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Course Syllabus 1 FAUST A Humanities Seminar Fall 2015 Meets Mondays, 9:00-12:00 for 10 weeks: October 5 th - December 14th Steven D. Martinson, Ph.D. Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Department of German Studies (LSB 308) The University of Arizona [email protected] Course Syllabus Course Description “Faust” is alive and well. Emanations of “Faust” appear in literature and drama, painting and sculpture, opera and music, film and cyberspace. He has excited the human imagination for centuries and has permeated numerous cultures worldwide. But who was this mysterious alchemist or learned academician who dared transgress the borders of accepted knowledge and revel in the world of darkness which the Church condemned and against which it warned? Not only Adam and Eve, but also Faust ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps Faust has a place in the human spirit and representations of Faust’s divided soul have something to say about human history. In this Humanities Seminar we will consider a wide range of Fausts that populate German and European literature, art, opera, and music and American movies and videogames. We will also search him out by surfing the Internet. While we certainly will spend time reading Christopher Marlowe’s Tragical History of Dr. Johann Faust and listening to Charles-Francois Gounod’s Faust opera, Franz Liszt’s “Faust”-Symphony, and Richard Wagner’s Faust-overture, among other things, the main focus of the seminar is on those Fausts that are entrenched in German culture. Therefore, a significant part of the seminar is devoted to discussions of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Faust, including the often neglected second part of the drama. And we will look carefully at the novel, Doctor Faust, which Thomas Mann wrote in exile, in Los Angeles, itself a devastating dissection and indictment of the rise of Nazi Germany. The course concludes with a discussion of the reception of Faust in American culture. Session 1 (October 5th): “In the beginning…” Introductions Course Syllabus The Creation Story An Overview of the History of the Devil Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the Devil Devil’s Literature 2 Session 2 (October 12th): On Good and Evil and Pacts with the Devil (Evil Angel) The Faust Chapbook (1587), HISTORIA & TALE OF DOCTOR JOHANNES FAUSTUS. The sorcerer, wherein is described specifically and veraciously: His entire life and death, How he did oblige himself for a certain time unto the Devil, And what happened to him, And how he at last got his well-deserved reward. Rare revelations are also included, for these examples are most useful and efficacious as a highly essential Christian warning and admonition, that the laity, in order to protect themselves from similar maculations of the most shameful sort, have special cause to heed and to avoid such a desperate fate. [available at: http://lettersfromthedustbowl.com/Fbk1.html] Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Johann Faust (1604; second B text, 1616) Sessions 3 + 4 (October 19th – 26th): Reinscribing the Faust Tradition, or To Thine Own Self Be True? Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Faust. Part One and Part Two FAUST Ah! Now I’ve done Philosophy, I’ve finished Law and Medicine, And sadly even Theology: Taken fierce pains, from end to end. Now here I am, a fool for sure! No wiser than I was before: … 3 Session 5 (November 2nd): Fausts in Music and Opera Richard Wagner, “Faust Overture” (1839/40 and 1855) Hector Berlioz, The Damnation of Faust (La damnation de Faust and Goethe’s Faust I [1845]) Franz Liszt, “Faust Symphony” (1857) Charles Gounod, Faust [1859 premiere; performance of October 22, 1883 at the opening of the New York City Metropolitan Opera (at Broadway and 39th 4 Session 6 (November 9th): Reconfiguring Reality: Expressionist Art and Film F. W. Murnau, Faust (1926) Session 7 (November 16th): The Devil, Faust, in Hell Faust, Mephistopheles, and Evil in National-Socialist Germany NOTE: No Class on Monday, November 23rd = the week of Thanksgiving 5 Sessions 8 + 9 (November 30th – December 7th) Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus Session 10 (December 14th): The Faust Story in American Culture Today Faust at the Movies (“Devils’ Advocate,” and “Bedazzled”) in Video Games (“Faust: The Game of the Seven Souls”) and Music (e.g., Robert Johnson, “Me and the Devil Blues,” Leroy Jenkins, “Faust Jazz Opera,” Randy Newman, “Faust,” and the Charlie Daniel’s Band, “The Devil Went to Georgia”) 6 Reading List (all books available through amazon.com) 1. Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Johann Faust. In: Doctor Faustus and Other Plays. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. (Oxford World’s Classics) ISBN: 978-0199537068 2. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Faust: Part One. Translated by David Luke (=Winner of the European Poetry Translation Prize). New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. (Oxford World’s Classics) ISBN: 978-0199536214 3. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Faust: Part Two. Translated by David Luke. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0199536207 [optional] 4. Charles Gounod, Faust. Gounod’s Faust, edited by Robert Lawrence. Literary Licensing, LLC, 2011. ISBN: 978-1258183981 Also available: Faust—Live in HD (2DVD)—Met Opera. See at: http://www.metoperashop.org/shop/faust-live-in-hd-2-dvd-met-opera-12555? gclid=CILNx73i2cUCFVKVfgodtZwANQ 5. Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as Told by a Friend. Translated by John E. Woods. Vintage International, 1999. ISBN: 978-0375701160 .
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