Hidden Mutualities: Faustian Themes from Gnostic Origins to the Postcolonial (Cross Cultures 87) (Cross Cultures - Readings in the Post Colonial Literatures in English)

353 Pages·2006·1.85 MB·English

by  Michael Mitchell

Hidden Mutualities
Faustian Themes
from Gnostic Origins to the Postcolonial
C ro ss
Readings in the Post / Colonial
ultures
Literatures in English
87
Series Editors
Gordon Collier Hena Maes–Jelinek Geoffrey Davis
(Giessen) (Liège) (Aachen)
Hidden Mutualities
Faustian Themes
from Gnostic Origins to the Postcolonial
Michael Mitchell
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2006
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
“ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for
documents - Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN-10: 90-420-2110-1
ISBN-13: 978-90-420-2110-5
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2006
Printed in The Netherlands
To the memory of Pat Mitchell and Elisabeth Stopp
and to the members of Maria Veen EDG,
particularly Bernd, Claudia, Oliver and Julia
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Contents

Acknowledgements ix
Illustrations xi
Introduction xiii

PART I POTENT ARTS

1 The Gnostic/Hermetic Tradition: Simon Magus to Faust 3
2 Standing and Falling: Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus 51
3 Ariel Magic: Shakespeare’s The Tempest 79

PART II OVERGROWN PATHS

4 Renaissance and Enlightenment: Kepler and Fludd 105
5 Rationality and Romanticism: Newton and Blake 129
6 Rediscoveries: Kipling, Yeats, Crowley, Pauli and Jung 153

PART III RE-VISIONING MUTUALITIES

7 The Fictional Fulcrum: Athol Fugard’s Dimetos 185
8 The Crystal Cliff: David Dabydeen’s Disappearance 213
9 The Magic Wound: Derek Walcott’s Omeros 241
10 Gift of the Magus: The Novels of Wilson Harris 273

Epilogue 313

Bibliography of Works Cited 315
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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to a large number of people who have been generous with
their time, assistance and advice, in particular Professor David Dabydeen, Dr
Rolf Lass, Wilson Harris, Professor Hena Maes–Jelinek, and many of the
staff and colleagues at the University of Warwick. Thanks also to the Univer-
sities of Essen, Bochum and Wuppertal for the use of their libraries.
I am especially grateful to Dr Gordon Collier for his invaluable sugges-
tions and for the meticulous attention he has devoted to the manuscript.
In gratitude to my wife and family, with apologies for all they have had to
put up with.
Versions of parts of this study have been published in the following places:

“The Fallible Magus: Reflections of Faustus in the Image of the Engineer in Athol Fu-
gard, David Dabydeen and Wilson Harris,” in Lost Worlds & Mad Elephants, ed.
Elmar Schenkel & Stefan Welz (Leipzig Explorations in Literature and Culture 2,
Glienicke: Galda & Wilch, 1999): 287–303.
“Putting the Horse Before Descartes: Theory and Derek Walcott’s Omeros,” in Theory
and Literary Creation, ed. Jean–Pierre Durix (Dijon: Centre Image/Texte/Language/
Éditions Universitaires de Dijon, 1999): 43–51.
“The Seignory of Faust: Gnostic Scenery in The Infinite Rehearsal,” Journal of Car-
ibbean Literatures 2.1–3 (2000): 168–78.
“Tales of Dragons: A Re-Evaluation of Athol Fugard’s Dimetos,” Journal of Com-
monwealth Literature 37.1 (2002): 65–83.
“The Magus at Angel Inn,” in Theatre of the Arts: Wilson Harris and the Caribbean,
ed. Hena Maes–Jelinek & Bénédicte Ledent (Cross/Cultures 60; Amsterdam &
New York: Rodopi, 2002): 153–63.

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