Also, a novel by Thomas Mann. The complete title is Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn erzählt von einem Freunde that translates to Doctor Faustus; the life of the German composer, Adrian Leverkúhn, as told by a friend. It was published in 1947, while Mann was living in Switzerland, and it was translated to English the following year..
This long book traces the life of Adrian Leverkühn, as told by his friend Serenus Zeitblom. The book starts in idyllic, rural childhood; the scene of the action shifts to the University and eventually to the rural seclusion that Adrian chooses for composing. From the very beginning it is clear that Adrian is different; self-sufficient and ironic, the child expresses an interest in music, but it is not obvious from the beginning that he will dedicate his life to composition.
Midway through the book there is an Italian interlude; it is during this visit to the sunny South that Adrian forges his Faustus' Contract with the devil.
The event is related, in a break with the form of the rest of the book, as an included manuscript by Adrian himself. Briefly, the devil will give 24 years of genius to the composer, in exchange for Adrian's soul and body.
Additionally, Adrian is not permitted to love anyone: his two attempts fail miserably, the first one when Marie Godeau is seduced by Rudolf Schwerdtfeger, Adrian's friend, and the second one when little Nepomuk dies.
It is interesting to notice that the supernatural nature of Adrian's pact remains in doubt; the devil himself admits that he operates through the cerebral infection of syphilis. The whole pact could be an hallucination, and its consequences the normal random adversities of life.
Adrian (a figure that owes much to the composers Schoenberg and Gustav Mahler) after the diabolic pact becomes subject to terrifying migraine episodes; his creativity comes in bursts, and his works (despite being the product of genius) are scarcely performed and receive mixed reactions.
Close to the end of the book the wonderful child Nepomuk, Adrian's nephew, comes to live with Adrian and subsequently dies of meningitis (again, the brain theme). Nepomuk's death inspires Adrian to write his last work, the Lamentations of Doctor Faustus.
Adrian, after a short time, suffers something that looks like a stroke followed by a progressive degeneration of his higher faculties. The once-brillian composer is reduced to a mindless invalid.
This is just the briefest sketch of a long book in which many other characters act and debate.
The life of Adrian and his pact with the devil is paralleled by Germany's ascension to power and victory through Nazism.