7.2 /10 1 Votes7.2
Language English Pages 337 pp Publisher Avon | 3.6/5 Goodreads Publication date September 1997 Originally published September 1997 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cover artist Nadine Badalaty & Greg Spalenka ISBN 0-380-97444-4 (hardcover) Nominations Hugo Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel Similar Michael Swanwick books, Technology books, Speculative fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jack Faust (1997) is the fifth published novel by the American author Michael Swanwick. It was nominated for the British Science Fiction Award in 1997, and for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1998.
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.