«Stoff zu einem neuen Faust». Analisi dei riferimenti faustiani all’interno dell’opera di Achim von Arnim

Abstract

The present article aims to examine the multiple Faustian references within Achim von Arnim’s work, with a particular focus on the Wissenschaftskritik motif. Few other Romantic writers, in fact, have devoted themselves to the Faustian theme with the same intensity and frequency as Arnim, in whose vast production the character of Faust almost always appears as a figure of a scientist or inventor who transcends the limits of human action imposed by God. By tracing Arnim’s work, the paper will first analyse the reworking and inclusion of Doktor Faust’s Lied within the Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which represents Arnim’s first approach to the Faust-Mythos. It will then continue with an investigation of Arnim’s different literary treatments of the Faustian motif, analysing works such as the fragmentary comedy Auch ein Faust, the novels Die Kronenwächter and Armut, Reichtum, Schuld und Buße der Gräfin Dolores and the posthumous drama Die Päpstin Johanna, described by critics as a ‘romantic Faustian poem’.