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Book Review of Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus
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We all know Faust: from Goethes dramatic poetry, Manns novel, Gounods opera, Perrots ballet, to the music of Liszt and Wanger. Marlowes play (1604-1616) predates and forms a basis for all. But, this play itself is based on an older legend: anonymous German prose of 1587 titled Historia von D. Johan Fausten. Adaptations of the central theme exist in multiple versions in every medium of entertainment. What makes this particular publication interesting is that it contains excerpts from the source legend. One can hardly say that they are familiar with Faust unless they have first read Marlowe.