Prometheus and Faust - The Promethean Revolt in Drama From Classical Antiquity to Goethe

The comparison made between Prometheus and Faust occurs so frequently in modern scholarship as to seem commonplace. However, while each figure has been investigated separately, no recent full-length study has brought the two characters together and examined the association. The present volume explores the Prometheus myth from its preliterary origins through treatments in Greek by Hesiod, Aeschylus, Plato, and Lucian, as well as in Latin literature and Roman theatricals. The investigation continues into hitherto unexplored connections with the Greek figure and the magus and occult scientist types of late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Renaissance. The Prometheus and Faust traditions met in literature and art soon after the emergence of the historical Faustus. The traditions continued to exist independently through the 16th and 17th centuries, until Goethe began to write a play about each character. Ultimately Goethe abandoned Prometheus; however, Faust absorbed much of the Promethean persona.

List of contents

Preface
Prometheus and Faust?
Prometheus Emerges: The Prometheus Myth before Aeschylus
Prometheus Rebels: Prometheus in the Aeschylean Drama
Prometheus in the Greek and Roman Traditions after Aeschylus
Prometheus Transformed and Transposed: Faustus as the Reformation Prometheus
Prometheus, Faust, and Goethe
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

About the author

TIMOTHY RICHARD WUTRICH is Associate Professor of Comparative Arts at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Summary

The comparison made between Prometheus and Faust occurs so frequently in modern scholarship as to seem commonplace. The Prometheus and Faust traditions met in literature and art soon after the emergence of the historical Faustus.

Product details

• Authors: Timothy Wutrich, Timothy R. Wutrich, Timothy Richard Wutrich
• Publisher: Greenwood Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2008
• EAN: 9780313292446
• ISBN: 978-0-313-29244-6
• No. of pages: 192
• Series: Contributions to the Study of; Contributions to the Study of World Literature
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, Folklore, myths & legends, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology), The Arts: World Literature