Faust

This podcast episode of "In Our Time" delves into the historical and cultural evolution of the Faust legend, starting with early 16th-century accounts of a dubious magician and trickster named Faust. The discussion traces Faust's transformation through literature, including the chapbook, Christopher Marlowe's play, and Goethe's interpretation, highlighting the changing perceptions of Faust as a scholar, transgressor, and ultimately, a representation of the human condition. The panel explores how the Faustian figure has been embraced and reinterpreted across different eras, reflecting societal anxieties and intellectual movements, from the Enlightenment to Romanticism and into the 20th century, with figures like Nietzsche and Thomas Mann.