The Faust Myth: Religion and the Rise of Representation

by David Hawkes

This book traces the evolution of the Faust myth from the Sixteenth century to modern times. The authors studied include Marlowe, Calderon, Milton, Goethe, Byron, Dostoevsky, Wilde, Thomas Mann, and Salman Rushdie.

Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2007

About the author

David Hawkes is a Professor of English Literature at Arizona State University and a distinguished scholar in literary criticism, economic thought, and early modern literature. He is the author of several influential books and has edited critical editions of classic literary works.
Hawkes studied at Oxford University, earning a B.A. in 1986, before continuing his postgraduate education at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1992. At Oxford, he was a student of the literary critic Terry Eagleton and engaged in socialist-feminist scholarship with Oxford English Limited. At Columbia, he worked under Edward Said and contributed to alternative and underground journals in New York’s Lower East Side.
His academic career began at Lehigh University, where he taught from 1991 to 2007 before joining Arizona State University as a full professor. He has also held visiting positions at institutions in India, Turkey, and China. Hawkes has received prestigious fellowships, including a year-long National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library and the William Ringler Fellowship at the Huntington Library.
A prolific writer, Hawkes' works explore themes of economic criticism, ideology, and the intersections of literature, magic, and finance in early modern thought. His books include Idols of the Marketplace (2001), The Culture of Usury in Renaissance England (2010), and Shakespeare and Economic Criticism (2015). He has also edited editions of Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim’s Progress. His recent works, The Reign of Anti-logos (2020) and Money and Magic in Early Modern Drama (2022), continue his exploration of the relationship between literature, philosophy, and economics.
Hawkes' scholarship is widely recognized for its critical engagement with ideology and material culture, offering fresh perspectives on the intersections of literature, politics, and economic systems.

Reviews

[Burcu]

There are many works written on the Faustian narratives around the world and through centuries. Hawkes's version stands out with its focus on religion, performativity and sign and its strongly Deconstructivist approach. It's well-researched, well-argued and well-structured. From the earlier versions of Faust to the contemporary times, stopping at Enlightenment, Modernism and such in between, the author analyses both Faust narratives themselves and Faustian narratives such as Don Juan, Paradise Lost etc. There is also a particular emphasis on the economic, as "money" becomes a signifier beyond the signified in the discussions and the final chapter connects it to the postcolonial studies. My only reservation about the book was the need for a Conclusion, whereby more current, maybe popular cultural elements could be referred to.