The West’s Faustian tragedy

The West’s Faustian tragedy

Rumour has it that a very young Xi Jinping committed Faust to memory. I would be fascinated to hear what China’s paramount leader makes of Goethe’s myth of tragic modernity, which begins with a throng of spirits singing: “Christ is arisen!” This exultant line does not exactly mark the beginning of Faust — a two-part play whose beginning is, in fact, hard to identify. Part One opens with a night scene in which we see Faust, heartsick and alone, in