Here are reviews received for "Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World, Vol 2.
(Of course, it is also combined with their review of Vol I.)
Reviews also include those from academic journals.
I believe in sharing the good, the bad and the ugly, as the reader should see all, so all reviews I find are here!
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*****
Reviews Received:
Reviewed by
Michael Feld - Five Stars
Faust: My Soul Be
Damned For The World, Volume II by E.A. Bucchianeri continues the same
exacting historical research and investigation into both the life of
Goethe and his finest work, Faust that began in Volume I.
As amply
displayed in Volume I, Bucchianeri masterfully recounts significant
historical, political, religious, and economic events that shaped
Goethe’s intellectual and artistic development through the late 18th
and early 19th centuries. Bucchianeri leads the reader into Goethe’s
remarkable life. From an unfulfilling legal practice, to a duty bound
series of political and artistic appointments to the Duchy of Weimar,
the reader will understand how Goethe’s long and varied career
defined much of the development of Faust. Of particular interest to
the reader will be Bucchianeri’s exceptionally detailed and
fascinating information on major factors such as Alchemy and
Freemasonry and their influence on Goethe and subsequently all his
literary works.
Faust: My Soul Be
Damned For The World, Volume II begins with Goethe’s early life,
dominated by a stern and demanding father. His father, who desires his
son become a lawyer, stymies young Goethe’s poetic and literary
inclinations. Bucchianeri then chronicles Goethe’s university years.
As a student, and indeed throughout his long life, Goethe is obsessed
with learning and is drawn to many differing disciplines. Goethe’s
love of knowledge, and the price paid for its acquisition is clearly
mirrored in the character of Faust.
As is the case
with Volume I, Faust: My Soul Be Damned For The World, Volume II is
not an easy read but the effort will be well rewarded. The reader will
understand how the historical context of his day profoundly affects
the work of an artist. Within the pages of Goethe’s Faust,
Bucchianeri will enable the reader to gain a deeper understanding not
only of the literary and aesthetic value of the work, but a clearer
insight to a remarkable stage in western European history.
Quill says: Here
indeed, is an author capable of fusing aesthetic and literary analysis
with a solid recount of history.
Reviewed by Jeff Farrows, Ed
(April 26, 2010)
When I received
Vol. 1 of E. A. Bucchianeri's FAUST, I was completely intimidated, as
reflected in my review of it. It was obviously a high level academic
& extensive treatment of the subject & frankly my time is very
limited these days. Well anyway, I agreed to read it, and by god I was
going to read it. It took 6 weeks. All I could find to criticize about
Vol. 1 was the fact that it didn't have a subject index. Such an index
would be invaluable to people like me who research & cross
reference a variety of subjects. Be that as it may, I found the
material fascinating.
The same precision to detail & skill of presentation applies to Vol. 2--and it zeros in on subjects that I & Parallel Perspectives I-mag readers are most interested in; that is, Gnosis, Freemasonry, Knights Templar, Illuminati & Secret Societies, Allegorical Numerology, legendary occult persons like the sinister character known as Cagliostro, sacred geometery, and perhaps most importantly, The Great Work. What I find fascinating about Bucchianeri's tome is that it is a Magnus Opus about another Magnus Opus (Goethe's FAUST) about The Great Work (Faust's.)
I've made attempts to explain what The Great Work is in previous reviews (see product insert links below.) Briefly, The Great Work represents a metaphysical process in which the individual (Microcosm) unites with Divinity (Macrocosm.) Most people know this as Magnus Opus, usually as applied to a secular discipline such as writing, music, art & other subjects of deep value. The character Faust's version of The Great Work is strictly materialistic & downright evil--but The Great Work nonetheless (see The Ninth Gate below.)
Another aspect I appreciated in FAUST is the character study of Goethe. In school I got a smattering of knowledge regarding the great man, but nothing on a level like this. Not only was he obviously an artistic genius, but his life was as well rounded & fulfilled as it could be. He was not an isolated genius, but one who valued and cultivated positive relationships. He served government & society and was a highly esteemed associate. In so many ways Goethe was a lightening rod of his times & a true visionary.
The same precision to detail & skill of presentation applies to Vol. 2--and it zeros in on subjects that I & Parallel Perspectives I-mag readers are most interested in; that is, Gnosis, Freemasonry, Knights Templar, Illuminati & Secret Societies, Allegorical Numerology, legendary occult persons like the sinister character known as Cagliostro, sacred geometery, and perhaps most importantly, The Great Work. What I find fascinating about Bucchianeri's tome is that it is a Magnus Opus about another Magnus Opus (Goethe's FAUST) about The Great Work (Faust's.)
I've made attempts to explain what The Great Work is in previous reviews (see product insert links below.) Briefly, The Great Work represents a metaphysical process in which the individual (Microcosm) unites with Divinity (Macrocosm.) Most people know this as Magnus Opus, usually as applied to a secular discipline such as writing, music, art & other subjects of deep value. The character Faust's version of The Great Work is strictly materialistic & downright evil--but The Great Work nonetheless (see The Ninth Gate below.)
Another aspect I appreciated in FAUST is the character study of Goethe. In school I got a smattering of knowledge regarding the great man, but nothing on a level like this. Not only was he obviously an artistic genius, but his life was as well rounded & fulfilled as it could be. He was not an isolated genius, but one who valued and cultivated positive relationships. He served government & society and was a highly esteemed associate. In so many ways Goethe was a lightening rod of his times & a true visionary.
As
mentioned above, FAUST analyzes at length many of the
metaphysical, religious & political concepts that remain of
interest to a wide spectrum of people. If they're willing
to summon up (no pun intended) the attention span required, they
will find FAUST an invaluable guide to get to the center of
these ideas.
The gist of this is that enjoyed reading Vol. 2 as much as any
potboiler; educational, of course, but a lot of fun too.
Index or no index, Vol. 2 gets an unequivocal 5 BIG STARS.
Index or no index, Vol. 2 gets an unequivocal 5 BIG STARS.
Reviewed by
Rebecca Schiller - Four Stars
With its
blood-red title and gothic print of the elderly Faust leafing through
a heavy tome of incantations, the cover of Faust: My Soul Be Damned
for the World may be off-putting to some; but readers shouldn’t
judge this book by its cover.
In the second
volume of E.A. Bucchianeri’s Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World,
a staggering and comprehensive exploration of both Goethe and Dr.
Faust, readers are introduced to the poet and his massive masterpiece,
Faust. In a one-page introduction, readers learn that Goethe started
the first draft of his opus in his early twenties and finished it
eight months before his death at the age of eighty-two.
The creation of
Faust spanned several ages, from the Sturm und Drang (Storm and
Stress) movement, through Weimar Classicism, and into the beginnings
of the Romantic era. These periods of literary, historical, and social
change heavily influenced Goethe’s writing. Yet other factors also
played an important role in the evolution of Faust, including
Goethe’s diverse studies in the disciplines of art, music, alchemy,
the occult, law, politics, the physical and natural sciences, and
others. And like with all writers, Goethe’s personal life provided
inspiration for the character of Dr. Faustus and the first-time
inclusion of a love interest—Margareta.
Part biography of
the poet and part literary analysis of his work, Bucchianeri’s
research is exhaustive and includes several amusing, yet trivial,
anecdotes of how as a student at the University in Leipzig, Goethe
transformed himself from Franconian country bumpkin to fashionista fop
with the accompanying mannerisms. However, the core of Bucchianeri’s
study lies in the deep scrutiny of Faust, detailing Goethe’s hidden
symbolism and prophecies of the future within the work itself.
Throughout the
text, Bucchianeri cites several references and footnotes them. These
include the poet’s own autobiography and "The Life of
Goethe" by the German literary critic Albert Bielshowky. At the
end of the book a select chronology is provided, yet academics,
researchers, and librarians will fault the author for not including an
index or the bibliography, which is only found in volume one.
In addition, some readers might be perplexed by the absence of
Bucchianeri’s credentials. However, no one can dispute that
Bucchianeri is passionate about the subject. Faust: My Soul be Damned
for the World is a very welcome addition to both public and personal
libraries.
Modern
Language Review (Vol. 105, No. 2, April 1, 2010: pp.589-590)
(Modern Humanities Research
Association)
Reviewed by Dr. Osman Durrani,
University of Kent
A
combined total of 1,136 pages in two large-format volumes is
sure to provide enterprising readers with a lavish diet of
documentary matter, commentary, and conjecture on the Faust
tradition from its medieval origins to the ‘almost unapproachable
zenith’ which it attained in the year of Goethe’s demise
(II, 665). The
first, somewhat thinner, volume is devoted to the chapbook, its
sources and influence, the second to Goethe’s life and work.
In dealing with the origins, the author assumes that the
historical Faustus is identical with the individual who
matriculated as Georg Helmstetter at
Heidelberg
University
on 9 January 1483 and graduated one year and seven months thereaafter.
Helmstetter’s putative peregrinations are then detailed over
some 100
pages and summarized in a tabulated curriculum extending from
his birth ‘evidently in Helmstadt near Heidelberg’ in 1466
or 1467, to his death in Staufen ‘near present day
Stuttgart’ in or around 1538 (I,
100-03).
Turning
to the chapbook, Bucchianeri investigates each controversial
incident in turn, drawing parallels with historical figures,
Dante’s Divine
Comedy,
Arthurian and other late medieval legends, and citing sources
which range from the Bible to Copernican astronomy. An
impressively detailed account of the Wolfenbüttel manuscript is
vitiated by switching from ‘Wolfenbüttel’ to ‘Wolfenbüttle’
and back again, and it soon becomes clear that the author’s
knowledge of German language and geography is limited, which
leads to some curious misapprehensions: Lessing’s 17th
epistle is described as ‘the seventeenth edition of the Literaturbrief’
(I,
389).This may also explain why more space is devoted to the
London Faustbook of 1593
than
to the original Frankfurt edition of 1587.
The
distinctive quality of Bucchianeri’s commentary lies in
tireless contextualization, with each incident in Faust’s
career related to specific historical events, cultural phenomena,
or to background circumstances; thus, Faust’s mockery of the
Ottoman Sultan is accompanied by a history of Turkish expansion
from the fall of Constantinople to the Battle of Lepanto (I,
158). In volume II
key stages of Goethe’s career are graphically recounted with
the help of over two thousand footnotes, very few of which
address controversies of the kind that enliven recent criticism
by the likes of Richard Friedenthal, Karl Otto Conrady, and
Nicholas Boyle. Instead, it is Albert Bielschowsky’s biography
of 1895–1903, accessed via a recent English language reprint,
that proves to be the author’s preferred source of
information. Yet
there is no denying the near-boundless enthusiasm with which
Bucchianeri approaches even the most recondite passages of Faust II. Here, an interpretation is offered that has
Goethe take issue with the Freemasons, Illuminati, Templars, and
Carbonari, while celebrating, in the final scene, the eventual
triumph of the Roman Church. It is suggested that Lessing’s
play would have taken a similarly unpopular approach, which may
explain why his manuscript mysteriously disappeared en route to
its publishers (II, 663). There are shades of conspiratorial
fiction in these bold assertions, and it is therefore
conceivable that fans of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code
will
appreciate aspects of this study.
The less pedantic among them may be inclined to overlook
such blemishes as the inconsistent spelling of foreign-language
terms and proper names, excessive use of exclamation marks, and
idiosyncratic punctuation. We get ‘Beamarchais’ (II, 678),
‘Boiserée’ (II,
596), ‘Wetzslar’ (II, 677), and even ‘Wittenburg’ as an
occasional variant of ‘
Wittenberg
’ (I, 163, 388). Inconsistencies will be found in the same
section or paragraph, sometimes even in the same sentence, when
we read ‘Fehlaer’ beside ‘Fehler’ (II, 391),
‘Knebel’ alongside ‘Kneble’ (II, 679), ‘Sesenheim’
beside ‘Sesensheim’ (II, 61, 62), and ‘Nuremburg’ beside
‘Nürnberg’ (I, 101). Striking
disfigurements of German titles include ‘Legensbegsch
des Herrn Götz von Berlichingen’ and ‘Frankfurter
Gelehrten Anzeigenin’ (II, 74,75).
A
compact bibliography of English-language criticism is located
only in volume I (I, 426-434). Neither volume comes with an index.
Reviewed by Dr.
Michael Philliber - Four Stars
(Also includes a review of Vol. I)
The fascinating
story about Dr. Faust is thick, deep, involved, and embedded with
layers of editorial narratives by various compilers throughout the
centuries of its formation. This is the case made by E.A. Bucchianeri
in the 2-volume scholarly work, “Faust: My Soul be Damned for the
World.” The author has written a heavily footnoted, pedagogic work
of over 1100 pages, which is a self-contained historical,
psychological, literary library.
The first volume
of “Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World” unravels the mythical
from the (likely) historical person of Johannes Faustus. The writer
then moves through several works from the 16th and 17th century of the
Faustian legend, exposing the multifaceted layers of editorial
expansions, moralizations, and propagandizing. This includes the
Wolfenbuttel manuscript, the Orwin Edition of the English Faustbook,
and the work of Christopher Marlowe.
The second, and
far larger, volume of “Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World”
covers the work of the one author who immortalized Faust for the
world: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The author tangles with the
formation of Goethe’s life and temperament, moving from his early
background, through his university experience, to involvement with
Freemasonry and the occult, on to the final chapters of his life.
Bucchianeri reveals a full grasp of the life of Goethe, and how all
the pieces of his life fed into
the completion of his masterpiece.
On occasion Bucchianeri shows a strident Roman Catholic edge, especially when
describing Marlowe’s environment, where the writer waxes a bit harsh
in anti-Protestant, anti-Lutheran, and anti-Calvinistic rhetoric. But
if the person reading these tomes can get past that, they will find a
vast resource of information and insight. Historians, occultists,
Faust-lovers, and academics will draw great pleasure from the
citations, observations, and applications in “Faust: My Soul be
Damned for the World.”
The reader will
quickly recognize that “Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World,
Volume I and Volume II” by E.A. Bucchianeri is not a simple, easy
work. It is meant to be a serious approach to the study of the
Faustian legend, and one who picks up these volumes must be prepared
to invest time and cerebral energies to successfully complete the
material. But the labor will be well worth it.
(Indiana
University Press)
(Also includes a combined review of Volume I)
The
advent of digital publishing has made it possible for authors to
self-publish works that no publisher would find economically
feasible. Bucchianeri's massive two-volume study of Faust
analogues and sources would be an unlikely choice for any
mainstream publisher, overstuffed as it is by examples,
tangents, and obsessive detail. This exhaustive compendium will
nonetheless be a useful handbook for those interested in the
Faustus legend to consult, aiming at comprehensiveness rather
than comprehension. It is tempting to see the author engaged in
a pursuit nearly as obsessive as the legendary fictional
character, surrounded by his notebooks and occult objects,
muttering to himself as he conjures this eventual tome.
Like
all fanatical endeavors, the focus is sharp yet not always on
the things that the rest of us would like to see. From the
start, this aspect of the study becomes clear. Bucchianeri
begins with the overlong sentence, "Faust, the notorious
reprobate who willingly forfeited his immortal soul to the devil
in exchange for the fleeting illusory pleasures of the world as
depicted and recounted in the famous works of art, literature,
drama and music, did not originate as the imaginary brainchild
of a literary genius" (9). While I immediately assumed he
referred to Marlowe, I'm sure just as many will assume he refers
to Goethe (a quick glance at the table of contents will make
clear that it is the latter). Having his head down over the
Faustian materials with a microscope, Bucchianeri assumes the
reader to be right beside him, too, seeing what he sees and
thinking what he thinks. Rarely will this be the case. Most
handbooks of this type acknowledge this difference by preparing
the materials for easy access at any point of reference. For the
casual reader—assuming such a thing might exist—this kind of
rhetorical guidance is almost completely lacking.
The
language of the study, likewise, does little to captivate the
reader. As a compendium of useful facts, there's not likely to
be a replacement any time soon. Bucchianeri pursues every avenue
of Faustian analogue with a dogged persistence that would win
accolades from Ahab. The bulk of the second volume is dedicated
to a minute examination of the composition and text of Goethe's
work, ending with an annotated chronology of his life. Clearly
it is this text that drives Bucchianeri's compulsion. His final
words on the subject cement this impression. After declaring the
drama to be the indisputable "zenith" of Faustian
legends, he goes on to tell us what this means:
“Although
many failed to appreciate, or indeed, to understand this magnum
opus in its entirety, from this point onward his drama was
the rule by which all other Faust adaptations were measured.
Goethe had eclipsed the earlier legends and became the
undisputed authority on the subject of Faust in the eyes of the
new Romantic generation. To deviate from his path would be
nothing short of blasphemy” (665).
Here
the fanatical gleam in the eye shines brightest. While doubtless
many would argue that the importance of Goethe's drama would
come first among all others, there are plenty who would argue
that the narrative focus and mordant humor of Marlowe's vision
has never been surpassed. Few scholars on either side would
argue it quite so ardently. Both dramas have proved influential,
certainly.
This
single-mindedness will doubtless spark some controversy.
Bucchianeri puts so much weight on the Masonic controversies
that one gets the impression of a sort of Da Vinci Code
mystery with the poet running in fear of his life from the
fellow Masons who would silence his pen even if it cost the
nation their favorite writer. While there may be more menace in
attacks on Goethe than simply literary scolding, one need not
invoke Occam to persuade that it is hardly convincing to argue
for murderous plots on the basis that "this answer is too
simplistic" (664).
While
Bucchianeri occasionally gives in to a somewhat heated rhetoric
based on somewhat dubious interpolations, there remains much in
the set to celebrate. Bucchianeri's unceasing search for source
materials brings together in one place the many texts that build
the Faust legend from the late Middle Ages onward, including
tables of contents for various iterations of the legend and a
timeline of the twenty-eight major documents from the first
possible candidates for the role model as the legend develops
from a troublesome scholar conjuring for nobility and inflicting
demons upon his detractors, to the eventual template of the man
who sold his soul to the devil. Faust fans will enjoy the
coverage of the puppet plays and of Lessing's lost play. While
scholars will probably continue to consult more authoritative
German texts, the English-speaking fan will find entertainment
in the pages of this collection, though he would do well to
read with a skeptical eye.
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