The Devil's Pawn
Page 62
In Goethe’s Faust Part II, the emperor’s dire need for money leads first to the manufacture of paper money and then to devastating inflation. In my novel, the philosopher’s stone takes its place. While the formula to make gold was never discovered, many scientists at the beginning of the sixteenth century considered it not a silly idea but a real possibility. What today we call chemistry was then known as alchemy, a field that the real Doctor Faustus must have been rather good at. I liked the idea of various powerful leaders struggling to extract this secret from Faust—and all the while he doesn’t even know it.
Aside from money, war also has a significant role in Goethe’s play. In my search for the perfect weapon I happened across igró pir, the Greek fire. It was a top-secret incendiary that belonged to the most feared weapons of antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Components of Greek fire are petroleum, sulfur, burnt lime, and several other ingredients. If correctly produced, it can’t be put out with water and sets alight anything it touches. I was surprised to learn that this miracle weapon completely vanished after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, at the latest. In my novel, Leonardo da Vinci succeeds at reproducing igró pir. Consequently, questions arise that are comparable to the questions scientists around five hundred years later must ask themselves on the subjects of nuclear power and genetics: How far may science go? What ethical boundaries are there, and how can we protect those boundaries? And so we arrive at Leonardo da Vinci.
Next to Faust, Leonardo is the hero of this second volume. If you had to define the Renaissance with one person, he is the figure who epitomizes this era. Has there ever been a greater genius? Painter, sculptor, inventor, anatomist, mechanic, architect, musician, and, on top of everything, he was left-handed, a vegetarian, a pacifist, and homosexual. It’s easy to become addicted once you start reading about Leonardo da Vinci. For beginners I would recommend Walter Isaacson’s gripping biography and Stefan Klein’s Leonardo’s Legacy: How Da Vinci Reimagined the World, a highly entertaining read. Both books have helped me greatly during my research and are as thrilling to read as novels. From those works I borrowed Leonardo’s gloomy predictions for the future of mankind. How would Leonardo react to the possibility of genetically manipulating babies? What would he—pacifist and inventor of war machines—say about the atom bomb? Our modern-day scientific way of thinking had its beginnings in the Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci left behind around ten thousand sketches and notes, and many of them have now been lost. Who knows, maybe there’s a formula for the legendary igró pir among the missing documents? By the way, apparently Leonardo often considered having his anatomical knowledge recorded and bound in a book titled Figura Umana. But the master was working on so many projects at once that he never got around to it—only in my novel.
As in every good story, there are not just heroes but also villains. In my research for the first part of my Faust saga, I came across the French knight Gilles de Rais, who lived at the time of the Hundred Years’ War and was a close companion of Jeanne d’Arc, the Maid of Orléans. Almost everything I wrote about him is true—as horrible as it seems.
Gilles de Rais became a marshal of France, but he lived beyond his means. After trying to produce gold, he grew enamored of the idea of invoking the devil. To please Satan, but also taking personal pleasure in it, he murdered hundreds of children. He tortured them in the cruelest manner and sometimes even violated their dead bodies. If the devil ever existed in human form, then Gilles de Rais comes very close to it. He was only convicted after many years and hanged alongside two of his companions at Nantes. His helpers in my novel—Henriet, Poitou, La Meffraye, and the priest François Prelati—all existed, just like the castles of Tiffauges, Champtocé, and Machecoul, where many of the children were murdered. Their bodies were burned in the cellars, and their bones tossed into the moat. Gilles de Rais lived on as a symbol of terror in French mythology. The fairy tale “Bluebeard,” by Charles Perrault, also told in another form by the Brothers Grimm, is based upon him.
Whenever I wrote a scene involving the devil, in my mind’s eye I saw Gustaf Gründgens, the pale-faced, clownish Mephistopheles from the 1960 theatrical film that left such an impression on me as a youth. Gründgens, too, entered into a Faustian pact, namely with the Nazis. This pact is the theme of the novel Mephisto by Klaus Mann, which is one of my favorite books. If you haven’t read it yet, do—it’s worth it.
One cannot write a Faust novel without the devil, nor without science and the urge to reach for the stars, the need to reach further and never be satisfied—that which is called Faustian. Gilles de Rais and Leonardo da Vinci represent the two extremes of this notion. Both show what man is capable of, for good as well as for evil. In that sense, Johann Georg Faustus is very human, standing precisely between the two poles, between God and the devil, not perfectly good and not wholly evil, just like most of us.
Adieu, Johann! You accompanied me for nearly five years of my life. I’m going to miss you!
As always, many people helped to turn a few vague thoughts into a full-fledged novel. Thank you to Jeanne Banizet, from the Metz tourist information, who gave me a good understanding of her town and filled the gaps in my knowledge, and thank you also to the kind archivists at Orléans who supplied me with everything they had on Jeanne d’Arc and Orléans, despite my poor French. In the Loire Valley and later at Tiffauges, there were plenty of helpful people who showed me that the French can be warm and welcoming even if you don’t speak their language.
Thank you to my father, who combed the manuscript for medical errors. To my son, Niklas, who contributed with some fantastic ideas and spotted a few mistakes. To Uta Rupprecht, my long-standing editor. To Gerd Schweizer for the books and information on Knittlingen. To the entire team at Ullstein Publishing, who, as always, have been amazingly supportive. Thank you to Barbara Keydel for the Italian translations, Professor Manfred Heim for correcting my dog Latin, and Dr. Irene Balles and Dr. Diarmuid Johnson for the Breton translations. To Claudia, for placing her apartment in Rome at my disposal and supporting me with bicycle, pump, spanner, and much patience; and thank you to the friendly porter at the Hospital Santo Spirito in Sassia. Thank you also to Gerd and Martina from the Rumler Agency and to Christine Rothwinkler, who organizes my book tours with unique dedication (perhaps we could do one to France someday?). And thank you of course to my wife, Katrin, who, as always, trial read this manuscript. You are the best!
Faust for Beginners
Like The Master’s Apprentice, The Devil’s Pawn also contains numerous Goethe quotes—this time, of course, from both Faust parts. Did you spot them all?
Faust Part I translations by Charles T. Brooks. Faust Part II translations by Lisa Reinhardt.
Much admired and much scorned. (Faust II, verse 8488)
Shuddering is man’s best quality. (Faust II, verse 6272)
Each day to this small folk’s a feast of fun. (Faust I, verse 2161)
That’s how I know the learned man. (Faust II, verse 4917)
Am called Magister, Doctor, indeed . . . (Verse 3600)
These people never smell the old rat, e’en when he has them by the collar. (Faust I, verses 2181 ff)
Well, art is long! And life is short and fleeting. (Faust I, verse 558)
My fair young lady . . . (Faust I, verse 2605)
What you don’t feel, you’ll never catch by hunting. (Faust I, verse 534)
I like people who strive for the impossible. (Faust II, verse 7488)
Quite a peculiar juice is blood. (Faust I, verse 1740)
Each burns for gold, all turns on gold. (Faust I, verses 2802 ff)
Name is but sound and smoke. (Faust I, verse 3456)
War, trade, and piracy, they are a trinity indeed, inseparable! (Faust II, verse 11187)
Man errs and staggers from his birth. (Faust I, verse 313)
Quotes from Dante’s Divine Comedy are from the translation by the Rev. H. F. Cary, M.A.
About the Author
&n
bsp; Oliver Pötzsch worked for years as a journalist and scriptwriter for Bavarian television. He is the author of seven books in the international bestselling Hangman’s Daughter historical series, the children’s novel Knight Kyle and the Magic Silver Lance, and the Black Musketeers series, including Book of the Night and Sword of Power. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Oliver lives in Munich with his family. For more information, visit www.oliver-poetzsch.de.
About the Translator
Lisa Reinhardt studied English and linguistics at University of Otago and lives with her family on the beautiful West Coast of New Zealand. Her most recent work includes The Council of Twelve, the seventh book in Oliver Pötzsch’s Hangman’s Daughter series.
Table of Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
DEDICATION
Contents
Prologue
Act I
1
2
3
4
5
Act II
6
7
8
9
10
Act III
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Act IV
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Act V
28
29
Epilogue
Afterword
Faust for Beginners
About the Author
About the Translator