Doctor Faustus
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Doctor Faustus
| Full title | The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus |
|---|---|
| Author | Christopher Marlowe |
| Published | 1604 |
| Recommended | 2 times |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Marlowe’s tragedy of a scholar who exhausts logic, medicine, law and divinity, then signs his soul to Lucifer for twenty-four years of Mephistopheles’ service — and spends the power mostly on conjuring tricks. The founding portrait of the specifically modern ambition, knowledge and mastery pursued without limit, framed as a damnation rather than an achievement. |
Doctor Faustus
Where I heard about it
- University of Austin — assigned in Modernity and the West on its Fall 2025 reading list (November 2025). Full curriculum: UATX Fall Reading List.
- Dissident Teacher — on A Library to Build Great Americans (December 2025), in the Ages 13-99+ band, listed as “Dr. Faustus” under Fiction.
About this edition
Written around 1592 and first printed in 1604 (the A-text); a substantially different B-text appeared in 1616, so length varies by edition. The last act is a man who can still repent at any moment and does not.
Connections
- UATX Fall Reading List — the curriculum this is assigned in.
- A Library to Build Great Americans — the second list to recommend it.
- Christopher Marlowe — the author.
- Literature — Elizabethan tragedy; Marlowe is Shakespeare’s exact contemporary.
- Ambition — the play is a case study in ambition that outruns any purpose to spend it on.
- Christianity — the stakes are a soul, and the last scene turns on whether repentance stays possible.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.