Simon is an erudite, insightful guide to a story that spans centuries but still speaks to our times.
Devilish deals always end badly, but people continue to make them, according to this wide-ranging study of the Faust legend.
Most readers are familiar with the story of Faust, the scholar who makes a pact with the devil, trading his soul for knowledge, power, and riches. Simon, an essayist and editor-in-chief of Belt Magazine, believes that many people don’t fully understand the story’s depth and complexity, and this extensive cultural history goes a long way to prove his point. While the first appearance of Faust as a character was in 1592, in a play by Christopher Marlowe, the idea goes back much further, and Simon tracks through the antecedents, including the temptation of Christ. Goethe’s version, the first part of which was published in 1808, was enormously influential, sparking many other tales that picked up the theme. Thomas Mann reinvigorated the story as a novel in 1947, using the concept of a satanic pact to try to explain why the German people followed Hitler. In Roman Polanski’s 1968 movie, Rosemary’s Baby, a struggling actor offers his wife to be the bearer of the devil’s child in return for fame. Simon argues that the Faust legend draws its modern resonance from the idea of the contract—not just as a legal agreement, but as a moral choice. In the closing section of the book, the author suggests that some of the problems of the contemporary world, from screen addiction to climate change, represent Faust-style bargains. In this section, the logic is unclear, and there is a sense that Simon might be stretching the metaphor too far. Nonetheless, the book is an undeniably fascinating read, as the author weaves literary and intellectual strands into a colorful tapestry.
Simon is an erudite, insightful guide to a story that spans centuries but still speaks to our times.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781685891046
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Melville House
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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