Faustus

Szonyi, Gyorgy E. Traditions of magic from Faustus to Dee at European universities and courts. CaudaPavonis 10, no. 2 (Fall 1991) 1-8. 

Baron, Frank. Doctor Faustus from history to legend. Miinchen Fink, 1978. 

Mebane, John S. "Art and magic in Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare The occult tradition in Dr. Faustus, The alchemist, and The tempest " PhD thesis, Emory Univ, 1974. 

Hanegraaff, Wouter J. The modem revival of Gnosticism and Thomas Mann s Doktor Faustus. Literature and Theology 17 (Mar 2003) 105-107. 

Mann, Thomas. Doctor Faustus. London Seeker Warburg, 1949. 

It wasn t just the poor and ignorant who believed the tales about Paracelsus. The scholarly English poet and cleric John Donne accused Paracelsus of serving the Devil. In time the stories about him became intertwined with those about the legendary Dr. Faustus. And when Goethe wrote Faust two and a half centuries after Paracelsus s death, he incorporated several allusions to the magician s life and writings. 

After his death, the work of Roger Bacon lapsed into obscurity, no doubt due to his reputation as a sorcerer. Stories of his magical prowess kept his name alive, and in 1589, he featured in a play by Robert Greene, The History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, which competed for audiences with Marlowe s Doctor Faustus. Like Faustus, Bacon regrets his magic, but unlike Marlowe s protagonist, he recants and is allowed to live (it is his slapstick servant, Miles, who is transported to hell). In a more recent tribute, Umberto Eco makes Bacon William of Baskerville s hero in The Name ojthe Rose. 

The most fantastical creations of fairyland are near to being realised before our very eyes. . . Each day our factories turn out wonders as great as those produced by Doctor Faustus with his book of magic.30... 

Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. Edited by John D. Jump. The Revels Plays. Manchester Manchester University Press, 1962. 

All quotations are taken from Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus and Other Plays, ed. David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen, ist edn (Oxford University Press, 1995). 

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