Dr. Faust Sold His Soul, But Got a Better Deal than Psychopharmacology Offered.

The Sacklers bought our Soul for A Free Pen and Lunch for the Staff

The story of Dr. Faust is a familiar one to me. I was (academically) under the thrall of the terrible deals the devil seemed to routinely get buyers to agree to during my time at Amherst. I scored a production of Stein’s post-modern take—Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights—in my 2nd year. In my junior year, I built an independent study course on hell and the devil. I related to the ambition of Dr. Faust. The valuation of his immortal soul was low, but only from his perspective—honestly, it is unclear if he believed he was selling anything.