Faust and Don Juan: Manifestations of Sex and the Divine in European Fiction

For the past half-millennium, Don Juan and Faust have enjoyed near-continuous popularity as the subjects of dramatic works, poems, novels, and even operas. Both characters posses a remarkable chameleon-like quality, in that... [ view full abstract ]

For the past half-millennium, Don Juan and Faust have enjoyed near-continuous popularity as the subjects of dramatic works, poems, novels, and even operas. Both characters posses a remarkable chameleon-like quality, in that they bend and stretch to reflect particular temporal and national mores while maintaining a general, mythological outline. In effect, these characters function as mirror images of each other—they are two sides of the same coin, so to speak. As figures of untrammeled intellectual and sexual ambition, they represent evolving European preoccupations with sex, sin, punishment, and redemption; they also occupy an important space within the Christian literary tradition, as both figures have been used in support as well as in critique of contemporary religious practices and values. 

This presentation will summarize findings and observations made during an independent study in the fall of 2017 as part of the program in Literary Studies. My “reading list” included the likes of Tirso de Molina, Moliere, Marlowe, Goethe, and Thomas Mann.