It occurs to me that some people might question the references to Faust in Nekonikon Punk: Ctrl Break. NPCB is not a tragedy, Juan has not sold his soul to the devil, there is no magic, and it certainly does not match the meandering plot of either part one or two of Goethe’s magnum opus. Prima facia, I can understand why one might think the connections are tenuous at best- a few matching names with no further substance.
Meaning is created through a relationship between the writer and the reader, so I cannot (and would not) tell anyone who thought such things, that they are wrong. However, I did intend some deeper connections to Faust when writing the novel and used the character names as clues to what I was going for. It would spoil the fun and some of the plot points in the second book for me to list them all, but I thought it would be worth explaining some of the connections in broad strokes. Hopefully, some readers could take these points and run with it to create some of the meaning I was hoping to elicit.
One of the most meta connections is in my own motivation for the type of story I wanted to write. In the prelude to Faust, a theater manager, poet, and clown are arguing about what kind of experiences should be had by audiences at the theater. The poet wants to write something of great meaning, with philosophical questions and lessons for the audience. The manager argues that audiences do not care about all that and they just want to be entertained; he insists the poet write something with lots of action. The clown just wants to put butts in seats. NPCB is my attempt to be both the poet and the manager. Hopefully, my readers enjoyed the action and found the plot well-paced. However, I still wanted to include philosophical points such as Weber’s state monopoly on violence and Rawls’ veil of ignorance. Additionally, I hoped my readers would draw connections about how capitalism, colonialism, and religious dogma share mechanisms of social control. I suppose, I am also the clown in this scenario for hoping against hope that I could develop a large audience as a first time author.
Despite the differences between the two stories, they do share similar themes and motifs. Juan does not sell his soul, but he is tempted by a desire for greater power. His whole journey takes him on a quest to find the righteous path as opposing forces try to manipulate and tempt him to choose power over his conscience. Also, the magic in Faust is used to solve problems and drive the plot in much the same way technology is used in NPCB.
The character of Greta Twardowski/Metalfist is a clear allusion to both Mephistopheles (AKA Mephisto) and the Polish character Pan Twardowski- who like Faust sold his soul to the devil. In NPCB, Greta is Juan’s companion, but does not understand the path he chooses. As Metalfist, she is motivated by a desire to claim Juan’s “soul” and seeks to punish those who have influenced him against her. I hoped to explain that in the conversation between Wagner and Bao about her “resolving her philosophy,” but certainly you should expect more development in book two.
The last point I’ll make is that I think a lot of the connections make more sense if you turn things on their heads. If NPCB is critical of religious dogma, then things in Faust that were considered positive should be considered negative in NPCB and vice versa. For example, dark magic in Faust, is similar to the hacking done by our heroes in NPCB. Characters in Faust that are more heroic, like Wagner, are more villainous in NPCB.
The fact that I wanted to write this, implies that I am not confident that I was as successful as I wanted to be in alluding to these connections in NPCB. Hopefully, this post shed some light on my intended connections to Faust and you are motivated to reconsider aspects of the novel in a new light. If you did enjoy this post, let me know and I will write another outlining the connections between NPCB and Little Shop of Horrors.
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