Jack Faust (novel)

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Jack Faust
JackFaust.jpg
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Michael Swanwick
Cover artistNadine Badalaty & Greg Spalenka
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Steampunk, science fiction
Publisher Avon Books
Publication date
September 1997
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages337
ISBN 0-380-97444-4 (hardcover)
OCLC 247029490
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3569.W28 J33 1997

Jack Faust (1997) is a science fiction novel by American writer Michael Swanwick. It was nominated for the BSFA Award in 1997, and for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1998. [1]

Contents

Plot introduction

The plot is a modernization of the classic German tale of anti-hero Dr. Johannes Faust, who struggles with his growing discomfort with modern thought and questions how and why things happen without scientific explanation. After Faust burns his library and contemplates suicide, a mysterious being named Mephistopheles comes to Faust and offers him all the information of the universe. With Mephistopheles' help, the madman Dr. Johannes Faust becomes the savior Jack Faust by accelerating human progress at a blinding speed, reshaping Germany and then all of Europe in his own image.

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The Laboratory of Mephistopheles, initially released in Britain and America as Laboratory of Mephistopheles and also known as The Cabinet of Mephistopheles, The Devil's Laboratory, Faust's Laboratory, and The Laboratory of Faust, was an 1897 short silent film directed by Georges Méliès, loosely inspired by the Faust legend.

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References

  1. "1998 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-08-05.