Reading in the dark
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Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Kestrell" journal:
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01:12 pm
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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!: theatre
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) alexx_kay and I will be attending the 3 o'clock performance of
username: faust
http://kestrell.livejournal.com/423183.html#cutid1
since this performance will be providing a descriptive track for visually-impaired attendees.
Also of note for Sunday performances is
William Shakespeare Vampire, Hunter
http://community.livejournal.com/bard_in_boston/63160.html
Current Location: aerye
Current Music: www.937mikefm.com
Tags: faust, shakespeare, theatre
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02:06 pm
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Faust fest
So our Faust reading group was flauted in our goal of viewing the Faust film because we couldn't figure out how to manipulate the three separate remotes in order to get a picture. Yeah, two of us went to MIT, that's kind of embarrassing but at the same time a sort of commentary in itself regarding technology out of control, or at least, our personal control.
One of our main questions is how Faust is relevant to our current times, and I made the wildly outrageous comment that the reason we find it difficult to find the Faust story in our own modern stories is that it is *the* story of our time, and has trickled into so many contemporary references that it has been rendered invisible to us. Most of the debates around new technologies and media are, after all, debates which come down to who gets access to knowledge, and whether everyone should have complete access to all knowledge. Should the government prevent journalists and the public in general from having access to their records? Should children have free range of the Internet, violent song lyrics, video games, etc. Like that little apple that was the ball which got the whole thing rolling, knowledge says a lot about what a culture believes about the rights of the individual and free will, not to mention the subject of good versus evil. Speaking of apples, another interesting thread of such stories is how new and dangerous knowledge is associated with feminine wiles and the resultant downfall of man.
As a culture, we seem to be a lot less certain about the division between good and evil than we used to be. Remember the movie Wall Street, with the famous quote, "Greed is good"? Robin Hoods, Romantic/Byronic bad boys, and rebels without a cause are still the staple of summer movies.
All this got me thinking about Faust remakes, so I started googling. The results aren't too shabby, though I know there is a whole list of "deal with the Devil" ballads I am not finding--can anyone suggest a few? And hey, look at all those New England gothic Faust stories--I think it requires another list.
Also, would anyone be interested in a Faust Fest, perhaps for my birthday?
1. Faust is as American as apple pie--and (corporate?) lawyers:
Stephen Vincent Benet The Devil and Daniel Webster from the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin
http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/devil/devil.htm
1941 movie quotes from the Internet Movie Database
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033532/quotes
Daniel Webster:
This appears - mind you, I say appears - to be properly drawn. But you shan't have this man. A man isn't a piece of property. Mr. Stone is an American citizen...
and an American citizen cannot be forced into the service of a foreign prince.
Mr. Scratch:
Foreign? Who calls me a foreigner?
Daniel Webster:
Well, I never heard of the de... I never heard of you claiming American citizenship.
Mr. Scratch:
And who has a better right? When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on the deck. Am I not still spoken of in every church in New England?
( more Faust fun below cut )
Current Mood: devilish
Tags: books, faust, gothic
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05:14 pm
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Faust, magic, movies, and Romanticism
The Faust reading group will be wrapping up our study of Goethe's Faust with a short discussion of Romanticism and a viewing of the following movie (we may decide to go on to a reading of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus in following weeks). C.P. originally mentioned wanting to see this movie, and I already had it, so we're planning on showing it next Wed. at 7, if anyone else wishes to show up.
Faust (1994)
aka "Lesson Faust"
aka "Lekce Faust" - Czech Republic
Directed by
Jan Svankmajer
English subtitles (spoken( with great Latin incantations
This movie, which features puppets in some of the roles, such as that of Mephistopheles, is an amalgam of various Faust texts, including:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe's play Faust
Christian Dietrich Grabbe's novel,
and Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
IMDB url
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109781/
Also note this site which makes some interesting connections between the Devil in film and the use of trick photography and special effects (this would be a fascinating way into discussing the tradition of the gothic and horror in visual media)
Satan, Cinema, and Self-Reflexivity
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/german/course_webpages/devil/satanandcinema.html
Tags: faust, gothic
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10:23 am
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Faust: reading group notes, part one of two
Kes: Note that this week's meeting has been cancelled, we will meet next Wednesday at 7, but also hope to lure negothick into being our special guest lecturer at some point this weekend...(no pressure here)
Faust Reading Group
I. Notes from first meeting written by Jack
[Kes: I have added some comments, mostly to help place the text under discussion, included in square brackets, and will also post a second part to these notes soonish]
1st Meeting: Wednesday June 14, 2006 7:00 -- 9:00 pm Melville Keep
( notes below cut )
Tags: books, faust
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09:47 am
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Faust: intro notes, including genre roots
From
https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html
performance: more popular musical comedy than high art, this play contains comedy as well as pastiche [Kes: I keep thinking of the Buffy musical]
microcosm made up of many settings but these are not those of upper classes (kitchen, garden)
themes: learning versus experience
From
https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html
Faust can be used to explore the development of such culture trends as Romanticism, folk ballads, fantasy, gothic fiction, and even the use of Shakespeare as a popular rather than a high culture artis. [Kes: a number of books explore this last theme, my favorite is one which discusses Orson Welles preoccupation with performing Shakespeare as pop culture rather than highbrow art]
1. Romanticism=earliest stirrings of romanticism come from mid-18 c. German interest in folklore such as Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm collecting popular fairy tales, Johann Gottfried von Herder studying folk songs--and in England with Joseph Addison and Richard Steele treating old ballads as if they were high poetry.
( continued below cut )
Current Music: www.wumb.org
Tags: books, faust
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01:32 pm
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Reading group: Goethe's Faust, first meeting this Wednesday
Last week sometime J.P. and I were discussing reviving our summer reading group (two summers ago we read Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose). This time around, we've decided to read Goethe's Faust. Note that Faust includes all sorts of alchemical, astrological, and engineering themes (J.P. mentions that it used to be required reading at MIT). Additionally, there is potential for feminist and gothic examinations of the text (a link to an online text is included below the cut).
People are welcome to join us (it would be particularly delightful to get some of our local scholars in as guest lecturers). Here is the announcement J.P. wrote:
Goethe Faust
We would meet once a week, probably a weekday evening most times, for
about two hours, at Melville Keep most likely. Each meeting we would discuss
a section of the reading and some theme of interest. We would pick themes
to explore between meetings; sometimes someone would take the lead. A theme
is likely to be discussed at two to four meetings: informal presentation, discussion,
more findings, and afterthoughts.
( more details below cut )
Current Location: aerye
Current Mood:  excited
Tags: books, faust
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