Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be

Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by syarb on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:15PM (#41259903)

I love "The Grand Inquisitor" from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. It's not exactly a deal with the devil, but it does have some interesting parallels.

Full chapter: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8578/8578-h/8578-h.htm Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Inquisitor

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by mac3n on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:36PM (#41259567)

https://kasmana.people.charleston.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?ca...

“The Devil and Simon Flagg” in which Flagg sells his soul in exchange for the proof of Fermat’s last theorem. No proof is found, but the Devil becomes consumed with mathematics.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by mihaic on Friday August 16, 2024 @04:59AM (#41264551)

Cool, someone should update the story now with the Collatz conjecture.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by bee_rider on Friday August 16, 2024 @10:33AM (#41266794)

I love any story about ancient super powerful creatures being defeated by modern people. Humanity kicks ass.

These things are often scaled to be something extremely powerful but possible for the hero to struggle against, at the time, which often puts them far below the capabilities of modern society. This is usually missing the point (the ancient God or gods probably set up an adversary that like that on purpose, or whatever, to show something to the mortals), but just taking that on face value and trouncing the thing will never not be funny to me.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by jkaptur on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:37PM (#41259571)

It's on the beaten path, but how can you resist (and how did the New Yorker resist?) "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Went_Down_to_Georgia

Most of the deals in the article do not end well for the human, but here there's no lesson about hubris, nor the curse of knowledge, or anything else. No, Johnny's just a better fiddle player, he beats the devil, and he wins a golden fiddle fair and square.

(The article might allude to this story: "Satan is not the real God, because there is only one God; the Devil doesn’t have the best tunes.")

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by robbiep on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:04PM (#41259821)

Maybe shifting further but ’the silver tongued devil’ by Kris Kristofferson is a beautiful song with a beautiful message in my opinion

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by bbreier on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:11PM (#41259873)

funny enough, "To Beat the Devil" of his is my pick for the best riff on the trope of country songs about musicians taking on the devil

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by buildsjets on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:04PM (#41259820)

Which always seemed to me just a retelling of the Robert Johnson “crossroads” legend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson#Devil_legend

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by krapp on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:52PM (#41259713)

There is a lesson about hubris, but most people miss it. The Devil's deal is false, he doesn't play "fair and square." Johnny wins the bet but still loses his soul to the sin of pride. It's even in the lyrics: "My name's Johnny and it might be a sin, but I'll take your bet and you're gonna regret 'cause I'm the best that's ever been!"

At least that's how I've always interpreted it.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by jkaptur on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:57PM (#41259771)

Very interesting interpretation! I see your point.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by butlike on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:23PM (#41259981)

A modern take I've always enjoyed is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tcj6bUv98

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by nox101 on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:23PM (#41259984)

If we're mentioning songs then I'd pick T..... & Beer by Frank Zappa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPO1QGhYDjM

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by microtherion on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:13PM (#41259888)

My favorite is the legend of the Devil's Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöllenen_Gorge where some Swiss hired the devil to build a bridge over a seemingly unbridgeable gorge, and then tricked him out of his payment.

I've referred to the devil as the Patron Unholy of Swiss engineering.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by pelagicAustral on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:01PM (#41259802)

Crossroads! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_(folklore)

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by jononor on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:36PM (#41259563)

Here is a Norwegian tale of the Devil, in form of a traditional fiddle song. Music at the bottom, recommend playing it through once before reading the post. https://www.norskkornolfestival.no/2019/06/18/fanitullen/

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by 082349872349872 on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:53PM (#41259728)

In "The Master and Margarita", Pilate makes a hard-boiled metaphorical, not literal, deal with the devil.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by grue4 on Saturday August 24, 2024 @03:07PM (#41340607)

I also love "The Master and Margarita"! Woland is a very compelling devil.

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by paxys on Thursday August 15, 2024 @03:32PM (#41259528)

Stingy Jack (namesake for the Jack O'Lantern) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingy_Jack

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by syntheticnature on Thursday August 15, 2024 @04:35PM (#41260089)

Been fond of "La Chasse-galerie" for a while:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasse-galerie

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by kderbyma on Thursday August 15, 2024 @05:58PM (#41260848)

Bob Dylan. Said he sold his soul to the Devil and promised to play til the end of his days

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by gambiting on Thursday August 15, 2024 @06:02PM (#41260888)

Poland has a tale of "Pan Twardowski"(Mr Twardowski) about a man who made a pact with the devil for all kinds of powers, in exchange the devil said he will take Twardowski's soul if he ever sets his foot in Rome - since he didn't intend to visit Rome, he assumed this was the perfect deal. However the devil outwitted him, by coming for his soul in an inn called Rzym(Rome in Polish).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Twardowski

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by darepublic on Thursday August 15, 2024 @07:28PM (#41261603)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqkBG22Tk8&pp=ygUYaG9tZXIgc2l...

Homers deal with Flanders as Satan, for a donut of course

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by cratermoon on Thursday August 15, 2024 @09:20PM (#41262207)

"But I'm so sweet and tasty"

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by devilthrow on Thursday August 15, 2024 @08:29PM (#41261913)

The Devil & Billy Markham Shel Silverstein Playboy January 1979

https://crazcowboy.tripod.com/Silverstein/markham.htm

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by xoxxala on Thursday August 15, 2024 @09:21PM (#41262217)

The Twilight Zone episode, “I of Newton 666”, from 1985. Great ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ZRKSoN7Vg

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Re:Deals with the Devil Aren't What They Used to Be by charonn0 on Friday August 16, 2024 @01:23PM (#41268395)

Phantom of the Paradise is a rock opera inspired by Faust.

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