“…And it came to pass between twelve and one o’clock in the night that a great blast of wind stormed against the house, blustering on all sides as if the inn and indeed the entire neighborhood would be torn down. The students fell into a great fear, got out of their beds and came together to comfort one another, but they did not stir out of their chamber. The innkeeper went running out of the house, however, and he found that there was no disturbance at all in any other place than his own. The students were lodged in a chamber close by the rooms of Doctor Faustus, and over the raging of the wind they heard a hideous music, as if snakes, adders and other serpents were in the house. Doctor Faustus’ door creaked open. There then arose a crying out of Murther! and Help! but the voice was weak and hollow, soon dying out entirely.”

“When it was day the students, who had not slept this entire night, went into the chamber where Doctor Faustus had lain, but they found no Faustus there. The parlor was full of blood. Brain clave unto the walls where the Fiend had dashed him from one to the other. Here lay his eyes, here a few teeth. O it was a hideous spectaculum. Then began the students to bewail and beweep him, seeking him in many places. When they came out to the dung heap, here they found his corpse. It was monstrous to behold, for head and limbs were still twitching.” (Faustbuch)

The Faust Book

The Faustbuch (Faust book) is one of the earliest surviving collection of tales about Faust.

Written by an anonymous author, it generously attributes (or assigns) the narrated stories to a certain (and real) Doctor Faustus, of Weimar. According to the story, Doctor Faustus was a superior student of Theology, who turned from God, embraced the occult sciences and tragically entered into a pact with the demon Mephistopheles at the eventual cost of his life and his soul.

Originally available in manuscript form, it was later printed in the late 16th century (1587 Spies imprint), and versions of both are available on the Internet today. It is possible that a translation made its way to England where Marlowe used it as inspiration for his work, and then it may have made its way back to Germany in the form of a puppet play to inspire both Goethe and Lessing.

The later printed version is denser, and more inclined towards Christian admonition, whereas the (translated, online) manuscript version is more direct and “pure.”

External Links

• About the Faust Book An entertaining and readable history, discussion and on-line version of the “Wolfenbüttel Manuscript.”
• On-line English version of the German (Spies?) version, translated into English by P. F. Gent. Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin, (1592).