Faust Entering Other Literature:

I was looking through all of the books I read this semester, and two of them caught my attention and I thought I should relate their Faustian Elements to the Blog.

I read the book "My Wounded Heart: The Life of Lilli Jahn, 1900-1944" By Martin Doerry in my Holocaust agency and Action Class. It is about a German Jewish woman. She is very cultured, she was a doctor until the Nazis closed down her practice. She had several adorable children and a curdled marriage that eventually failed. (Her favorite play was Friedrich Schiller's "The Maid From Orleans." Which is also my favorite!)

In this one passage where she is talking about faith in God, she says "I love God in the rustle of the trees and the wind as well as in the most delicate flower. And I also love God in Mephistopheles." (Page 36)

In other words, she loves the part of God that is sarcastic, adventurous, lustful, and sassy. All aspects that are not pure, but are often apart of growth.

I also read Stephen King's Memoir "On Writing" where he talks about his life, his work and gives anecdotes that help advise writers. Somewhere, he mentions a story he wrote about a mad scientist or doctor who sold his soul, his own modern Faustian Science Fiction.

Goethe really did leave some footprints on the planet of literature. His Faust became the Hauptfaust. His Faust has, and will continue to influence further Literature.