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.

Introduction: Faust Scholarship and the Project at Hand - James M. van der LaanThe German Faustian Century - Andrew WeeksFaustus of the Sixteenth Century: His Life, Legend, and Myth - Frank BaronCornelius Agrippa's Double Presence in the Faustian Century - Michael KeeferConverging Magical Legends: Faustus, Paracelsus, and Trithemius - Urs Leo GantenbeinFaust from Cipher to Sign and Pious to Profane - James M. van der LaanThe Aesthetics of the 1587 Spies Historia von D. Johann Fausten - Marguerite de Huszar AllenThe Lutheran Faust: Repentance in the Augsburg Confession and the German Faustbuch - Kresten Thue AndersenMarriage in the Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587) - Paul Ernst MeyerAntiauthoritarianism and the Problem of Knowledge in the Faustbuch - Andrew WeeksExploring the "Three-Fold World": Faust as Alchemist, Astrologer, and Magician - Helen Watanabe-O'KellyThe Devil in the Early Modern World and in Sixteenth-Century German Devil Literature - Albrecht ClassenEncounters with "Schwarz-Hanz": Jacob Böhme and the Literature of the Devil in the Sixteenth Century - Günther BonheimD. Johann Faust and the Cannibals: Geographic Horizons in the Sixteenth Century - Karl S. GuthkeA Sixteenth-Century Chronology of Significant References to Faust with Parallel World EventsSelect BibliographyNotes on the ContributorsIndex