Faust

Faust was for the popular imagination the embodiment of the adventurous spirit of the time, straddling the Middle Ages and modern times. In his book, Robert Nye uses historical documents that attest to the existence of Faust by throwing some light on his personality, by mixing in the elements of a hilarious romantic fiction. The book presents itself as the diary of Christophe Wagner, the young disciple of the alchemist, who takes us on a hair-raising pilgrimage to Rome following an unexpected Faust, an inveterate drunkard, a debauched and vicious knight of industry. Also on the trip are Hélène de Troie, mistress of the mage, ugly pain in the ass, mythomaniac and mystic, as well as seven lovely young girls, each practicing a different erotic specialty for the benefit of this young bawdy Wagner. Also cross the story Henry VIII, Luther, Margaret of Navarre, Calvin, etc. Fascinating like a whodunnit, joyously obscene like a contemporary Rabelais, Robert Nye's Faust is one of those works from which you come out with the impression of being more intelligent.