This course uses selected literary texts to study the theme of mankind's search for spiritual and intellectual self-realization. Works of different genres by major authors from Canada, England, Germany, and Norway are examined. Through the study of these works, the symbolic figure of Faust is traced from the Renaissance to modern Canada via German Romanticism and nineteenth-century European drama. The course explores the changing image of Faust and examines the cultural and philosophical ideas that shaped each age's perception of the search for self.