The hilarious Doctor Faustus - I am not so very fond of laughter

Zeitblom, the narrator of Doctor Faustus , presents an interpretation of his composer friend Adrian Leverkühn suggesting that his avant garde aestheticism is the reason German intellectuals were so often so gullible and accepting of fascism. Many critics, to my bafflement, have followed that path. Zeitblom, a teacher of philology. is not a fascist, but, like many of the intellectuals the novel is…