What makes a Faust story? Michael, Ethan, and special guests Josiah & Jacob discuss this ontological question and all things Faust in this special episode.
In this episode:
Michael begins confrontationally.
Is this episode Faust? Is this podcast Faust?
Ethan is NOT in Law School.
Is capitalism Faust?
The Bible is inevitable.
Josiah brought it up. Totally. It was Josiah. He's very smart. The Josian Anti-Faust idea (C) 2026.
Demon, Helen, Margaret - Where are the lines of demarcation between them?
Two questions: 1) What are you willing to sacrifice [to get what you want; and is it your very soul]? 2) What do you worship?
(Josiah came up with the smart thing again. (C) 2026.)
What you worship you will sacrifice.
Ethan cheats with Wikipedia.
Vein.
American Faust: do we win?
(Sorry for the Beetlejuice summoning.)
If it looks like an exchange but is a gift, it's grace. If it looks like a gift but is an exchange, it's vampi-- Faust.
When you're having night terrors, fart in the Devil's face and confess the Apostles' Creed.
Shout-out to Reading Revisited!
Every time he comes on this podcast, Jacob makes it a different podcast and/or a deal we need to wiggle out of.
There are other things in Detroit other than Eminem.
Let it be known, we can be charitable to a garbage fire.
The answer is a tautology. Or cake.
Here's each work we discuss: Is it Faust?
The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton: Is it Faust?
The book of Job: Is it Faust?
It's A Wonderful Life: Is it Anti-Faust? Is it Faust?
Jesus tempted in the desert: Is it Faust? Is it Anti-Faust? Is Faust a fan-fiction of Jesus?
Genesis 3: Is it the OG Faust?
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens: Is it Faust?
Trust, by Hernan Diaz: Is it Faust?
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt: Is it Faust?
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde: Is it Faust?
"The Ballad of Reading Gaol," by Oscar Wilde: Is it Faust?
Of One Blood, by Pauline Hopkins: Is it Faust?
Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell: Is it Faust? Orpheus & Euridice: Is it [proto-]Faust?
Dracula, by Bram Stoker: Is it Faust?
Hades & Persephone: Is it Faust?
Interview with the Vampire: Is it Faust?
Underworld: Is it Faust?
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia," by Charlie Daniels: Is it Faust?
Robert Johnson: Is he Faust?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Is it Faust?
Oedipus: Is he Faust?
Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke: Is it Faust?
Devil's Advocate: Is it Faust?
Beetlejuice: Is it Faust?
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare: Is it Faust?
The Waterboy: Is it Faust?
Rick & Morty: Is it Faust?
Doctor Who: Is it Faust?
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie: Is it Faust?
Ghosts, S4E22-S5E1: Is it Faust?
The Passenger, and Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy: Are they Faust?
Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy: Is it Faust?
Grimm's Fairy Tales, e.g. "The Devil's Sooty Brother," "Bearskin," "The Devil and His Grandmother," "The Gravemound," "The Peasant and the Devil," "Doctor Know-all," "The Spirit in the Bottle": Are they Faust?
Irish Fairy Tales, and Russian Stories: Are they Faust?
Luther throwing his inkwell at the Devil: Is it Faust?
"The Little Mermaid," by Hans Christian Andersen: Is it Faust - WAIT, we'll talk about it later!
"The Magic Thread": Is it Faust?
Click: Is it Faust?
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare: Is it Faust?
Breaking Bad: Is it Faust?
Rapid(-ish) Fire:
Fullmetal Alchemist
"Ain't No Rest for the Wicked," by Cage the Elephant
Better Call Saul
Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Maturin - WAIT, we might also talk about that later(?)
It Follows
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Death Note
"Button, Button," by Richard Matheson
"The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs
The Third Man[, by Graham Greene]
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis
The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Love's Labours Lost, by William Shakespeare
"Goblin Market," By Christina Rosetti
Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
Paradise Lost, by John Milton
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
"Calliope," by Neil Gaiman
Ravelstein, by Saul Bellow
Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
KPop Demon Hunters
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne
Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
Previously featured on Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Liar, Liar
Bruce Almighty
Big
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Phantom of the Opera[, by Gaston Leroux]
"Alastor," by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
"Young Goodman Brown," by Nathanael Hawthorne
Wittenberg, by David Davalos - DON'T BOTHER
Stranger Things (especially Season 5)
Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss “Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day,” by Jonathan L. Howard! Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page.
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MUSIC & SFX:
"Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission.
"The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.
"Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.
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