into the air. True, to no avail.

The stories themselves about the pact with the devil have been known for a long time. One of its first interpretations is the early Christian “The Tale of Eladius, who sold his soul to the devil,” from which the Russian “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn” of the 17th century grew. Our domestic hero chose to do it with the help of a demon military career, not scientific, and his history happy ending: God forgives the repentant sinner.

Less than half a century had passed since the supposed death of Johann Faust, when he became a character in the popular “The Story of Doctor Faustus, the Famous Wizard and Warlock” (“People's Book”), published in 1587 in Germany. In it, the hero is credited with legends that told about a variety of famous warlocks: from the legendary Simon Magus, who competed in miracles with the Apostle Paul himself, to Albertus Magnus and Cornelius Agrippa.

The popularity of the story of Faust is connected not only with its fascination, but also with the fact that in it the people of the Renaissance found confirmation of their fear of progress: science in those days developed rapidly, through trial and error, and ordinary people simply did not have time to realize the changes, preferring shy away from everything they couldn’t understand. Aren't these strange people, scientists, too insolent, trying to penetrate the secrets of nature, is this desire from God or from the devil? The nameless author of “The Story of Doctor Faustus” is convinced that the hero was destroyed not by the desire for knowledge as such, but by pride, the desire to become like God, having learned all the secrets of heaven and earth, and unscrupulousness in means - instead of painstakingly working independently, as instructed Christian morality, the scientist resorted to the help of the enemy of the human race. For this, the hero is severely punished: in the finale, demons drag him to hell.

“The Story of Doctor Faustus” traveled with great success throughout Europe, captured by approximately the same sentiments. It is possible that the Russian author of “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn” also read it. It was retold in French by the historian and theologian Pierre Kaye, as befits a theologian, who decisively condemned Faust for atheism and witchcraft. It was Kaye who introduced the ancient beauty Helen into history, whose shadow our doctor calls up as a visual aid during a lecture on Homer and falls in love with her.

The legendary warlock also came to court in England, the homeland of the famous “learned magicians” Roger Bacon and John Dee. Christopher Marlowe (the same one who is credited with the authorship of all or some of Shakespeare's plays) wrote the play “The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus” (1604) using the same material. He condemns the hero and at the same time admires him: the talented and enthusiastic Faust is a real man of the Renaissance, who paid for the “appropriation of the powers” ​​of God. His story is reminiscent of the fate of the ancient god-fighter Prometheus.

By the way, it was Marlowe who was the first to call the demon with whom Faust communicated Mephistopheles.

Most of all, the legend of Faust was popular, of course, in its homeland. German authors, as befits respectable burghers, more often gave the hero the features of a moral outrager, punished for the sin of witchcraft, than of a Renaissance titan. The exception was the writers of the pre-romantic period of “Storm and Drang” (1767-1785), fascinated by Faust’s rebellion.

Among the authors of Sturm und Drang was Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who essentially created the canon of the legend - the grandiose tragedy Faust, which he wrote almost his entire life, from 1774 to 1831. The writer built an almost universal text, managing through Faust's quest to show not only the fate of a man of science, but also - more broadly - man in general, with his doubts, fears, weaknesses - and true greatness.

Doctor of Philosophy, natural scientist. He was educated at Oxford and Paris universities. He studied optics, astrology, and alchemy, largely contributing to the transformation of the latter into chemistry. He anticipated many discoveries of the future (gunpowder, telephone, aircraft, cars), and developed a project for a utopian state under the control of an elected parliament. For his scientific achievements he received the nickname Doctor Mirabilis (The Amazing Doctor).

Due to disagreements with the scholastics, Bacon was proclaimed a warlock. This fame greatly spoiled his life: for example, he was excommunicated from teaching at Oxford University and placed under the supervision of Franciscan monks, whom Bacon was forced to join in order to whitewash himself. However, he did not stop pursuing science, nor did he stop attacking the clergy, for which he was accused of heresy and imprisoned for more than 20 years.

In fact, Goethe retells the legend of Faust in the form in which it was known in folklore only in the first part of the poem. The second part is Faust's travels in space and time, from ancient Sparta to Mount Brocken in Germany, where the witches' Sabbaths took place on Walpurgis Night. The space of the poem grows in breadth and depth, from Heaven to Hell, more and more new people appear on the stage characters- in a word, Goethe paints an incredibly diverse world that a person has to learn and transform throughout his life, without stopping there for a second. That is why the soul of Faust must go to the devil when the scientist wants to stop the moment.

But Goethe changes the ending of the legend: at the last moment Faust is carried to heaven by angels. His soul is saved thanks to the mercy of God, who forgives other sins, and the prayers of Gretchen, who was destroyed by Faust. This is a demonstration of the author’s position: a person’s desire to become equal to God is not a manifestation of pride, but a natural desire, because he was created in his image and likeness.

Faust after Goethe

Doctor Faustus, in Goethe's interpretation, came to the court of writers of the Romantic era. Their favorite hero was a rebel, a frantic freedom fighter, who knows no sleep or peace, who doubts and is always dissatisfied with something - with himself, with others, with the world, with God. The romantic revolutionary differs from the “model of a person who is completely dissatisfied” by Dr. Vibegallo with a huge supply of vital energy, gigantic charisma and an unshakable conviction that freedom, including freedom of knowledge, is an inalienable human right. The fact that this right, as they say, “has nuances,” became clear to humanity much later.

However, the romantics knew how to deal with eternal plots in an unconventional way; their “fan fiction” is quite worthy of existing next to the “canon” (if Goethe’s poem is considered such). Christian Dietrich Grabbe in the drama “Don Juan and Faust” (1829) brings together a scientist and a ladies' man: they are united by love for the same woman, and this is no coincidence - after all, both of them spent their entire lives in eternal searches, and what exactly to look for - for romantics it doesn’t matter, the main thing is the process. Well, Heinrich Heine, in his “dancing poem” Doctor Faustus (1851), generally turns the pretentious “titan of the Renaissance” into an operetta hero who abandons all high impulses in the name of burgher family values. In fact, this is the first parody of the plot of the legend.

In European culture, Faust, like a jack-in-the-box, pops up whenever the topic of technological progress and all the phobias associated with it becomes a hot topic. Therefore, a new wave of interest in the story of the unfortunate (or happy, depending on how you look at it) doctor arose at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, in the “steampunk” era of modernity. Faust and Mephistopheles appear in Valery Bryusov’s mystical novel “The Fiery Angel” (1908) - however, only as episodic characters, the “tester of the elements” Doctor Faust and his companion the monk Mephistopheles. In the play “Faust and the City” (1908) by Anatoly Lunacharsky (who was not only the People’s Commissar of Education, but also a writer), the hero naturally becomes not only a conqueror of nature, but also a revolutionary, welcoming a revolution in his happy country by the sea. Thomas Mann, in his novel Doctor Faustus (1947), tells the story of the gifted musician Adrian Leverkühn, who suffers from syphilis, and one day the devil appears to him in a vision and announces that his illness symbolizes a deal with the forces of evil. It is difficult to understand whether this deal is real - or whether the hero simply sees her in delirium. However, all the predictions of the Prince of Darkness come true: Leverkün brings misfortune to everyone he dares to love.

It is Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust” (the same one from which Mephistopheles’ famous aria “Men die for metal” comes from) that is staged at the Paris Opera in Gaston Leroux’s novel “The Phantom of the Opera”. The features of Faust can be discerned in the hero of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray: Dorian, like the medieval scientist, is seduced eternal youth in exchange for a soul. Close relatives of Faust include Byron’s Manfred and even Doctor Frankenstein: with the former, our scientist is united by the “spirit of denial, the spirit of doubt,” with the latter by the desire to know the laws of life itself and the awareness of the danger of this very knowledge. In addition, Goethe's Faust creates a homunculus - an artificial man, just as Victor Frankenstein creates his monster.

Science fiction writers also remember the famous doctor, who has turned into a symbol, both appropriately and inappropriately. In Philip K. Dick’s “The Restorer of the Galaxy” (aka “The Potter’s Wheel of the Sky”) the alien Glimmung, who intends to raise the temple of Mare Nostrum from the bottom of the demonic sea, is constantly compared to Faust ancient civilization. Clive Barker, in his debut novel The Cursed Game, writes the story of a modern Faust: the main character, boxer Marty Strauss, released from prison, becomes a bodyguard for the millionaire Mammolian, who once owed something to a powerful being, either a man or a demon... In fact, Barker's story is about how “everyone is his own Mephistopheles,” carrying a personal hell in his soul.

Science fiction writers are very fond of the ancient plot of a deal with the devil - for such a story you can find a lot of witty solutions: how can you outwit the “father of lies”, for example? Actually, Faust is not very popular in such stories, except perhaps in the form of a parody. The novel by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley “If You're Unlucky with Faust” (aka “If You're Not Succeeding as Faust”), the second part of the “Red Demon Trilogy,” begins, like Goethe's poem: with an announcement of the competition between the forces of Light and Darkness for the soul of a mortal. True, this mortal turns out to be not the reflective Faust, but a bandit named Mac Bludgeon - this is where it all begins. And Terry Pratchett (well, how could we live without him!) in the book “Eric and the Night Watch, the Witches and Cohen the Barbarian” describes the misadventures of the novice magician Eric, who, instead of a demon, accidentally summoned poor fellow Rincewind from another world.

Michael Swanwick based on Goethe's story created a large-scale alternative history, Jack/Faust. According to his version, Mephistopheles was a powerful alien from a parallel dimension who endowed Faust with all possible technical knowledge in exchange for the promise that he would destroy humanity with the help of this knowledge. As a result, unprecedented technological progress hits Europe: electricity, railways, antibiotics - and more and more new types of weapons.

Filmmakers also did not pass by the famous legend. In particular, Goethe's poem was filmed as a silent film in 1926 by German director Friedrich Murnau, creator of Nosferatu - a Symphony of Terror. Of the films that are not film adaptations, one cannot fail to note the wonderful mystical detective story “Angel Heart”, in which Robert De Niro’s hero, Louis Cypher, also responds to the name “Mephistopheles”, like the devil in the comic book and film “Ghost Rider”. A variation on the theme of Faust - and the story of the protagonist of Terry Gilliam's painting "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", to whom the devil granted immortality and eternal youth in exchange for the soul of his daughter. Jan Svankmajer's film "The Lesson of Faust" is a poetic philosophical parable about our contemporary who became a famous doctor, getting used to his role with the help of magical puppet theater. Like the best examples of “devilish” stories, this one is about how hell is very close to us, and the progress of humanity is not good if it leads us into the world of illusory, puppet values. Well, what about such a popular topic without film trash? It was directed by the famous nightmare creator Brian Yuzna, called "Faust - Prince of Darkness." Here Faust, who sold his soul to the devil, is resurrected after death and becomes a maniac killer, an avenger like the well-known Raven from the film of the same name.

In the anime Shaman King there is a character named Faust VII - a relative of the famous alchemist, and a necromancer magician himself. Doctor Faustus also appears in the Guilty Gear series of games - however, he did not sell his soul to the devil, but “only” went crazy when a little patient died under his scalpel.

A native of Cologne, he received an excellent education at the University of Paris. After graduation, he traveled throughout Europe, giving lectures on theology in different places, but never staying anywhere for long, also because he regularly infuriated the clergy with his caustic satires. Agrippa fought with the church not only in word, but also in deed: he once saved an old woman, declared a witch, from the fire, entering into a theological dispute with the judges and winning. However, he understood not only theology, but also jurisprudence, medicine, as well as alchemy and the occult.

An atheist means he sold his soul to the devil; for medieval clergy this logic was ironclad. Therefore, they said that Agrippa mastered the secret of turning any substance into gold, but it was the devil’s gold: supposedly the coins with which he paid in taverns turned into manure after his departure. It was also as if he knew how to be in different places at the same time and communicate with the dead, and the books he wrote had a soul and could subjugate the will of their owner.

Who was Faust - the first of the swindlers, a successful hoaxer, a reckless adventurer, a talented armchair scientist? Judging by historical chronicles, the latter is the least likely. What we can say for sure is that Faust has long become a symbol. A symbol of the greedy search for knowledge, a symbol of the desire to put Reason and Progress above all else. A symbol of our civilization, in a word. You can gasp in horror that the alpha and omega of our world order has become a man who made a deal with the devil; You can sigh with admiration: an ordinary person who dared to take such a shot! Obviously, the age of Faust gave us a lot of good - and a lot of bad. It is equally obvious that it will end someday. But it’s unlikely in our lifetime.