I know my fate. One day my name will be associated with the memory of something tremendous—

a crisis without equal on earth, the most profound collision of conscience,

a decision that was conjured up against everything that had been believed, demanded, hallowed so far.

I am no man, I am dynamite.— i

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Thomas Mann’s novel, Doctor Faustus, stands as a very unique adaptation of the Faust

theme. From the way he interweaves the story into the historical context of pre-WWII Germany,

to the alterations he makes in the role of Faust, Mann layers numerous connotations into his

reworking of this classic legend. The most prominent shift I see Mann making in his novel is the

change of Doctor Faustus’ occupation. While the original Doctor Faustus was consumed with

divinity and magic, Adrian Leverkuhn, the hero in Mann’s adaptation, is consumed with

primarily the magic of music. Coincidentally, and ironically this makes Mann’s hero a “tragic

artist,” tragic because of his role in a tragedy, and an artist by occupation. This is ironic because

Mann’s novel points a finger at Friedrich Nietzsche, and his philosophy, in a multitude of

different ways, but this one parallel seems more coincidental than the rest. It seems like Mann

held Nietzsche partially if not wholly responsible for the demonic shift in the rise of the third

German Reich. By placing the Faust story into the context of pre-WWII Germany, by parodying

Nietzsche’s own life through the life of Adrian Leverkuhn, and most of all by making Faust a

musical composer instead of an alchemical composer, it seems like Mann is twisting a tale that

parallels embracing any level of Nietzschean philosophy to making a pact with the devil.

Why would anyone relate Nietzsche’s philosophy to acts of devilry? Well, he is the

philosopher who established that, “God is dead.”ii Nietzsche’s philosophy is highly

controversial, and it is difficult to interpret exactly what Nietzsche wanted to promote through

his work. Albert Camus wrote, “Nietzsche’s philosophy, undoubtedly, revolves around the

problem of rebellion. More precisely, it begins by being a rebellion.”iii Like the tragic hero the

tragic artist has a rebellious spirit. Nietzsche’s philosophy flew in the face of tradition. It broke

from convention and rejected almost all accepted Truth, especially the truth of morality. Camus

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calls Nietzsche, “the most acute manifestation of nihilism’s consciousness.”iv Camus outlines

nihilism as a belief system that places no value in what exists:

Christianity believes that it is fighting against nihilism because it gives the world a sense of direction, while it is really nihilist itself in so far as, by imposing an imaginary meaning on life, it prevents the discovery of its real meaning: v

Nietzsche’s biggest issue was the growing nihilism in European society. For Nietzsche, the self-

sacrificing morality of Christianity was detestable and had to be destroyed. Accompanied by its

lack of justification as manifest through the death of God, Nietzsche’s goal through his rebellion

was to provide the necessary approach for living in a world that had just become devoid of value.

Nietzsche’s direct antagonism towards Christian morality and traditional truth-values puts him in

opposition to a large score of people. Even worse, within three decades of Nietzsche’s death, his

philosophy was being used to promote the rising National Socialist party, who adopted him as

their poster-boy as they consolidated power and jump-started a war machine that wreaked havoc,

pain and loss all over Europe. “[H]e was set-up, thirty-three years after his death, by his own

countrymen as the master of lies and violence.”vi

In the mid thirties, Thomas Mann escaped the nightmare of Europe and found sanctuary

in the United States while the Nazi empire tried to establish itself as the new Europe. He

witnessed the programs of lies and propaganda that began the march of German National

Socialism. What Thomas Mann holds against Nietzsche is impossible to interpret. Nonetheless,

it seems Thomas Mann’s construction of his Doctor Faustus novel insinuates a relationship

between Nietzsche and the devil. The Devil talks as if he were Nietzsche. In response to Plato’s

creation of the eternal Good in the sky, Nietzsche wrote, “[The creation of the eternal Ideal]

meant standing truth on its head and disowning even perspectivism, which is the fundamental

condition of all life.”vii When Leverkuhn encountered the devil in his chamber, the devil made

fun of Adrian for trying to rationalize his existence, “That would truly mean to stand all logic on

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its head, as one learns in academes.”viii Then, in his description of Hell, the Devil uses a

Nietzschean argument against the ability to use words to describe hell. When asked to describe

Hell, the Devil responds, “Actually one cannot speak of it in any manner whatsoever, because

the actuality is not congruous with the words;[…]all of them are but representative, stand for

names that do not exist.”ix

Nietzsche published an essay called “Truth and Lying in a Nonmoral Sense,” that

established an anthropomorphic understanding of language and truth conditions. Nietzsche

questions the certainty of truth, and the viability of language to possess such a potential as truth.

“Are designations congruent with things? Is language the adequate expression of all realities?”x

Nietzsche wants to emphasize the complex causal relationship responsible for the creation of

words, and the designation of human sounds as objects themselves. He accounts the transference

of experiences into words, as two distinct metaphors; one that is made in the process of creating

a mental image of an experience, and one that is made in order to express this mental stimulus in

a verbal exchange.xi Here Nietzsche identifies the drive for Truth as the societal impulse to use

the typical metaphors, “to lie according to a fixed convention.”xii The metaphoric nature of

language eliminates the potential for truth in words. We invented two plus two equals four.

“When someone hides something behind a bush, and looks for it in the same place and finds it…

there is not much praise in such seeking and finding.”xiii Mans’ language created the truths of

mans’ world. Our perspective is a unique human perspective, just as the Devil’s perspective is a

unique demonic perspective.

The original Faust legend, printed by Johann Spiess, arose out of the era of the

Reformation. Luther’s Reformation arose in opposition to the Italian Renaissance. “Witchcraft”

became a problem after the Renaissance because the people were inspired to reach back to the

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pagan traditions insinuated by the Greek mythology they were being newly exposed to. At the

crossroads of a stricter church, and the actuality of magic, the Faust legend is spawned with the

same motivations that have driven society since the fall of Adam, knowledge and power. The

original Doctor Faustus was a Doctor of Divinity, who concealed his practice of magic and

necromancy. The traditional theme of the Faust legend follows the fine Doctor through his life,

emphasis starting at the point where Faustus signs his soul over to the devil leading to his

gruesome demise. The original Doctor Faustus was a deviant soul, “being of naughty mind,”xiv

seeking greater power through his expanded knowledge and ability with magic. The tragic form

of this legend is a distinct characteristic of its Protestant roots. The Catholic Church solved the

tragic nature of life by offering salvation to all sinners who repented. The schism towards

Protestantism emphasizes predestination and faith, but it does not guarantee salvation; only so

many people can be saved. Faustus is obviously living a life that is not in pursuit of salvation.

Does that mean early twentieth century Germany could not have been saved? Was that all

predestined??

The Marlowe adaptation, and the Goethe adaptation of the Faust legend, both employ a

similar academic-theologian-magician as the main character in their plays. While they vary a lot

as far as how their stories unfold, both follow a fairly close storyline to that of the original Faust

Book. Thomas Mann’s adaptation of Doctor Faustus is by far the most unique of the Faust

legends. One could say it is made for our times. All of the traditional lines of the Faust legend

are broken or skewed. The novel’s reluctant hero takes up the study of theology only to “shove

Holy Writ under the bench” and pursue a career, as a composer. Music stands in for magic.

Nietzsche’s favorite art form was music. “Music is the highest art.” Nietzsche makes an

important distinction between the perception of the world as being versus the perception of the

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world as becoming. The rational mind creates dead facts that exist in a state of stagnation, while

the artist partakes in the real experience of life acknowledging creation and change. Nietzsche

was trying to promote a new phase of constructive creativity, rather than partaking in lifeless

conservatism. The fact that Mann made his main character a musical artist just resonates

Nietzsche, doesn’t it? It seems like Mann is intertwining a number of parallel scenarios: one,

where Nietzsche’s philosophy sends a society down a dark path, another where a “tragic artist”

makes a pact with the devil, overlaid by details about the tragic artist’s life that make it appear to

be a similar life to Nietzsche’s own life.

Adrian Leverkuhn lived Nietzsche’s dream. Exploring the realms of polyphony and

dissonance to continually create new forms and transgressions in music. Mann organizes

Leverkuhn’s life to appear very parallel to that of Nietzsche’s. They were both top of their class,

and studying theology. The only location that Leverkuhn’s path actually crosses Nietzsche’s path

is in Leipzig, and coincidentally this is the place the devil left his burning impression on him.

Both Nietzsche and Leverkuhn contracted syphilis during their lifetimes. Both enjoyed trips to

Italy, a scant encounter with love (probably both French girls), and lives filled with health

problems. The most fascinating crossover detail between these two tragedies is that of their

mutual pre-mature deaths. Leverkuhn collapses into gurgling silence just as he initiates The

Lamentation of Doctor Faustus, his final masterpiece. Nietzsche’s collapse caught him in a

strange move towards animal rights, hugging a horse that was being beaten by its owner. They

both wrote a few small notes, and then became completely incapacitated, falling under the care

of their mothers and sisters. For just over eleven years they existed as shutdown perceptual

bodies, gurgling in their beds or chairs, cut off from communication with this side of the world.

Nietzsche and Leverkuhn were both highly respected but not very successful during their

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lifetimes. They were both reserved in disposition, and very mysterious to their compatriots. One

possible reason why Mann meticulously mirrored Nietzsche’s life in the life of his protagonist

was to insinuate that the only way Nietzsche could have experienced the success that he

experienced posthumously, was through some sort of contractual agreement, which helped

establish all that occurred in his novel. Maybe it is just a coincidence, but that is a whole lot of

coincidence.

All of the layers of Nietzsche make me question, why? I recognize that Nietzsche was

highly influential during the rise of National Socialism in Germany. But, why would Nietzsche

be Faust? Why would Faust be a musical composer? This seems to be a sign of the times,

Nietzsche’s influence on society, or possibly more like Nietzsche’s recognition of societies

progression predicted that there would be a shift towards the more abstract. Concrete things

provide us with concrete values, while abstract things provide us with ambiguous value.

Nietzsche called for the, “Reevaluation of all values: that is my formula for an act of supreme

self-examination on the part of humanity.”xv Camus says the only thing we can blame Nietzsche

for is the momentary justification of the claim that everything is permitted, even murder.xvi As

Nietzsche’s approach to morality demands us to question everything, nothing becomes

unquestionable.

I am by far the most terrible human being that has existed so far; this does not preclude the possibility that I shall be the most beneficial. I know the pleasure in destroying to a degree that accords with my powers to destroy—in both respects I obey my Dionysian nature which does not know how to separate doing No from saying Yes. I am the first immoralist: that makes me the annihilator par excellence. xvii

All concepts that involve a beyond, or an idealization of the real, Nietzsche is going to want to

annihilate immediately. He writes, “The concept of the ‘beyond,’ the ‘true world’ invented in

order to devaluate the only world there is—in order to retain no goal, no reason, and no task for

our earthly reality!”xviii

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Nietzsche directs our focus towards the Earth, the body, and the sense perceptions.

Contrary to the Western Tradition, Nietzsche holds the sense experience to be the most honest

experience one could have. “Contrary to the opinion of certain of his Christian critics, Nietzsche

did not form a project to kill God. He found Him dead in the soul of his contemporaries. He

was the first to understand the immense importance of the event and to decide that this rebellion

on the part of men could not lead to a renaissance unless it was controlled and directed.”xix It is

funny, because when you think about the vast array of contemporary interpretations of nihilism

(e.g. Nietzsche’s a nihilist, the church is nihilistic, that approach is nihilistic), the ambiguity of

the term leads to its wide use in a similar fashion to labels like evil, and Satan. Elaine Pagels,

writes in The Origin of Satan that terms like satan and devil were used in the pre-Christ Jewish

societies to establish “otherness,” or distinguish separation between ones own group and an

opposing party.

The changes from the original Doctor Faustus all seem to impose the idea that Mann is

implying Nietzsche’s call to give up the pursuit of reason for the pursuit of art created a trend

towards the demonic. That, shifting from the categorical ethics of Christianity, to a more self-

centered ethic like that of the Greek nobles is more of a Faustian bargain then expected. Either

Mann is implying that Nietzsche is inherently demonic, and thus predestined to burn in hell; or

he is implying that Nietzsche is the weight that sunk all of the humanity out of pre-WWII

Germany. No matter what the specifics of Mann’s feelings about Nietzsche are, it seems Mann

holds Nietzsche to be highly culpable for the rise of National Socialism, and the establishment of

the devastatingly demonic third Reich.

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i Nietzsche, Friedrich. Ecce Homo. translated by Walter Kaufmann in Basic Writings of Nietzsche. Random House Inc: New York, 2000—all references to this text are to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes- EH pg#- EH p782

ii Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. Translated by Josefine Nauckhoff. Cambridge University Press: New York, USA. 2001—all references to this text are to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes- GS sec#— GS s343

iii Camus, Albert. L’Homme Revolte. Translated by Anthony Bower. Vintage International, New York: 1984—all references to this text are to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes—R pg#- R p68

iv R p77

v R p69

vi R p75

vii Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Translated by Judith Norman. Cambridge University Press: New York, USA. 2002—all references to this text are to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes- BGE sec#—preface

viii Mann, Thomas. Doctor Faustus. translated by John E. Woods. Vintage International, New York, 1997—all references to this text will be to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes—F pg#- F p241

ix F p260x

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. translated by Simon Sparks. In Simon Sparks 1st ed. Boulder, CO; Giclee Publishers Unlimited. 2004— all references to this text are to this edition and henceforth cited as endnotes-TL pg3 p1

xi

TL pg3 p3xii

TL pg5 p1xiii

TL pg6 p1

xivSpies, Johann. The English Faust Book. translated by Thomas Orwin. Hackett Publishing, Cambridge. 2005-p67

xv EH p781

xvi R p77

xvii EH p783

xviii EH p790

xix R p68