The novel is a re-shaping of the Faust legend set in the context of the first half of the 20th century and the turmoil of Germany in that period. He strikes a Faustian bargain for creative genius: he intentionally contracts syphilis, which deepens his artistic inspiration through madness. He is subsequently visited by a Mephistophelean being who says, in effect, "that you can only see me because you are mad, does not mean that I do not really exist" [ 1 ] , and, renouncing love, bargains his soul in exchange for twenty-four years of genius.
His madness β his daemonic inspiration β leads to extraordinary musical creativity which parallels the actual innovations of Arnold Schoenberg.
 "SEX ESCORT Leverkusen")
He feels the inexorable progress of his neuro-syphilitic madness leading towards complete breakdown. As in certain of the Faust legends, he calls together his closest friends to witness his final collapse. At a chamber-reading of his cantata "The Lamentation of Doctor Faust", he ravingly confesses his demonic pact before becoming incoherent.
His madness reduces him to an infantile state in which he lives under the care of his relatives for another ten years. They are awakened to musical knowledge by Wendell Kretzschmar, a German American organist, lecturer, and musicologist in Kaisersaschern.
After schooling together, both boys study at Halle β Adrian studies theology ; Zeitblom does not, but participates in discussions with the theological students β but Adrian becomes absorbed in musical harmony , counterpoint and polyphony as a key to metaphysics and mystic numbers , and follows Kretzschmar to Leipzig to study with him. Zeitblom describes "with a religious shudder" Adrian's embrace with the woman who gave him syphilis whom Adrian names "Esmeralda" after the butterfly that fascinates his father , how he worked her name in note-ciphers into his compositions, and how the medics who sought to heal him were all prevented from effecting a cure by mysterious and deadly interventions.
