Doctor Faustus

Just as “Macbeth” is synonymous with the tragedy of ambition and “Othello” with that of sexual jealousy, the name of Thomas Mann’s protagonist, Adrian Leverkuhn, symbolizes the tragedy of Germany’s seduction by evil. Here is a new translation of Mann’s 1948 masterpiece–his modern reworking of the Faust legend, in which 20th-century Germany sells its soul to the devil.