Faustian Creativity

The Faustian Bargain

Ed Simon | Next Big Idea | 8th August 2024

...And why it is compelling. The tale is an autobiography of every human. Mythical and transcendent it might be, but Faust’s story is also about paperwork — with a contract at its centre. Fascism is a Faustian bargain: the national soul exchanged for fantasies of making the nation great again. Faust holds up a mirror to modern society, with “the desire for power disguised as a thirst for knowledge” (2,000 words)

Creativity Is Not A Scarce Commodity

Howard S. Becker | 9th October 2017

On the contrary, it occurs everywhere, all the time. What’s scarce is the labelling of something as creative — “only the right kind of person, defined by the environing organisation as the kind of person who can be creative, can find creative solutions”. The informal codes around creativity demonstrate a parallel to sumptuary laws, which regulated what kinds of clothing different classes of people could wear (4,900 words)