We will begin today with Washington Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," a didactic tale satirizing the underlying greed of the Puritan world.
The story is a uniquely American take on the Faustian myth: an archetypal story in which the protagonist sells his or her soul to obtain something desirable from the devil.
We'll come back to this story in a moment.
Interestingly enough, the Faustian myth has woven itself into the fabric of American Music.
This is Robert Johnson, the most influential blues guitarist of the 20th century. He lived a short, mysterious life, but in those 27 years (FYI: He is the founding member of the 27 club, whose most recent inductee was Amy Winehouse), he managed to revolutionize the blues guitar. According to his contemporaries, Robert got really good really fast. In 1936, Robert penned the song, "Cross Road Blues." In the song, Robert claims to have sold his soul to the devil for his musical abilities.
Hey, remember this scene from O' Brother Where Art Thou?
My musical hero, Bob Dylan is aware of this myth's prominence in American music.
Back to "The Devil and Tom Walker."
In 1937, the story was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film: The Devil and Daniel Webster. The plot of the film is loosely based on Irving's short story, but the main character, a down-on-his-luck farmer who sells his soul for two cents, has a chance to win his soul back. But to do so, he must be tried by Ol' Scratch and Judge Hathorne (Nathaniel Hawthorne's grandfather, or as you all know him, the idiot judge from The Crucible.). The lawyer, Daniel Webster, agrees to be the protagonist's defense attorney. The following is his closing statement:
