"Gaziel", d’Apel·les Mestres: un Mefisto irònic i un Faust bohemi

Abstract

Summary: This article explores the intertextual relations between Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and two texts by Apel∙les Mestres: the poem and the drama Gaziel (from 1891 and 1909, respectively). The influence of German literature on Mestres, and particularly of Goethe and Heine, is such that Gaziel can be regarded as a direct reproduction. The fact that Gaziel, Faust’s parallel, is a Poet frames the work as part of the debate on the Artist, which was a feature of Catalan Modernisme, and relates to Mestres’ status as a complete man of letters – draftsman, musician, poet, playwright and prose writer – which was made abundantly clear by the magnificent illustrations of the poem’s first edition. The ironic relationship between Mephistopholes and Gaziel provides the basis for an analysis of the function of the devil in the two works and the game of complicities that Mestres constructs around his character. Keywords: Faust, Gaziel, intertextuality, Modernism, artist, devil