12: Chapter Summaries and Page-by-Page Commentaries
In the heading for each chapter, “time of composition” refers to the dates on which Thomas Mann wrote these pages, “time of narration” refers to the dates on which the fictional Zeitblom writes them, and “narrated time” refers to the time at which the action narrated in the chapter takes place.
For the sake of concision, I have glossed terms that the reader could elucidate with a simple internet search only if those terms are central to Doctor Faustus (e.g., “polyphony”). Foreign phrases are translated only if their meaning will not be immediately deducible from context.
Thomas Mann used Luther’s Bible translation for his many scriptural references throughout Doctor Faustus. James Woods chose the King James Version for his English edition, and I have done the same for this commentary.
Descriptive character names are an important feature of the text and a useful interpretive aid for the first-time reader. Because characters sometimes resurface many chapters after which they were initially introduced, I have moved the appropriate entries to a separate “Cast of Characters.” A number of historical figures make cameo appearances in Doctor Faustus as well; these are glossed in the commentary.
The following abbreviations are used: L.= Leverkühn; Z. = Zeitblom; DF = Doktor Faustus; TM = Thomas Mann