ENG 4815-Fall 2025-Hand

Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus (c. 1589) follows a tragic hero who offers his body and soul to the devil in exchange for 24 years of service from the demon Mephistophilis. When his time is up, Faustus cries, “I’ll burn my books!” – but it’s too late.

Why does Faustus blame his books? How are texts dangerous, in early modernity and in the present? Early modern English culture was fascinated with the performative power of texts – what words, written and spoken, could do. In exploring the title question of this course, we will consider representations of powerful texts in Marlowe’s play as well as the textual transmission of the Faust myth itself from early modern contexts to contemporary remixes and remediations. Our class will effectively perform a case study, tracing Faustian intertexts over time. We will map the relationships among those involved in the production and transmission of text: authors, printers, publishers, editors, performers, booksellers, archivists, readers. We will think carefully about how pre-modern texts are edited and marketed to twenty-first-century readers: what role does an editor have in shaping a text and how we interpret it?

We will take an iterative approach, examining primary and secondary readings, appropriations, and adaptations, to inform and develop our thinking about texts and textuality. Work in this class includes a combination of assignment types, including in-class and hands-on work, low-stakes quizzes and reflective writing, and a final project creating a critical edition of an early modern primary text.

This course meets the pre-1800 and genre requirements.