New essays revealing the enduring significance of the story made famous in the 1587 Faustbuch and providing insights into the forces that gave the sixteenth century its distinct character. The Reformation and Renaissance, though segregated into distinct disciplines today, interacted and clashed intimately in Faust, the great figure that attained European prominence in the anonymous 1587 Historia von D. Johann Fausten. The original Faust behind Goethe's great drama embodies a remote culture. In his century, Faust evolved from an obscure cipher to a universal symbol. The age explored here as "the Faustian century" invested the Faustbuch and its theme with a symbolic significance still of exceptional relevance today. The new essays in this volume complement one another, providing insights into the tensions and forces that gave the century its distinctcharacter. Several essays seek Faust's prototypes. Others elaborate the symbolic function of his figure and discern the resonance of his tale in conflicting allegiances. This volume focuses on the intersection of historical accounts and literary imaginings, on shared aspects of the work and its times, on concerns with obedience and transgression, obsessions with the devil and curiosity about magic, and quandaries created by shifting religious and worldlyauthorities. Contributors: Marguerite de Huszar Allen, Kresten Thue Andersen, Frank Baron, Günther Bonheim, Albrecht Classen, Urs Leo Gantenbein, Karl S. Guthke, Michael Keefer, Paul Ernst Meyer, J. M. van der Laan, Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly, Andrew Weeks. J. M. van der Laan is Professor of German and Andrew Weeks is Professor of German and Comparative Literature, both at Illinois State University.

The Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis was a popular grimoire in 18th Century Germany centering around the legend of Doctor Faust, to whom it was pseudo-epigraphically attributed. It contains a great array of magical practices centering around his mythical exploits aided by the spirit Mephistopheles.It remains relevant today as the foremost exemplar stemming from the Faustian Magical Literature and will prove indispensable for the scholars of Western Esotericism for its great array of magical practices dealing with topics like demonology, necromancy, the Liber Spirituum and divination as well as to the students of Goethe's sources for his magnum opus Faust.This critical edition, amply researched, provides historical and literary context through its introduction and commentary to students and scholars of magic and Faustian literature.

Five hundred years ago a legend was born. The seeker after forbidden knowledge is lured into signing a pact with the Devil. He enjoys the fruits of his deal in wild adventures, riotous high-living and in the arms of beautiful women, but cannot escape his end in the fiery clutches of Satan. That is the story that has inspired genius, high art and popular culture around the world, from Beethoven to Cradle of Filth. Hundreds of performances of Goethe's Faust are staged nightly. Souls are even put up for auction on eBay. The legend of Faustus has assumed a life of its own. But is it the real story? In the first major biography in five hundred years, Dr Ruickbie reveals the truth behind the infamous legend and uncovers the true identity of the man who scandalised sixteenth century Europe. Against all our wildest imaginings Faustus was not a charlatan, nor was he in league with the Devil. We should not think of him as the pact scribbling diabolist, but as a renaissance magician, albeit controversial and condemned by his peers. In an age of spiritual hunger, economic collapse, war and prophecies of doom – an age not unlike the Renaissance – it is a story for our times.

An abridged English translation of the Hebrew original, containing many magical alphabets and recipes culled from ancient and medieval Jewish manuscripts of magic and practical Kabbalah. Contains a subject index and selected facsimiles of the original manuscript.

Introduction : Faust, Christoph Rosshirt, and his manuscript -- Facsimile edition -- Annotated German transcription with English translation -- Faust illustrated from Rosshirt to Delacroix -- Faust's identity and the significance of Rosshirt's tales about him.

Excerpt from A New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare: The Tempest It is interesting to note the uniformity of the estimate of Caliban's character by the critics. While all acknowledge his power and his attractiveness, scornings, loathings, and revilings are nevertheless heaped on him; indeed, I can recall but one solitary voice really raised in his favour: 'in some respects, ' says coleridge, 'caliban 'is a noble being.' It has become one of the commonplaces in crit icisms on the Play to say that Caliban is the contrast to Ariel (some times varied by substituting Miranda for Ariel), and that as the tricksy sprite is the type of the air and of unfettered fancy, so is the abhorred slave typical of the earth and of all brutish appetites; the detested hag - seed is then dismissed blistered all o'er with expressions of abhorrence and with denunciations of his vileness, which any print of goodness will not take. Is there, then, nothing to be said in favour of Caliban? Is there really and truly no print of goodness in him? Kindly Nature never wholly deserts her offspring, nor does shake speare. We may be very sure that he, who knew so well that there is always some soul of goodness in things evil, would not have abandoned even Caliban without infusing into his nature some charm which might be observingly distilled out. Why is it that Caliban's speech is always rhythmical? There is no character in the play whose words fall at times into sweeter cadences if the Eolian melodies of the air are sweet, the deep bass of the earth is no less rhythmically resonant. We who see Caliban only in his prime and, a victim of heredity, full grown, are apt to forget the years of his childhood and of his innocency, when Prospero fondled him, stroked him, and made much of him, and Miranda taught him to speak, and with the sympathetic instinct of young girlhood interpreted his thoughts and endowed his purposes with words. When Caliban says that it was his mistress who showed him the man in the moon with his dog and his bush, what a picture is unfolded to us of summer nights on the Enchanted Island, where, how ever quiet lies the landscape in the broad moonlight, every hill and brook and standing lake and grove is peopled with elves, and on the shore, overlooking the yellow sands where fairies foot it featly, sits the young instructress deciphering for the misshapen slave at her feet the features of the full-orbed moon. With such a teacher, in such hours, would it be possible for Caliban, even were he twice the monster that he is, to resist, at the most impressible age, the subtle influence of the atmosphere of poetry which breathed in every nook and corner of the Enchanted Island? The wonder is not that he ever after speaks in rhythm; the wonder would be if he did not. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.