Faust: My Soul be Damned
for the World
 

 
Volume I — From the Historical Faust 
to the Age of Enlightenment

You may know Faust as the legendary scholar who sold his soul to the Devil—but behind the legend stood a real and deeply controversial figure.

Volume I of Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World traces the tradition from the historical Dr. Faustus through the earliest Faust books, folk tales, Christopher Marlowe’s drama, the puppet theatre, and Lessing’s unfinished reinterpretation.

It is the story of how a notorious sixteenth-century occultist became one of Western literature’s most enduring symbols of forbidden knowledge, ambition, temptation, and damnation.



Inside Volume I

 
The Man Behind the Legend
 


The opening study reconstructs the life and times of the historical Dr. Faustus: 
his education, reputation, encounters with admirers and enemies, uncanny astrological predictions, conflicts with the authorities, and mysterious death.
 
 
The First Faust Books and Folk Tradition 

The earliest Faust books and popular legends transformed the historical figure into a religious warning against forbidden knowledge and the black arts. This study also considers how Faustian texts reflected the theological and scientific controversies of the Reformation.

 

Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus 

A detailed examination of Christopher Marlowe’s famous drama explores its religious and political tensions, the playwright’s controversial beliefs, and the enduring questions surrounding its A and B texts.

 

From the Puppet Theatre to Lessing

The final portion follows Faust onto the popular puppet stage and into Lessing’s unfinished drama, where the pursuit of knowledge began to promise enlightenment rather than inevitable damnation—preparing the way for Goethe’s monumental interpretation. 

 


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Read Reviews of Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World Vol. 1


 


Book Details

Batalha Publishers, August 4, 2010 

First Hardback Edition 

ISBN ‎ 978-9899684409

522 pages

 

Where to Order 


Amazon:  USA  * UK * Canada * Ireland 

* Germany * Australia * Spain * Italy * Japan

 

Other Bookstores:  Barnes & Noble * Books-a-Million * Waterstones

 *  Foyles   * McNally Robinson

 

The hardback may also be ordered through local and independent bookshops using the ISBN above.

 



The Legend Continues with Goethe

 

Volume II follows the transformation of the Faust legend through Goethe’s monumental drama and its continuing influence upon literature, theatre, music, art, and cultural history.

 

Continue to Volume II — Goethe’s Faust and Its Legacy


 

 Return to the Library of E.A. Bucchianeri