Magic und Theatricality in the Story of Doctor Faustus

Gust lecture by Professor Andreas Kilcher (ETH Zurich).

Magic, at its core, is based on practice and performance. Its quasi-dramaturgical practices include instructions for action, such as incantation. The concept of performance in speech act theory – "how to do things with words" – can, mutatis mutandis, be considered a definition of magic. These practical aspects of magic became particularly prominent during its repositioning in the early modern period, which coincided with its scientification and literary transformation. The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor Iohn Faustus (1592) is an excellent narrative example of this, a "history" in which magic is virtually staged using various registers of theatricality. The fact that the "History" was also soon after given dramatic form as a "tragic history" – as in Christopher Marlowe's The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1604) – perfectly underscores this connection. The theatrical potential of magic was pushing its way onto the stage.

Bio

Andreas Kilcher is Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich. He has been a visiting Professor at Princeton University, Stanford University, UC Davis, as well as Tel Aviv University. His main fields of research are the relation between literature and knowledge; Jewish literature and culture; Kabbalah and esotericism. In these fields, he has published a wide range of monographs, edited volumes, articles, dictionary entries, and reviews. His book on Franz Kafka’s drawings has been translated in more than 10 languages and appeared on several bestseller lists. His most recent book “Kafkas Werkstatt. Der Schriftsteller bei der Arbeit” (Kafkas Workshop. The Writer at Work) also appeared on bestseller lists. His is currently working on a book about Faustus.