Heritage et AL

Image: Mephistopheles appears to Faust in his study, Faust / by Goethe ; translated by Abraham Hayward ; with illustrations by Willy Pogany, London : Hutchinson, 1908, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections IL:1908 POGA.    The idea of making a deal with the devil has a long history in popular imagination. Robert Johnson made a deal with a devil at the crossroads for his otherworldly guitar playing abilities while Faust was after unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasure. The Faust legend was first dramatized by famous Elizabethan playwright and spy Christopher Marlowe in the late sixteenth century in his play Doctor Faustus . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749-1832) interpretation of the Faust legend was his life’s work – began in 1772 when he was in his twenties and returned to again and again until he completed Part Two a year before he died. The long play, mostly written in rhyming verse, is divided into Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two - the first dealing with Fau...

Over the past few weeks the Central City Library has been host to two talks in a series of events to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616, with two more events scheduled. In conjunction with the Pop-up Globe we have had some outstanding speakers who have brought a range of perspectives and expertise to these events. For those who have missed it, the first talk, Shakespeare from page to stage , has been uploaded to the Auckland Libraries YouTube channel . See Miles Gregory, Artistic Director of Pop-up Globe and director of Twelfth night , Professor Tom Bishop from the University of Auckland and Ben Naylor, director of Romeo and Juliet in conversation with Auckland Libraries’ own Iain Sharp .