Faust Books

The vastness of the civil war dead are unimaginable. Deaths were six times greater than WWII, or given that rate(2%) and today's population, we would be confronted with 6 Million fatalities. Could we - would we stand for such inepitude in the political generals? Amidst these gross statistics, Faust tells the narrative of the individual--"the importance of the individual life, the husband and father who was just as dead...as the thousands who had perished in the din of dramatic battle. He was a man who counted even if he was not counted." The mystery is that more than half of the dead were never named. This narrative of Civil War mortality reflects on the morality and its meaning-- "the place of the individual in a world of mass and increasingly mechanized slaughter. It was about what counted in a world transformed in four years...Where did God belong in such a world."

As we move towards the next election, this book serves as a timely reminder of how we became the nation that we are. By focusing on the dead, we are forced to consider how personal loss affected the mindset of so many families in the North and the South. These deaths remain alive for these families and their descendants and we would do well to remember their influence on contemporary politics. It is also appropriate to consider the religious zeal, so well described by the author, with which the majority of young men went into battle to meet death face to face. They were as convinced of eternal life in heaven as any suicide bomber today, and their relatives expected to meet them in heaven too. There is much to learn and much to ponder in this beautifully written book.

This is a monumentally important work which will explain Americans' attitude towards our war dead. This is the short-term gain.

The long-term gain, the more provocative reading, is how the Civil War dead became a constituency in our Post-War Republic which tacitly spoke in favor of Manifest Destiny and the expanding American Empire.

Another reading would hint that American Individualism doesn't end with death.

All-in-all, a treasure trove of ideas about who we are and how we relate to death--specifically violent death in the name of "defending our country."

A beautifully written and conceived book. The author approaches the United States and civil war from the perspective of death; a perspective I have never seen addressed. Fascinating in her descriptions of a "good death" and in the stress, grieving and emotional toil knowing or not knowing, finding or not finding a deceased beloved, burying or not burying, had on the families and loved ones of soldiers who fought and died in the Civil War.

While the author does not make the conceptual or "time" leap to the present, the issues and themes are relevent for those who served, and their famiies, in Viet Nam, Iraq and other conflicts.

I was especially moved by the author's purposely emphasizing that one death has meaning, one death communuictes, one death can be devistating, even as she recounts the tens and tens of thousands who died, and what this mass killing and dying meant for the American psyche.

Anyone interested in the Civil War will learn from this book.

This is a very serious, thorough, well researched book, centered mainly on the aftermath of the Civil War in the United States. It is an enlightening book for the serious student of civil war history. It is not for the fainthearted, or those easily depressed by recounts of death and dying,and burial, which the book primarily focuses on. I found this to be a very compelling book to read, however, once I got through the first chapter. Thw wirter brought out a lot of things I had no prior knowledge of, particularly the views of the importance in our society of a "good death" and transmitting this to the survivors of a fallen soldier.

What caught me first was the title. Inside it's still caught me. The SF references and the use of D&D-style character sheets to introduce/highlight the characters so totally is amazing/amuzing. Some of the SF & Gaming references are gonna be unfamiliar to the Mundanes. Not since Niven/Pournelle/Flynn's _Fallen Angels_ have I read a book that casts the SF/Gaming geeks as *heroes*! I would have read this book faster (it's a real page-turner) if it wasn't for the fact that I have 2 small children (4 & 15mos as of the writing of this review) who occupy most of my time. Minister Faust left us a little hanging at the end with a few untied ends.....but that's fine. Perhaps we'll see another one of the adventures of Hamza & Ye, the Coyote Kings in the near future

Wow. This book is absolutely fantastic. It moves, it jives, it slides and grooves. Fe Fe Naa Efe is the theme song, indeed. This book moves to a beat all its own with incredible characters, fantastic story, mysticism, magic, love, cannibalism, E-Town, Alberta, and, last but certainly not least, humour. This book should be required reading for any geek; it references so many things, known and unknown, it jumps off the page and smacks you right in the face like the smell of Category 5 Jimp.

When I first ran into this book at the library, I just had to take it home. Any author with the stones to name a book "The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad" probably has the writing skill to back up the title. I was right. Minister Faust has undeniable literary skill. I don't believe that this book will ever end up on Oprah's book club list, and I prefer it that way. This book is one that opens your eyes to new possibilities.
Minister Faust is skillful in his mixing of different genres throughout this work. The characters are very aware of real-life current events, but it doesn't read like the author is trying to smack you over the head with any particular ideology. In fact, one of the strengths of this book is that it allows different moral inclinations to coexist without stamping a strong judgment on any of them. Faust reminds us that despite the fact that many in the world prefer to think in terms of black and white, there is plenty of gray out there.

Being a bit of a geek myself, I loved many of the geeky references (and character sheets) throughout the book. At times, though, I wished that there were some sort of "Pop Culture Reference Appendix" at the back of the book. For example, I had never heard of FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI, the Inventor Of Afrobeat, before reading this book. It's not that I don't want to know more. In fact, I'd love an easier way to delve into these references. I suppose that wikipedia does a good job filling in the gaps, but I usually read books when I'm away from the computer, and sometimes it's tough to keep a running list of "cultural references that I didn't get the first time around". I blame myself for not getting some of these references, since I grew up in the monogamous Midwest of the United States.
That brings me to another point- Minister Faust's description of Edmonton, Alberta is so compelling that I often wish that I could stroll those same streets and see life through the eyes of the Coyote Kings once again.
OK, I've ranted and raved, but I haven't even brought up the plot OR the characters.
The plot could be described as a mix of present day fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, allegory, and a sprinkling of romance, mixed up and baked into a delightful whole. Each of the elements feels right, though I never would have guessed the recipe before opening the book. The two main characters remind me a little of Dante and Randal from Clerks, insofar as each of them is mired in a dead-end job that doesn't truly define them, but allows them to search for fulfillment outside or their "careers".

Hamza and Yehat truly are a dynamic duo, and I'd love to read more about them if their adventure ever continues. Bravo.

There are so (comparatively) few science fiction books written by black authors, and the title is so good, that I really wanted to like this book. And for the first 200 pages, I did. Faust is wildly inventive, and has a real gift for creating unique characters and letting you hear their voices. But his editor did him a huge disservice by not insisting Faust trim 150 or 200 pages out of "Coyote Kings." The hook of writing at least one chapter from the POV of every major and minor character was taken much too far (some characters, like Frosty and the Mugatu and Heinz Meaney, are more interesting in the third person), trying to tie the Rachel character back into the end didn't make any sense, the mystic backstory bogged down in pretentiously arcane poetry and superfluous detail, and entire chapters written in the verbal-tic-ridden voices of two of the characters --- Alpha Cat and Digaestus Caesar --- are incredibly frustrating to read, barely comprehensible. I wanted to put it down, but I didn't. Look at the characters' names! For that alone, and for the snap-crackle-pop dialogue between roommates and brother Coyote Kings Hamza and Yehat, this book is saved from my give-away pile.

"Coyote Kings" is tremendously flawed, but also has more than a few moments of brilliance. When I finally got to the end and read the acknowledgments, where Faust mentions the "Coyote Kings" screenplay workshop and video shoot, and then read in his author's biography that he's a prolific broadcaster, the puzzle of this book started to make sense to me. The book reads like it was meant to be spoken; the pages of dialogue that are almost impossible to read would make sense to hear. The incessant shifting of POV is a real detriment in a book, but would make for very interesting video. Essentially, "Coyote Kings" would make an amazing movie or radio play. But as a book, almost all of its appeal is lost in translation.

Let's get this out of the way first: horrible, god-awful title! It screams that an amatuer wrote it. It belongs to some "self-published" book you find at the ComicCon, sold in a booth decorated by construction paper and duct tape. Awful, awful title.
But the book is amazing. In an age where pop culture sometimes becomes a plot in itself, Faust weaves science fiction and world mythology together in a highly entertaining, vividly stylized, and entirely engaging manner.
The characters are real, flesh and blood people who happen to fall into Sci-Fi genres. This is an accomplishment, since it would have been easy for Faust to just render his people as stereotypes or cardboard cut-outs you'd find trumpeting in dim-lit Sit-Com.
The allusions work, not just as clever refences but they also depict the emotional topography of the story. At the end of the novel, I actually was caring about both hero and villain.
As a side note, he got Edmonton right. I live 3 1/2 hours north of this grand city and it was neat to see Edmonton, one of the characters of the novel, depicted well.
Check it out!

This book knocked my socks off. They story was cool. The backdrop of the porn industry was a different and interesting facet. It's a really good book for fans of noir.

A new paperback series called Hard Case Crime has been on the market since 2004 and is reminiscent of the hard-boiled crime pulp novels of the fifties and early sixties. The publishers give new and established authors the opportunity to write a PI mystery, or a police procedural, or a straight who-done-it suspense thriller in the style of times long passed. The series premiered with The Colorado Kid by Stephen King and from there has showcased the talents of Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Richard Powell, David Dodge, and now Christa Faust, just to name a few.

Christa Faust has been writing for over ten years, putting her impressive stamp on fiction in the erotic/suspense field, horror, movie novelizations, and crime/mystery. Her latest book is Money Shot, and it continues the line of Hard Case Crime novels with a story of crime, sex, murder, and revenge. There's no holding back here as Ms. Faust lets go with both barrels of the shotgun, demonstrating that women can write crime novels every bit as intense and edge-of-your-seat as the men, if not better.

Money Shot deals with Angel Dare, a former porn star who now runs a modeling and talent agency for women in the Adult business. The novel starts out with Angel tied up in the trunk of an old Honda Civic, contemplating her impending death. It seems that a local Hollywood crime boss, who runs a sex/slave ring consisting of foreign women who come to America with dreams of a good life, has had a briefcase full of money stolen from one of his men, and the woman who took it happened to pay a visit to Angel's office on the day that she died. The money has disappeared, and the crime boss thinks that Angel may know something about it. He has her tortured in order to find out what she knows. When he soon realizes that she knows nothing, he has one of his men drive her to the parking lot of a vacant warehouse so that a bullet can be put into her head. She barely manages to escape with her life and has to turn to a part-time employee named Malloy, who used to be an LAPD Homicide detective. Together, they try to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and to find the briefcase. Angel, however, wants more than just the money. She's after revenge for what was done to her and wants to kill everyone involved. Malloy knows from first hand experience that revenge doesn't always clear the air, and all he wants is to find the money and then get out Dodge with Angel before their times runs out. A lot of people are going to die terrible deaths before the climax is finally reached, and Angel is going to discover that even your closest friends can't be trusted when large amounts of money are at stake.

This is not a PG-13 crime novel. No, way! Christa Faust doesn't hold back or pull any punches in Money Shot with the language, the sex, and the violence. She tells it like it really is. Some readers might find this offensive, but for true aficionados of crime fiction this is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. She gives you an inside look at the porn industry in all its shades of black and white, takes you on a tour to the seedier sides of Los Angeles, creates some very believable characters that resonate with an evil all of their own, and delivers a genuine heroine who has to become what she hates the most in order to get even with those who destroyed her life and killed her friends. This isn't a novel for the weak of heart.

Christa Faust is definitely an author to keep an eye out for. Now that she's had a taste of being a hardboiled crime writer, there's no stopping her!

Avenging Angel.


A retired adult entertainment star, now managing some of the same is called out of her retired state.

Horny, and asked to do a scene with the hot new stud she agrees, and walks straight into a trap.

A botched execution leaves her on the run, framed for murder, injured, and very angry.

Despite that, this is a lot better than it sounds, as Faust handles this very well, and with some talent as the main character evolve from someone who was concerned at the start of the novel with her appearance, to a gun-wielding revenge seeker.


4.5 out of 5

Money Shot appears to be a pretty standard crime novel with a twist, a beleaguered female protagonist who begins the book tied up in the trunk of a car. To a certain degree, that's exactly what it is; a Kill Bill-style story of revenge with a sexy woman as the lead (even though she becomes decidedly un-sexy over the course of the book). Faust keeps mosts of the twists at either end of the book, leaving the middle to build up Angel Dare's character. It gets a little bit slow in places, but it keeps driving you through it even when things get a touch boring.

The book also reveals a very different setting for a crime novel; the porn industry. While most hard-boiled books tread familiar settings like seedy back alleys and shadowy warehouses, Money Shot is set deep in the heart of the porn industry. Over the course of the book, you'll learn a good deal more about the porn industry than you probably would ever want to. Still, the change in scenery and overall setting is a refreshing contrast to most of the other Hard Case books.

Faust's prose is tight and well-done. She creates a very concrete and unique voice for Angel that she keeps consistent for the whole story. Angel's whip-smart, and a great narrator to guide you through the course of the story. Most of the other characters aren't as well fleshed-out as I would have liked, but Angel is interesting enough to keep things lively.

I'm guessing that all of the reviews have been written by the author, her friends, or the publisher.

This book might be passable if it weren't written by a college student for an English class. The author's vocabulary was limited. She was not very descriptive. The story was cheesy, predictable, and silly.

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this book on Amazon. I think it might have been recommended by Amazon and I was gullible enough to believe the reviewers. I figured that 26 people couldn't be wrong.

The only positive thing that I will say about this book is that is was a fast read. Avoid at all cost.

What Christopher Marlowe has created in Doctor Faustus is nothing short of spectacular. The choices Dr. Faustus makes are reminiscent of choices wwe all must face in life: A life of materialistic gains and self or the everlasting peace of salvation? Dr. Faustus finds himself wanting more in life, he seeks the answer to mankinds oldest equivocation: the purpose of mankind. Like a Greek tragedy, he makes a deal with Hades who offers Dr. Faustus ultimate knowledge. But making a deal with Hades is always unwise. After learning that ultimately, pain and suffering is all mankind will ever know, his soul is condemned to Tartarus. This is a chilling tale with moments of humor to release the tension of the story.

Editor of the highly recommended novel: Fates by Georgiou Tino: Best of 2008

By his untimely death at 29 Christopher Marlowe had written this and other plays (including The Jew of Malta) which inspired a beginning William Shakespeare to sharpen his craft.

Though the version we have was not recorded until about a decade after Marlowe's death (and therefore shows signs of later adulterations by other writers) you can still observe the genius of Marlowe at work.

The plot of this play is about a well-learnt man, Dr. Faustus, who believing that he has attained all the knowledge there is to learn (knowledge beyond the point of 'this far and no further'), turns to magic.

During one of his rituals he calls upon the underworld to aid him - Mephistopheles duly comes to Faustus' beckoning as any good demon would in their relentless search for souls; however Faustus, in his naive pride, believes that Mephistopheles is there as a result of his conjuring - demons are at his beck and call!

Mephistopheles plays it whatever way Faustus wants it, to ensure capturing his soul. They strike a pact - 24 glorious years of fame and fortune for Faustus, with Mephistopheles as his servant, after which his soul belongs to Lucifer. To make the contract binding Faustus writes out the pact and signs in blood. However, Mephistopheles is portrayed as a figure of sorrow and tries to warn Faustus about what he is getting himself into. But Faustus is unreceptive to the truth and ignores Mephistopheles' warning.

There is the good and bad angel that appear to Dr. Faustus several times. The good angel repeats over and over to Dr. Faustus that he can repent at any time and come back into good graces, while the bad angel keeps on telling him it's too late. The bad angel prevails.

A number of scenes are depicted - the main one being at the Vatican. Faustus is invisible and steals food and wine from under the Pope's nose, followed by putting to sleep a couple of Cardinals and stealing their clothes, and he frees Bruno who is to be put to death for impersonating the pope.

So the story develops - Faustus is the guest at the tables of the figureheads of Europe where he further increases his reputation by bringing to life such people as Helen of Troy. He is introduced to the Seven Deadly sins - Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth and Lechery.

After twenty four years of fame Faustus' time is drawing to a close and he cannot postpone the inevitable. Mephistopheles, Lucifer and Beelzebub appear to collect their payment - the soul of Faustus. At the midnight hour they open the gates of hell. Faustus tries to repent but it's too late and his implorations to God are halfhearted. The devils rip his body apart before casting it aside - it has no use for them - their only currency is the soul.

In the 3rd and 4th acts, Faustus seems to let go of his quest for knowledge (for the most part) and indulges in practical jokes of an evil nature. There are some who feel that the 3rd and 4th acts are way too silly and that they drag the play down.

The 5th act begins, and Faustus has one final chance to avoid his fate, but he resigns himself to damnation if he can 'enjoy' Helen of Troy. The devil always tempts us with sexual fantasies, mankind's ultimate weakness!

The final scene where Faustus realizes that it is too late and hell awaits, is a scene of pure terror almost unparalleled in literature. He moves from requests that cannot be granted to the most imaginative escapes. The play ends with an appropriate warning to stay behind the line of 'this far and no further.'

Christopher Marlow's life is a bit of a mystery. Some historians believe that he might have been a spy. Not surprisingly, one of the groups of people who Marlowe is rumored to have spied on were Catholics intent on overthrowing what they saw as England's Protestant government. The first thing Dr. Faustus does when he makes his famous bargain is to play a practical joke on the Pope.

Marlowe was killed in a bar fight over an unpaid bill, but it seems highly likely that he was murdered because he was a spy.

Tells the tale of the unfortunate Doctor John Faustus - who in return for 24 years of fame and fortune sells his soul to Lucifer. Faustus is a learned gentleman, his pride tells him that he can learn no more from books and the limit of knowledge that they contain. He needs to escape the bounds of the known world and so turns to the world of magic.

During one of his rituals he calls upon the underworld to aid him - Mephistopheles duly comes to Faustus' beckoning as any good demon would in their relentless search for souls (Europe happens to be Mephistopheles stomping ground); however Faustus, in his naive pride, believes that Mephistopheles is there as a result of his conjuering - demons are at his beck and call! Mephistopheles plays it whatever way Fautus wants it, to ensure capturing his soul. They strike a pact - 24 glorious years of fame and fortune for Faustus, with Mephisto as his servent, after which his soul belongs to Lucifer. To make the contract binding Faustus writes out the pact and signs in blood - Mephisto isn't taking any chances.

A number of scenes are depicted - the main one being at the Vatican. Faustus is invisible and steals food and wine from under the Pope's nose, followed by putting to sleep a couple of Cardinals and stealing their clothes, he frees Bruno who is to be put to death for impersonating the pope.

So the story develops - Faustus is the guest at the tables of the figureheads of Europe where he further increases his reputation by bringing to life such people as Helen of Troy. He is introduced to the Seven Deadly sins - Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth & Lechery.

After Twenty and Four years of fame Faustus' time is drawing to a close and he cannot postpone the inevitable. Mephisto, Lucifer and Belzebub appear to collect their payment - the soul of Faustus. At the midnight hour they crack back the gates of hell to reveal his destiny - bodies on endless treadmills, unfortunates being thrown around on pitch forks, souls damned for eternity. Faustus tries to repent but it's too late and his implorations to God are halfhearted. The devils rip his body apart before casting it aside - it has no use for them - their only currency is the soul.

Recommended

If you saw "Shakespeare In Love," you know this was the play of Marlowe's that was getting so much attention. (For that matter, I found this play better than "Romeo and Juliet," even though "Romeo and Juliet" was to become the big play at the climactic moment.) Moving on, we meet Dr. Faustus, and he decides that the legitimate knowledge of this world is not good enough. So, he decides to cross the line of 'this far and no further' by making an unholy deal. It is interesting that even Mephistophilis (the unholy agent of the devil) is drawn as a figure of sorrow and even tries to warn Faustus about what he is getting himself into. But Faustus is unreceptive to the truth and ignores Mephistophilis's warning. In a scene of shocking horror, Faustus even mocks Mephistophilis for trying to warn him of the dangers involved: "Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude" (1.3.85). Faustus makes an unholy pact and sells his soul for books that will offer knowledge beyond the point of 'this far and no further,' as well as significant magical powers. It is interesting that even after Faustus makes the pact, he is presented with several opportunities to escape his fate. But he can not give up the fruits of the pact. (His powers, having Mephistophilis at his command, etc.) Later, we see meet the 7 deadly sins. And Faustus's delight at them shows us his degeneration. In the 3rd and 4th acts, Faustus seems to let go of his quest for knowledge (for the most part) and indulges in practical jokes of an evil nature. There are some who feel that the 3rd and 4th acts are way too silly and that they drag the play down. But, I don't think this is the case at all. I can not help but think that Marlowe was emphasizing how worthless the fruits of the pact really were. (Nothing we could ask the devil for could equal the soul which Christ gave us.) Furthermore, in my opinion, we shouldn't be so surprised at Faustus's degeneration. He has made a pact with evil, and evil is basically degeneration through the service of one's self, depite how amoral and sick that service may be. It is our good side that encourages us to better ourselves, hopefully at least in part for the sake of others. The 5th act begins, and Faustus has one final chance to avoid his fate, but he resigns himself to damnation if he can 'enjoy' Helen of Troy. If I were a betting man, I would bet that Marlowe is emphasizing that sex often overrides our rational thoughts. (How many romance plays seem to defy reason?) The final scene where Faustus realizes that it is too late and hell awaits, is a scene of pure terror almost unparalled in literature. He moves from requests that can not be granted to the most imaginative escapes. The play ends with an appropriate warning to stay behind the line of 'this far and no further.'

By his untimely death at 29 Christopher Marlowe had written this and other plays (including The Jew of Malta) which inspired a beginning William Shakespeare to sharpen his craft.

As regards this play, Marlowe was sort of the Pete Best of the era doing his version of the Hey Joe of the era. To continue musical metaphors he didn't invent but merely sampled the Faustus tale and in so doing gave it his own unique spin.

Though the version we have was not recorded until about a decade after Marlowe's death (and therefore shows signs of later adulterations by other writers) you can still observe the genuis of Marlowe at work. By likening his character to the Greek methological story of Dedalus, Marlowe imparts that sense of doom so connected with the potential arrogance of human ambition. As a reminder, Dedalus was affixed wings with wax by his father Icarus only to lose them and fall when Dedalus flew too high and had them melted by the light of the sun.

Similarly Faustus is -- in almost Christmas Carol type fashion -- visited by the personified seven deadly sins and Lucifer himself...itself then a unique device uniquely and effectively executed.

Throughout Marlowe makes us witness to Faustus' growing sense of doom at the irrevocability of his contract with Lucifer.

Sadly, to the modern reader much of the horror of his Faustian bargain is lost to us. For the most part, we moderns don't have the immediate fear of Lucifer that our forebears had. For us today, evil does not lurk in the shadows but is rather all too much before us as we proceed through our days and take note of current events.

Still the same the play was a landmark piece and an inspiration to Shakespeare who had before him an example of the genuis he had to compete with and the standard he had to maintain.

what basalt! what flare! faust is and always be one of those megalo-gigantic characters that continue to inspire drama and thought for centuries. he may even be literatures's most allur-ing, most sympathetic and most fascinating character. for here is a man who succumbs to the temptation that all of us wrestle with time to time yet on how grand a scale does he accomplish it! all of us from time to time consider selling our souls to the devil, all of us have considered attempting to swindle the fool-ish of capital, or thought of joining a corrupt financial firm so as to at last satiate our lust for wealth and power. it is in our nature for we humans to hunger for the easier, the more com-fortable, the more efficient and often, frustrated with the fruits that God rewards to the pious, we instead slurch into the manacles of the sinister and bind our souls to the fiends where profit is assured! and faust succumbs to these temptations and not simply on a petty insignificant scale he does so in gargantua! he summons the devil himself and agrees to exchange his immortal soul for twenty four years of unlimited puissance!
yet goethe unlike marlowe or the anonymous german author of 1587 rather than use this as a simple morality play and a vehicle for spreading christian obedience instead employs it for a study of one of the greatest human dilemmas, namely our combat against the lechers of vice and the apparent contradic-tion that the injustice profit while the obedient suffer! vol-canica! blare! how my heart riots as i read this epic poem! how the human quandary shines into me in limpid array! and then in part two after a host of death and bedlam faust embarks on his quest for redemption and his attempt to improve mankind. it is a star-glorious adventure, bold, quaking and sublime.

author of Lorelei Pursued, Wrestles with God

This has got to be the most dumbed-down version of Faust I have ever come across. Where as any good english translation reads like poetry that tells a story this version reads like two guys in a coffee shop having a conversation. Honestly all the beauty of words that Goethe spent so much effort putting to perfection is dumbed down to such a layman level that a lot of the effect of his genius is lost in this version. I was terribly dissappointed with this version when I got it. Don't buy this translation unless you have no ability whatsoever to understand poetic language.

... how the work has been translated. Goethe spent more or less his whole life on writing and improving this drama. In the original text nearly every line rhymes with another. In fact, there are only a few exceptions.
It's sad that all that is gone with the translation. In my opinion a lot of the magic surrounding the text disappeared, too.
If possible, you should definately read it in german.(only if you're really good) It's hard enough to fully understand it even if german is your native language.
Quotation: (beginning)
Faust: Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
Juristerei und Medizin,
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor!
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor;
Heiße Magister, heiße Doktor gar
Und ziehe schon an die zehen Jahr
Herauf, herab und quer und krumm
Meine Schüler an der Nase herum-
Und sehe, daß wir nichts wissen können!
Das will mir schier das Herz verbrennen.
....

Marthens Garten
MARGARETE: Versprich mir, Heinrich!
FAUST: Was ich kann!
MARGARETE: Nun sag, wie hast du's mit der Religion?
Du bist ein herzlich guter Mann,
Allein ich glaub, du hältst nicht viel davon.
FAUST: Laß das, mein Kind! Du fühlst, ich bin dir gut;
Für meine Lieben ließ' ich Leib und Blut,
Will niemand sein Gefühl und seine Kirche rauben.
...
I LOVE these parts!

The most important thing all of the reviews fail to note is that Stuart Atkins was one of the greatest Goethe scholars of the 20th century. I was fortunate enough to take his Faust course almost 40 years ago and it remains one of the high points of my university experience.

If you have read (and not just seen) Goldman's "The Princess Bride," you will understand my reaction to this classic. The short of it is that Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" is a more-to-the-point rendering of the classic tale. Goethe starts strong, but Part II loses focus, and dulls the story.

The play is called "Faust," therefore our focus should be on Faust, as the focus of "The Hobbit" is on the Hobbit Bilbo. Goethe does this to perfection in the first part of the story. Mephisto's seduction of Faust is palpable--you can taste the evil dripping of every page, and you twist in time with Faust as he wavers back and forth under Mephito's barrage.

However, Part II does not follow logically from the events in Part one. Instead of focusing on the decline and fall of Dr. Henry Faust, we get setting after setting after setting. Goethe's main gimmick is the Pleasure Garden, which takes place in Oberon's Enchanted Forest. Furthermore, there are ample helpings of Greco-Roman mythology that sent me packing to my "Bulfinch's Mythology." This is all nice, but if we wanted Homer or the Bard, we would go to the source. As Bruce R. McConkie said, "Don't drink below the horses."

This brings me to William Goldman. Part of the humor in "The Princess Bride" is that it is "the good parts version." Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" should be considered "the good parts version" of Goethe's retelling. A lot of Goethe's flourishes and irrelevant asides could be excised without any violence to the plot and the story telling. Of course Goethe was building on Marlow's work, but in several places, he went a too far.

I do not hate Goethe's version. Psychologically, and romantically it is a better work. The seduction scenes are longer and more realistic, unlike Marlowe, whose seduction is slightly better than Palpatine's beguiling of Anakin. The interaction between Faust and Helen is meatier, and that much more entertaining.

However, the ending was the most disappointing ending conceivable: deus ex machina by virtue of grace. So eat, drink and be merry (and sell you soul to boot), for mercy CAN rob justice, and we CAN be saved in our sins, not from our sins.

The first time I saw the commercial for this movie, I was only moderately interested. While taking a stroll in the bookstore I happend upon the novelization and so I figured I'd rather take my chances with a book than a movie. Im so glad I did. Yes the story is cheesy but that is hardly the author's fault. Christa Faust worked wonders with the material she was given. I found the book's character descriptions very vivd and funny. Faust added a lot of humor into the dialogue which made the book even more enjoyable. After reading the book I didn't bother seeing the movie, knowing that I would only be disappointed and $10 poorer!

I like this book, but the movie was better. I'm had to drop it!!!
I still like the book, because, I intersted in horror things, it is still very descriptive.
I had enjoyed the part of the plane, and she describes how Mercades looks and every thing!

I've only read about 20 pages (Im lazy when it comes to reading novels), but i'm a big SoaP fan, so i'm definitly prepared for some funny odd mischief in this book. It'll be just as weird and non-serious as the movie, but it surely does rock!

I read this book on a recent flight to Florida and was instantly engrossed in the plot and characters. The story is a little far-fetched and campy, but one can't help wondering "what if" with a plot like this one. Deadly snakes loose on an airplane full of passengers flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles at night. For anyone who doesn't like to fly or is afraid of snakes, this book will surely make you more than a little uncomfortable. I found myself unable to put the book down and actually resented the intrusion of the landing in Florida.

Be prepared to lose track of time and give up some sleep when you pick this book up. It's a keeper!

Now let's face it, media/tie-in/novelization novels are poorly regarded in the publishing world. Frankly they are considered hack work, done for money in-between other works. 99.99% of them just recreate the scenes/dialog of the movie. Adding nothing. Generic writing in other words.

But that doesn't mean they all have to be bad. And in some cases, they can be great! I used to read a lot of these in the days before DVDs, heck, in the days before the home video market. Novelizations of movies were the only way to relive a movie once it left theaters and was 2-3 years from television. The first one I read that was a cut above was the adaptation of The Abyss by Orson Scott Card. Not surprising considering who wrote it.

But Snakes On A Plane is, without a doubt, the best movie novelization to date. Period. And it won a SCRIBE AWARD!

Christa Faust is a rising star in the publishing world and I urge you to snag a copy of this book (and her other work) before she hits the big time and her books simply disappear off shelves, ebay, the internet, etc. She's that good.

Why buy a movie novelization? Why buy this novelization? Good questions. The answer: Faust's style, great pacing and she single-handedly breathes life into characters, which in the movie, are just fodder for the snakes. She gives them ALL in-depth character traits and back stories. She fleshes them out in a way I have never seen it done in past books of this kind. And all of this background material, which she creates from whole cloth, is interesting, diverse, captivating. If you are a fan of the movie, you'll never look at the passengers the same way again when you view the DVD. You will know who these people are and you'll care about them. As colorful as they are on screen, they are soon snake bait. But in this great book, they become real.

Plus her style is just great! Fast paced, funny, kinetic... Faust can do it all.

For Black Flame she has written Nightmare On Elm Street, Jason, Final Destination and Twilight Zone novels as well as this extraordinary Snakes adaptation. I'm looking forward to reading them all. As well as anything else she's written that I can get my hands on.

All movie novelizations should be this good. Don't miss it.

There has always been much of the child in Kerouac. Whether creating a baseball game from a deck of cards in Desolation Angels, or just displaying a child-like fascination and exuberance at the prospect for a hiking trip in the Dharma Bums, he comes across as a naive man-child, the reluctant herald of a new social and literary order. After publication of On the Road, he became fascinated with the idea of a Balzacian type of literary work that would encompass the life of the writer, but would be autobiographical only in a peripheral way. It would be a sprawling collection of novels, vignettes and poems with a re-occurring cast of characters that would allow the reader to view the author in a series of vaguely related situations. This grand epic was to be know as the Duluoz Legend. True, his first novel, The Town and the City, dealt with much of the same material contained in Dr. Sax, but that book was written before Kerouac found his true voice, the one that was displayed in On the Road. So, armed with a new style he was to revisit his youth once more and add to the legend.

What makes this novel distinct from The Town and the City, other than its style, is Kerouac's emphasis on the fantasy world of his youthful protagonist. Ti Jean does what most other adolescent boys do: play sports, hang out with his friends, discover masturbation, and lose himself in the fantasy world of comics, radio and movies. Chief among these are the Street and Smith westerns and the mysterious hero of the weekly radio program, The Shadow - "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men." Ti Jean, has his own phantom fighter of evil: Dr. Sax, who hangs out down by the banks of the Merrimack, has a greenish complextion, wears a slouch hat in which he stores his secret weapons and potions, and is seen "flowing in the back darks with his wild and hincty cape." Unbeknown to Ti Jean's family and friends trouble has come to Lowell, Mass. In the abondoned mansion on top of Snake Hill the apocalyptic battle between good and evil is to be fought between Dr. Sax and the satanic Serpent, slowly worming its way up from Hell. Although Lowell is saved from the destructive forces of the Serpent, Dr. Sax plays little part in this salvation - he is exposed as quite the inept evil fighter - but by a giant bird that picks up the Serpent and carries it away. All that the ineffectual Dr. Sax can say is, "I'll be damned ... The Universe disposes of its own evil."

I know that I am comparing kumquats to oranges here, but in this novel Kerouac did for Lowell what Joyce did for Dublin. With almost almanac-like precision he describes that mill city of the mid and late 1930s (even providing a sketch map of his Pawtucketville neighborhood) so that armed with a copy of the novel, the present-day reader can follow in Kerouac's footsteps. The Lowell that is described in the novel is essentially an immigrant community, one principally occupied by French Canadians who came south to work in the mills. This community is described with love and attention to detail and Kerouac captures the rhythm of the speech and the social interactions so important to that community. Another high point of the novel is the vivid description of the great flood of 1936, when much of the city was unundated, forcing hundreds to flee their homes.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's (1922-- 1969) "On the Road." The Library of America, among others publishers, has marked the occasion with the publication of a new volume including five Kerouac "Road Novels". I wanted to reread other works by Kerouac besides the "road novels" that are in danger of being overlooked, and I turned to "Dr. Sax". Kerouac wrote "Dr. Sax" in 1952 while living with William Burroughs in Mexico City. It was a difficult time for both writers. Kerouac had already written "On the Road" but could not get it published. Burroughs had just accidentally killed his lover, Joan Vollmer, during a drunken game of "William Tell". "Dr. Sax" proved even more difficult to publish than "On the Road" and did not appear in print until 1959.

"Dr. Sax" differs from "On the Road" and the other books in the LOA collection in that it is set in Lowell, Massachusetts, the town where Kerouac grew up. Lowell is a small mill town on the banks of the Merrimack River. During Kerouac's boyhood, it was home to a substantial French-Canadian immigrant population, to a community of Greek Americans and to several other diverse ethnic groups. Kerouac's parents were both immigrants from French Canada. They spoke a dialect of French in their home and Kerouac did not learn English until he was about seven years old. A fascinating part of "Dr. Sax" is the French dialogue among Kerouac and his family -- with Kerouac immediately providing an English rendition in addition to the French.

The book is written from the perspective of an adult -- Kerouac in 1952 in Mexico City -- looking back and reflecting upon his childhood and early adolescence from the standpoint of his ongoing difficult life as a writer struggling for publication and combating his own inner demons of drugs and alcohol. It opens with a dream, and Kerouac tells the reader that "memory and dream are intermixed in this mad universe." The book features a strange character the young Kerouac invented named Dr. Sax, a sinister figure in a cape and slouch hat. Dr. Sax is accompanied by other bizzare characters including Count Cordu the Vampire, the Great Snake, the Wizard, and others who live in a large weed-grown abandoned house on a snake-infested hill just outside of Lowell. Kerouac conceived the idea of Dr. Sax from various comic books that were popular when he was a child.

"Dr. Sax" is memorable largely for the picture it draws of Kerouac's childhood and of Lowell. (Kerouac is named Jack Duluoz or "Ti Jean" in the book.) It gives good portraits of Kerouac's mother and father and of the family's many moves among the poorer neighborhoods of the town and of Kerouac's older sister and ill-fated brother Gerard who died when he was ten. Kerouac, Ti Jean is portrayed as a sensitive, imaginative and athletic child. The book offers portraints of Kerouac playing baseball and marbles, going to church, engaging in pranks and fights with his childhood friends and enemies, watching movies and reading books, experiencing the first flush of sexuality and learning to masturbate, and learning of death, in the person of Gerard and several others. The book also shows a great deal of Lowell and its environs, especially of a large flood that destroyed much of the city's downtown in 1936.

The story of young Ti Jean and of Lowell is punctuated by comic-book like tales of Dr. Sax. Dr. Sax also appears as a shadowy figure commenting upon and observing the life of young Kerouac and his family and friends. There is something sinister about Sax throughout most of the book. He is partly drawn from William Burroughs, as he is shown travelling through South and Central America for various "powders". In the lengthy final chapter of the book, Ti Jean accompanies Dr. Sax in a bizzare chapter in which Sax purports to ward off the forces of evil that threaten Lowell. The story gets a sharp wizard-of-Oz-like twist at the end.

With the comic characters and the surprise ending, there is a great deal of mad humor in Dr. Sax, but the tone still is predominantly one of melancholy and reflection. In one particularly good scene, Kerouac's dying uncle prophetically tells him: "my child poor Ti Jean, do you know my dear that you are destined to be a man of big sadness and talent-- it'll never to live or die, you'll suffer like others -- more" The Dr. Sax figure, similarly, seems to show the price Kerouac paid for becoming a writer. The book suggests -- with its subtitle "Faust Part Three" that Kerouac's writing was part of a Faustian bargain with Dr. Sax in which Kerouac paid for his literary imagination with a sad and tormented life.

Dr. Sax was Kerouac's favorite among his own novels, and many readers would among his work regard it as his best or second-best after "On the Road." (Other works have their own partisans as well.) This book will interest readers who want to see a lesser-known side of Kerouac. The book is written in a variety of styles. It is erratic and not easy reading. Those who are interested in Kerouac's portrayals of his life in Lowell might also enjoy "Maggie Cassidy" and Kerouac's first and underappreciated book, "The Town and the City".

Robin Friedman

This book gets you past the historical significance of his work and gives you direct contact with his deeper nature. You don't have to have any interest in "The Beat Generation" to enjoy this book or to appreciate its immense spiritual value.

Who is Doctor Sax? At first glance, he appears as a shadowy, even frightening figure from pulp comics. He dons a cape and a slouch hat; he changes colors depending on the time of day. Is he a demonic figure, lurking in the darkness intent on catastrophic destruction or is he simply a regular guy in an atypical superhero type costume?

_Doctor Sax_ is basically a series of interconnected tales of the bizarre, as seen primarily through the eyes of its young protagonist, Jean Duluoz. Lowell, Mass. in the 1930s is the backdrop, and the realistic part of the novel includes Jean's interactions with his parents and his boyhood friends. Jean and his buddies engage in all the compulsory games of childhood, including baseball and shooting marbles. The book also contains a large section concerning the flooding of the Merrimac River during a spring thaw. As seen from some of the boys' point of view, the anticipated floods provide sheer excitement, while their adult counterparts react with fear and horror.

The fantasy part of the book, concerning haunted castles, demons, huge coiling snakes and an ultra-colossal sized bird, contains some of the best and most imaginative science fiction/fantasy writing ever. _Doctor Sax_ is not just merely a very superior pulp tale of good vs. evil, it is also a work of genius and wit. Mr. Kerouac, having written in an entirely different genre for him, has clearly outdone himself.

These are stories from Kerouac's childhood. The writing resembles that of the later Henry Roth. Among other things, each man wrote of boys swimming in the river and the magic highlighted style gives the reader the sense of swimming, too, a not alltogether positive experience in the built-up industrial areas described. Kerouac's writing is vigorous and interesting. Dr. Sax is a mythic, half real, half unreal character, something, someone, looming up, derelict. Dicky Hampshire wrote on a fence that Jack is a big punk, and so on and so forth. The community described is comprised of many French-Canadians and French terms and phrases are used. As to the swimming in the Merrimac River, it was polluted in those days prior to World War II in the area near Lowell. Kerouac writes of a silent Boott Mills, horse racing, marble playing, and ghosts. There is bowling at the social club. Movies and funnies get the attention of the children, boys, friends of Ti-Jean. Family names mentioned include Duluoz. Dr. Sax in a shroud stands on the shore. The castle is a heap of stones. The Shadow Magazine is of significance in the book. Flooding in the area sometime in the thirties is described. The boys go to Paul's porch in a rowboat.

This book combines a riveting trial of good and evil.
The characters of Faust and Mephistopheles create a universal balance between the widespread views of Christian lore and the thoughts of human free will.
A must read for any educator and student of literature who wants to further their knowledge about the perils of life.
This translation is amazing and I highly recommend it for anyone.

So many versions of Faust are just poorly written, but not this one! It's good for the scholar and the poet!! (I just happen to be both.) I am very pleased with this retelling!!!

Before reading this book I kept seeing its title in many articles and books, so I decided to buy the book to see what the fuss is all about. Im no expert in poems but this book was very well written and many lines sound so beautiful when you read them. The story is very entertaining and the greatest thing was the way the devil was portrayed.

Very beautifuly written book!!! If you like Byronism, Gothic novels, and the regency dandy, you will love this book. I will admit that if you are new to this style of literature, it may be a little tough to read, but very worth it!!! The more you read the easier it gets to understand. If your interested give it a shot, you won't regret it!

This is definitely Goethe's masterwork, and it is beautifully written. Everyone knows about the man who sold his soul to the devil, but everyone should read this poem in order to experience the beautiful words and images that Goethe created. This is a true tragedy, and we watch helpless as the pre-ordained conclusion is revealed. I am glad that I took the time to read this.

Given the high concept plot, a munitions dealer contracts a black magician to loose all the demons of hell for one night, surprisingly little happens in this short work. That it is actually enjoyable is due to the skill and craft with which Blish writes his prose.

The author states in the foreword he wanted to treat magic as if it were a rigorous discipline in the mold of science or engineering and he succeeds. However this makes the scenes of ritual magic detail heavy and tedious. Nor is their any real build up of tension in the book as you would expect with such a catastrophic event being asked for.

The reason for this is probably the lack of conflict. Though the forces of good appear, and are even represented with an observer, Father Domenico, at the lair of Theron Ware the magician, due to a Covenant between the higher powers he can do nothing but ask Ware not to do it.

The idea is a good one, the execution Blish chose just wasn't that appealing. However the prose is. Blish writes it tightly, and the characters are actually interesting given the little that happens. You'll be left vaguely unsatisfied though as the book doesn't really deliver what it promises. As one reviewer mentions, it really takes place in only two locations and all the demonic carnage happens off page.

Almost as if this was an outline of a longer work, or a novella with a novel screaming to get out.

1968 was a dark year. Robert Kennedy was assassinated and the world was still in shock over Martin Luther King's senseless murder. Hippies rioted at the Democrat's convention in Chicago, Charles Manson had begun his murderous rage, Vietnam was a debacle, the Cold War was still on and it seemed the world (humanity calls home) was on a downward spiral headed to bummerland.
In 1968, James Blish was writing disposable Star Trek "fan-novels" and was (pretty much) considered the"poor man's" Aurther C. Clark-- when he published the second novel (Black Easter) of his trilogy "After Such Knowledge". "Black Easter" remains a touchstone compendium of that nasty year.
No other sci/fi/horror author, before or since, has captured the paranoia of a particular time with such supernatural, black magic volcanism.
Warning: The book feels dated but why grouse.
Violent, debauched, corny and utterly fascinating, "Black Easter" will give every fan of densely plotted intelligent horror more than a few chills.

This is a thesis novel in the sense that its events seem to have been carefully thought out before Blish even began to write the book - from the first page to the last, he leads the reader towards a powerful and inevitable conclusion. This isn't a work which should be read for `plot surprises', but rather for its tight structure: Blish looks at magic with precise, almost clinical attention; as he set out to do in writing this work, he strips the book of extraneous details and instead confines himself to a select few questions and themes. The four main characters - Black magician Theron Ware, monk and White magician Father Domenico, weapons-maker Baines and his assistant Jack Ginsberg - all play clearly defined roles, each providing the reader a different point of view from which to evaluate what is being said and done. This is a difficult but memorable book.

This isn't a bad book by any means, but it's very period (one gets the impression the author desires to shock, but, almost 40 years later, there's nothing here to ruffle your maiden auntie's delicate feelings, I assure you.)

The book is brief, and tells a simple tale: a gentleman hires a magician to perform a task (after two earlier trials). There, that's it, that's the plot. Nowadays (not that now is better, but we're used to Now) that would be the set-up to the plot ... the book ends just as things are about to get interesting.

There is a sequel, the Day After Judgement, which picks up immediately afterward but which also somewhat disappoints.

Another fault--well, not a fault necessarily, but certainly a less-engaging choice--is that the horrors one might expect in a book about black magic are entirely played offstage, and only referred to. Imagine a Lord of the Rings with passages like "two weeks later they decided to go through Moria, where Gandalf died, unfortunately, fighting a Balrog. Still, with Lothlorien ahead, the Fellowship was somewhat optimistic." It's not a good thing.

There is a demon fashion-show/parade near the end which is worth a chuckle, but it's still not scary.

Blish' A Case of Conscience is much more compelling reading, so go there instead--unless you're a completist, or in the mood for a brief, non-unnerving look at the dark arts, circa 1967.

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually fairly good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

First off, the fact that this is such a brilliant, pithy, amazingly tight little tome is doubly amazing when one realizes that the quite gifted Mr. Blish also wrote novelizations of Star Trek episodes. Ah well, even the best have to pay rent.

Second, there is no finer fictional chronicle of diabolism, either ancient or modern, in English, and none that I know of in most of Earth's other tongues. Each of Blish's characters is deftly crafted with a minimum of prose, a compliment which can extend to the rest of this slight and delicious book; Blish accomplished in a few pages what today's pompous and prolix authors take hundreds of pages to say...Stevie King, though the man can write when he wants to, comes to mind.

Finally---and a mild criticism---while it is delightful that Blish takes care to present Malefica as a discipline, it is (or was, for when I first read this I was merely thirteen) somewhat disenchanting to see that Blish gets most of the Satanic formulae, Latin incantations, and demon summoning paraphernalia hopelessly wrong. I have since found older grimoires to draw upon, though, and Black Easter is a work of fiction, so no victim, no foul.

All in all a devilishly clever and delightful book; for more nastiness pick up The Day After Judgement, which is actually the third in a trilogy (the first of which was After Such Knowledge).

This is a generally good and easily available, inexpensive edition of Marlowe's plays. My only reservation about it is Steane's edition of Dr. Faustus. He makes the worst of both major texts, taking the general outline from the 1616 text but throwing in a lot of corrupt scraps from the 1604 edition for the clown scenes. I would advise anyone who wants to read Dr. Faustus to look elsewhere. I'm convinced that the 1604 version is on the whole a corrupt and truncated version of the play, but if you prefer it you might look into the Folger Library edition. If on the other hand you would rather read the play more or less as I think Marlowe wrote it, try the Signet edition edited by Sylvan Barnet.

The other plays present no major textual problems (except for The Massacre at Paris, which is pretty hopeless) and this is a fine place to meet them.

I just had a brief comment. I don't consider myself an expert on Elizabethan era literature, but I've read a fair amount of Shakespeare and a number of the other authors of the period, and I have to say I was quite impressed with Marlowe. He certainly deserves to be better appreciated than he is. One of the lines from Edward II has stuck with me. I think I have it more or less correct, which was: "...and as for the multitude, they are like sparks--caught up in the embers of their poverty." You have to like an author who can write like that, but unfortunately he's been so overshadowed by the great Will that he doesn't get as much attention as he should. Anyway, by way of doing what I can, however, modest, to increase Marlowe's popularity, I'd like to say he's a damn good playwright, and that I have no qualms about throwing my own not inconsiderable bulk behind his reputation.

This book is a treat. Very reasonably priced, and it's all there. The plays sweep you along (I always envision darkening Puccini-like chords in the background) images and crackling dialogue abounds. My problem is: 1) I have never seen the plays produced. This is *such* a handicap. I actually yawned through Shakepeare's "Tempest" until I saw a fine production. Now it is hands-down my favorite play and 2)I have to get in the swing of reading Elizabethan English for every reading. Therefore, I do not recommend reading in short snippets if you are also dialect challenged.

Do keep in mind Marlowe (as Shakespeare) was trying to make a living, not write for the ages. He's trying to entice you to buy a ticket and be charmed. He succeeds admirably. There is something for everyone: action, derring do, comedy, and sharp insights.

Marlowe is your mysterious, wild, sometimes trecherous friend; brilliant, but can you trust him? Probably not. If he was a vintage southern American, he might say "I didn't take you to raise." Would he lie to you? mislead you? Of course. But in everything I have read of Marlowe's I hear his voice; he is *there.* With Shakespeare, I do not have that certainty.

Recommend reading "The Reckoning" by Charles Nicholl for an excellent biography on Marlowe. It reads like an excellent mystery, which he was.

The Complete Plays includes all of Marlowe's plays (well, obviously.) As a bonus it includes the rather fragmentory Massacre at Paris (which many critics theorize is a corupt, unfinished, or damaged text) in a scene division only format and both editions of Doctor Faustus.

Marlowe's plays, while not on the same level as Shakespeare's best, are far and away superior to any other Renaisance era dramatist (See also, Thomas Kyd, Ben Johnson, or Richard Wharfinger--if you can find him hehe.)

The best thing about Marlowe's plays is the level of respect for the audience. Judgement of the characters is (for the most part) left to the reader. Tamburlaine can be viewed as hero and/or villian.

And, it being Renaisance drama, there are some spectacular death scenes--Edward II's anal cruxifiction, Brabas's boiling alive, Faustus's dismemberment, and the Admiral's hanging/shooting to name a few.

One complaint, and this is really more of a preference, but the textual notes are in endnote format, rather than footnote format, and they're not numbered notes--all of which makes finding latin translations a little more time consuming.
But, for fans of the genre, this is the way to go.

The Complete Plays includes all of Marlowe's plays (well, obviously.) As a bonus it includes the rather fragmentory Massacre at Paris (which many critics theorize is a corupt, unfinished, or damaged text) in a scene division only format and both editions of Doctor Faustus.

Marlowe's plays, while not on the same level as Shakespeare's best, are far and away superior to any other Renaisance era dramatist (See also, Thomas Kyd, Ben Johnson, or Richard Wharfinger--if you can find him hehe.)

The best thing about Marlowe's plays is the level of respect for the audience. Judgement of the characters is (for the most part) left to the reader. Tamburlaine can be viewed as hero and/or villian.

And, it being Renaisance drama, there are some spectacular death scenes--Edward II's anal cruxifiction, Brabas's boiling alive, Faustus's dismemberment, and the Admiral's hanging/shooting to name a few.

One complaint, and this is really more of a preference, but the textual notes are in endnote format, rather than footnote format, and they're not numbered notes--all of which makes findin