How much of that is due more to what you are used to, in part due to the influence of Faust?

I don't get the impression that this is a significant contributor. I think it's mostly Heinlein's "an intellectual is someone who's found something more interesting than sex" not fitting Faust, despite the setup being an interesting one for that premise.

A tale of a deal with the devil going poorly isn't the part that I thought was pedestrian, but I agree that if that had been my motivator that this would be likely.