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The article examines three American modifications of the Faustian theme, manifesting essential tendencies of American culture between the two world wars, or more precisely, in the 1930s. S.V. Benét and G. Stein turned to Faust theme in late 1930s, for Jack Kerouac the atmosphere of the 1930s became the cultural substrate that determined his individual interpretation of the Faustian legend, which took its final shape in the 1950s. For Stephen Vincent Benét, the main source of the short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1937) was the Romantic version of the deal with the devil of W. Irving, which he enriched with the motif of talent as a bargaining chip with the devil. The popularity of S.V. Benét’s version of the Faustian theme, with its stylization of American folklore and delving into national history, is symptomatic of the popularity of the historical genre in the US in the 1930s. Gertrude Stein’s libretto Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938) is cross-genre and cross-cultural in nature. This absurdist version of the legend of Faustus, who gains power over electricity and is disappointed with his victory, can be interpreted as a graphic illustration of the modernist crisis of humanism, as evidence of the impotence of man abandoned by God, deprived of morality and a real idea of who he is. Jack Kerouac gained the interest in the Faustian theme from O. Spengler, and his novel Doctor Sax: Faust Part Three (1959, written in 1952) was conceived as a personal-autobiographical sequel of Goethe’s two-part Faust, to incorporate his individual version of Doctor Faust legend as the most important element of his automythology, in toto decisively influenced by mass culture, rapidly developing in the USA in the 1930s.
Translated title of the contributionThree American Modifications of the Faustian Theme: Stephen Vincent Benét, Gertrude Stein, Jack Kerouac
Original languageRussian
Article number4
Pages (from-to)66-93
Number of pages28
JournalLiterature of the Americas
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Jun 2025
Event9-е международные Зверевские чтения по американистике Религиозный нарратив в литературе, истории, политике и культуре США: международная конференция - РГГУ, Москва, Russian Federation
Duration: 28 Apr 202529 Apr 2025
Conference number: 9

    Research areas

  • 1930s, Faustianism, Gertrude Stein, Jack Kerouac, Stephen Vincent Benét, culture, mid-twentieth century American literature, the motif of a deal with the devil

    Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities(all)

ID: 137604739