A sinister read!
The Master's Apprentice: A Retelling of the Faust Legend
by Oliver Pötzsch
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as soon as I started, although I had no idea of the dark route the story would travel. Aiding these feelings were the descriptive notes of the places and times, ringing all too true.
In the prologue we're located in Germany in the"Knittlingen, in the Kraichgau 27 October, AD 1486." Further we're told that, "In the fall that the children disappeared, the jugglers came to town." And as the young Margarethe says to her childhood friend Faustus, “jugglers and musicians are children of the devil?...That’s what the church says. Whoever dances to their music they lead straight to hell...“Perhaps they took the children, too. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Makes one wonder what's coming!
Even in those beginning pages one knows Tonio is more than an itinerant palm reader / astrologer. Later he declares he's "a master of the seven arts and keeper of the seven times seven seals! ...a doctor of the university of black magic in Krakow,” or as Margarethe mutters, a sorcerer!
Eight years on the magician returns. We know there's something foul about him. Faustus, whose suffered at the hand of the village bullies, is sucked into that darkness.
Missing children and Tonio's appearance seem to coincide, along with the disappearance of his lame brother, and the silence of Margarethe who has turned in upon herself. All is startling and unreal. Tragedies keep piling up.
Faustus finds himself escaping the confines and disappointments of his village life, and on the road to studying and practicing the arcane arts, but with what consequences?
In the Historical foreword Pötzsch tells us, Johann Georg Faustus "the symbol of the ambitious, [is a] restless individual who is prepared to make a deal with the devil to gain fame and fortune—but ultimately pays with his soul...This is his true story."
Mmm!Weighty!
As the story unfolds I was struck by the selfishness of Faust. Is that who he truly is or is this the influence of darkness growing inside him? Can he break free?
I also could not stop flashing back to Johnny Cash's song the "Devil Went Down to Georgia", (which I kept mentally singing BTW) which is as far away from medieval Europe as you could get, but then the Faustus archetype still resonates.
(p.s. I took a break from reading, changed gears, and watched the movie!)
A gothic, masterful work if at times challenging!
An Amazon Crossing ARC via NetGalley
*****
by Oliver Pötzsch
In the prologue we're located in Germany in the"Knittlingen, in the Kraichgau 27 October, AD 1486." Further we're told that, "In the fall that the children disappeared, the jugglers came to town." And as the young Margarethe says to her childhood friend Faustus, “jugglers and musicians are children of the devil?...That’s what the church says. Whoever dances to their music they lead straight to hell...“Perhaps they took the children, too. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Makes one wonder what's coming!
Even in those beginning pages one knows Tonio is more than an itinerant palm reader / astrologer. Later he declares he's "a master of the seven arts and keeper of the seven times seven seals! ...a doctor of the university of black magic in Krakow,” or as Margarethe mutters, a sorcerer!
Eight years on the magician returns. We know there's something foul about him. Faustus, whose suffered at the hand of the village bullies, is sucked into that darkness.
Missing children and Tonio's appearance seem to coincide, along with the disappearance of his lame brother, and the silence of Margarethe who has turned in upon herself. All is startling and unreal. Tragedies keep piling up.
Faustus finds himself escaping the confines and disappointments of his village life, and on the road to studying and practicing the arcane arts, but with what consequences?
In the Historical foreword Pötzsch tells us, Johann Georg Faustus "the symbol of the ambitious, [is a] restless individual who is prepared to make a deal with the devil to gain fame and fortune—but ultimately pays with his soul...This is his true story."
Mmm!Weighty!
As the story unfolds I was struck by the selfishness of Faust. Is that who he truly is or is this the influence of darkness growing inside him? Can he break free?
I also could not stop flashing back to Johnny Cash's song the "Devil Went Down to Georgia", (which I kept mentally singing BTW) which is as far away from medieval Europe as you could get, but then the Faustus archetype still resonates.
(p.s. I took a break from reading, changed gears, and watched the movie!)
A gothic, masterful work if at times challenging!
An Amazon Crossing ARC via NetGalley
*****
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