The Devil's Bargain - Ed Simon

Renaissance magic, pacts with the devil and the real Dr Faustus.

The figure of the mage is among the most alluring Renaissance characters. In plays from Marlowe's Dr. Faustus to Shakespeare's The Tempest, necromancers plumbed the depths of hermetic and occult knowledge to gain tremendous (and dangerous) power. Yet this figure wasn't mere literary invention, for Renaissance humanism was attracted to subjects magical, and often these characters were based on real personages. In particular, Dr. Faust, the wizard who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power, was drawn directly from the historical record, a mysterious and shadowy scholar who nonetheless endures in the countless permutations of his legend. In this lecture, join Dr. Ed Simon in a consideration of the "real" Dr. Faust.

Ed Simon is Public Humanities Special Faculty in the English Department of Carnegie Mellon University, the editor of The Pittsburgh Review of Books, and a staff writer for Literary Hub. A widely published writer, he is the author of over a dozen books, including Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology and Devil's Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

You may also like the following events from The Last Tuesday Society & The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities:

• This month, 24th November, 06:30 pm, Beowulf - Hugh Lupton - LIVE in London
• Next month, 8th December, 06:30 pm, Dark Fairy Tales From Around The World with Viktor Wynd - LIVE in London
• Happening on, 22nd January, 08:00 pm, Mummified cats and other concealed ritual objects - Wayne Perkins in London, United Kingdom

Also check out other Arts events in Newquay, Literary Art events in Newquay.