The Faust Legend | Ian Watt (essay date 1996)
Ian Watt (essay date 1996)
SOURCE: "The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus," in his Myths of Modern Individualism: Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Robinson Crusoe, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 27-47.
[In the following essay, Watt demonstrates that through his play Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe guaranteed the longevity of the Faust legend while altering it to suit Renaissance tastes as well as his own individuality and Faustian-like temperament.]
The English Faust Book
The Faustbuch was a tremendous success, on an international scale. Within two years there were some sixteen German versions, including additions to the original book, and a version in verse. The story soon spread abroad, with translations into Low German, Dutch, and French. In England the story of Faust had been referred to as early as 1572. In 1592 there appeared The Historie of the Damnable Life,...
[The entire page is 7250 words long]
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