Maureen Corrigan

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife Trudy, who was an actress and writer.

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

Do we forget nightmares, or is history just the reliving of them over and over again? The director doesn't answer these questions, cannot answer them, but it leaves them rattling around in our minds like a roulette wheel that never stops spinning.

Do we forget nightmares, or is history just the reliving of them over and over again? The director doesn't answer these questions, cannot answer them, but it leaves them rattling around in our minds like a roulette wheel that never stops spinning.

Do we forget nightmares, or is history just the reliving of them over and over again? The director doesn't answer these questions, cannot answer them, but it leaves them rattling around in our minds like a roulette wheel that never stops spinning.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, the demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, the demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

In the German legend, Faust signs a contract with the devil, exchanging his immortal soul for vast knowledge and other earthly rewards. It's a cut-and-dried transaction. In Daniel Kelman's new novel, The Director, the demonic deal-making is murkier, more drawn out. Little by little, a series of compromises eat away like acid at the integrity of a once great artist.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true-life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true-life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Not only is Kelman's rendering of the Faustian bargain more psychologically plausible than the original, but it takes its inspiration from a true-life story. The director is an historical novel based on the life of G.W. Pabst, the early film director who worked with actresses like Louise Brooks, Lottie Lenya, and Greta Garbo.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and was a temporary and less successful member of that émigré colony of filmmakers that included Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang. On a trip to France in 1939 to make a film and visit his mother, Pabst was stranded by the outbreak of war and returned to Nazi Germany. Entered the devil in the form of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.