Ebook: Der Mythos des faustischen Teufelspakts: Geschichte, Legende, Literatur

The tale of Faust is catalyzed by a deal with the devil, a legacy of witch persecution. The anonymous author of the Faust Book of 1587 used such a deal as a plot device. Despite Christopher Marlowe’s masterpiece, based on that translation, the Enlightenment considered the pact with the devil a superstition. Lessing and Goethe thought it necessary to reshape the myth radically.