Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull

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First edition of the complete novel from S. Fischer Verlag , 1954

Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull. The first part of the memoir is an unfinished novel by Thomas Mann . The work was created between 1910 and 1913 and from December 26, 1950 to April 16, 1954.

Which was planned impostor -novel as a parody of Goethe's autobiography and fiction . Thomas Mann strove for a travesting transfer of artistry to fraudulent criminals and humorously moved the artist close to the impostor. The work parodies the classic educational and development novel as well as the memoir literature and stands in the tradition of both adventure and picaresque novels .

History of origin

Thomas Mann had been planning the novel since 1905. He was inspired by the memoirs of the impostor and deceiver Manolescu . The first phase of work fell in the years 1910 to 1913. A first version appeared in two different editions in 1922 and 1923, another version in 1937. After a break, "The First Part of the Memoir" was completed from 1950 to 1954. It stayed with the first part. The 79-year-old Thomas Mann commented on the continuation of Felix Krull's life: “What if the novel were left wide open? It would not be a misfortune in my opinion. "

content

The page numbers given in the footnotes refer to the paperback edition by Fischer-Verlag.

first book

The 40-year-old Felix Krull, tired of the adventures of a turbulent past and now living in a secluded life, reports on the circumstances under which he writes down his memories. He affirms that he always wants to remain completely true to the truth.

Felix Krull was born in a small town in the Rheingau in the mid-1870s . The father, a bon vivant , is the manufacturer of a sparkling wine whose lavish equipment is supposed to hide its poor quality. Pleasure addiction, waste and superficiality characterize the lifestyle at Villa Krull. Because of their moral and financial questionability, the family is avoided in the town and Felix remains without friends. He is already convinced that he is made of finer material than others and that one day he will be able to take the place he deserves in society. His godfather Schimmelpreester, a painter with a dark past, who (wrongly) allows himself to be addressed with the title “Professor”, is of particular influence on Felix's life path.

Felix's special talent for role-playing shows up early on. At the age of eight he took part in a spa concert - with a violin that made no sound. The audience is delighted with the supposed child prodigy. Often he is a model for his godfather in different costumes, whereby he looks completely believable and natural in every disguise. In order to escape the hated school, he learns to forge his father's signature perfectly. For the same purpose, he practices simulating illnesses and, with willpower, gets so far that even the family doctor, who initially thinks he can see through him, surrenders to his acting.

The key experience for Felix is ​​an encounter with the actor Müller-Rosé, who inspires the audience on stage as a radiant hero, but in the cloakroom proves to be a particularly ugly and vulgar person. Felix recognizes that Müller-Rosé's talent for enchanting the crowd with the means of illusion and seduction corresponds to the crowd's need for illusion and seduction.

For a while, Felix occasionally steals sweets from a delicatessen shop. However, he does not want this to be called theft. This is a well-worn word that only applies to the mob, but not to their deed, the deed of “someone favored by fate”.

At the age of 16, Felix entered into a sexual relationship with his chambermaid Genovefa for several years and came to the conclusion that although he was not a pupil (he had to leave secondary school without a qualification), he was a lover who had an extraordinary talent.

Before Felix is ​​of legal age, his father goes bankrupt and shoots himself.

second book

The godfather Schimmelpreester has developed a life plan for each member of the now almost destitute family, which corresponds to the respective abilities and wishes. For Felix he got a job in a Paris luxury hotel.

For the time being, however, he accompanied his mother to Frankfurt . Felix uses his stay in the glamorous city to study the life of the upper class, to which he is initially denied access. The elegant people he observes entering or leaving the theaters and elegant restaurants fascinate him as much as the luxury goods in the magnificent shop windows. But Felix is ​​also drawn to the seedy demi-world of the joy girls and pimps. He temporarily maintains a relationship with the prostitute Rosza, who shares her income with him and under whose guidance he improves his skills as a lover.

Paris street scene around 1890; a
grand hotel on the right

During his time in Frankfurt, Felix's examination , for which he has carefully prepared himself by reading medical books. He plays a deceptively real epileptic seizure for the draft commission and his simulation is so convincing that he is promptly exempted from military service.

Finally, it's time to travel to Paris. During the customs control, a jewelery box that belongs to a rich lady standing next to him finds its way unnoticed into Felix's suitcase. Later Felix will sell the jewelry to a fence and with the money he will be given the freedom to live beyond his means every now and then and to get to know the Parisian nightlife.
In the hotel, Felix initially worked as a lift boy and was given the name Armand. In the elevator he meets the owner of the stolen box again, Madame Houpflé, who does not recognize him and invites the “beautiful lift driver” to a night rendezvous in her room. She is a writer, publishes her works under her maiden name Diane Philibert and is married to a toilet bowl manufacturer. When Felix confesses to having stolen from her, she is downright delighted: She sees in Felix a second Hermes , the youthful god of thieves, tells him to steal more valuables from her and enjoys her delights in love through this “humiliation” him even more intensely.

Third book

Felix Krull soon rises to the position of waiter and head waiter. In his free time, he can use the proceeds from the stolen goods to afford a dandy-like lifestyle. During a visit to the circus he becomes aware of his artistic ambitions. He follows the performances of the acrobats, especially the trapeze artist Andromache, and sees in the artists his equals. Just like them, he wants to enchant the world, even if he knows that he is taking a risk comparable to that of the trapeze artists under the big top.

Among the hotel guests is Mr. Twentyman, a newly rich industrialist from Birmingham, whose blonde daughter Eleanor falls madly in love with Felix Krull. He has his dear need to keep the "tomboy" at bay and gently talk her out of running away together.

At the same time, "a personality of more serious weight" woos him: Lord Kilmarnock, of Scottish aristocracy, "a man of obvious refinement, around fifty, moderately tall, slim, and extremely accurately dressed". His request to Felix is ​​"the wish of a lonely heart". He would like to hire Krull - whom he not only loves his modest restraint and chosen language - as a valet and take him to his castle in Scotland. The salary would be a multiple of what Felix earns in his current position; his duties, since there were already sufficient servants, would be confined to the care of the lord. Kilmarnock's affection for Felix even went so far as to want to make him his son and heir through adoption.

But Felix Krull resists both Eleanor Twentyman and Lord Kilmarnock. Thanks to his empathic abilities, he can put both of them off with well-chosen words and thus keep his freedom. And soon there will be an opportunity for his acting talents that will steer his life in completely new directions: Another regular guest of the hotel, the Marquis de Venosta, who is roughly the same age, asks Felix to change roles. Felix is ​​supposed to take over the identity of Venosta and take his place on a trip around the world so that the true Marquis can devote himself to his careless Parisian love affair, the singer Zaza, without being bothered by his strict parents.

The journey begins in the night train to Lisbon . In the dining car, Felix Krull sits across from the paleontologist Professor Kuckuck, who needs to be informed, and who gives him a detailed scientific and philosophical lecture on the geological development and the evolution of humans from the series of mammals . Man is a “late comer” and Genesis is “right to let creation culminate in him”; even if you shorten the process “a little drastically”, the “organic life on earth” is about 550 million years old. Although this is his for cuckoo merely an intermezzo "between nothing and nothing," but the episodic character of life is not disgracing but do it just valuable.

Arrived in Lisbon, the first stop on his world tour, the Marquis de Venosta alias Krull quickly made contact with the family of the professor, whose pretty and snappy daughter Zouzou he hopes to win over after attending a bullfight together when cuckoo's "classy" Wife, Senhora Maria Pia, steps in and seduces him without further ado. - This ends "The Memoirs Part One".

Planned continuation of the novel

Thomas Mann recorded the planned continuation of the memoir on a note sheet as follows: “Felix Krull became a waiter at the age of 20, and at 21 he met the young aristocrat, instead of whom he was traveling. Returns at 22. Works as a hotel thief until 27. From 27 to 32 in prison. Marries at 34. Device again in custody at 39 and is accompanied by police officers to his wife's deathbed. Escape from the remand prison and escape to England. ”On the same sheet of paper, the division of the novel is recorded:“ First part: youth. / Second part: waiter and travel. / Third part: Hôteldieb / Fourth part: Prison / Fifth part: Marriage / Sixth part: The little death. Escape. The End."

Interpretative approaches

The novel staff

Engelbert Krull, the father

Engelbert Krull owns a sparkling wine factory on the Rhine. The Krulls often invite guests. The drinking parties in the villa regularly turn into orgies. As a sparkling wine manufacturer, he cheats on his customers. Godfather Schimmelpreester to Engelbert Krull: “Honor your person, but the police should ban your champagne. Eight days ago I let myself be tempted to drink half a bottle of it, and to this day my nature has not recovered from this attack. "

Engelbert Krull goes bankrupt and shoots himself. Felix mourns him (as far as a narcissist can). “My poor father” is the formula used when he mentions him in his memoirs. Engelbert Krull embodies the banal, cosmopolitan art of living who consequently fails because he lacks a sense of duty and the will to perform.

Mother of Felix Krull

She is described as stupid and of a stout, unaesthetic shape. She feels more connected to her daughter Olympia than to her husband. Both spouses were bored "to the point of bitterness".

Olympia Krull, the sister

Olympia has a close relationship with her mother. For her, as for Felix, the father does not play an important role. After her father's bankruptcy, she embarked on an artistic career and was successful on the operetta stage.

Her brother describes her as a “fat and extraordinarily carnal-minded creature”, whose life is marked by a dull “lust for pleasure”. Your name alludes to the Olympic gods and their moral freedom.

Godfather Schimmelpreester

Felix's godfather Schimmelpreester, “a quirky painter”, is a close friend of the family and an important person for the adolescent Felix. Schimmelpreester is addressed as "Professor", but without having this title. Due to incidents that never became clear, Schimmelpreester ended up in the provincial town in the Rhineland, where Felix Krull grew up. Felix, with his "costume head", is often a model for the painter, naked or in imaginative costumes.

After the father went bankrupt and shot himself, godfather Schimmelpreester takes care of the rest of the family. He advises his mother to open a small boarding house in Frankfurt, his godchild Felix should embark on a hotel career. Due to an acquaintance with the director of a prestigious Parisian hotel long ago, he was able to find a promising apprenticeship for Felix.

Marquis Louis de Venosta

The Marquis Louis de Venosta comes from a noble and industrialist family from Luxembourg . In Paris he dabbled as a budding painter. Financially well off, he spends time in the restaurant of the Hotel Saint James & Albany . There he is served repeatedly by the waiter Felix Krull. Felix's neat personality makes an impression on him. To his surprise, he meets him elsewhere and gets to know the dandy Felix Krull, in the role that Felix allows himself in his limited free time - financed by stolen property. The marquis is delighted with the double existence.

Rich and aristocratic, but otherwise a simple head, the Marquis got into trouble. His parents demand - under threat of disinheritance - the separation from his Parisian girlfriend from the demimondial world and have ordered him to travel the world. Felix Krull recognizes his opportunity and slips into a new role. Under the name of the Marquis he starts his world tour. Felix was able to forge his father's signature perfectly as a schoolchild, and he succeeds in getting the Marquis' signature too.

Madame Houpflé

With Madame Houpflé, the wife of a toilet bowl manufacturer, aka Diane Philibert, successful writer, the lift boy Felix Krull aka Armand has a short but intense love affair.

In the slim, well-built lift boy, the educated woman thinks she recognizes the personified Hermes. After he confessed that he had already stolen from her elsewhere, she would like to be humiliated with relish - by Hermes , the god of thieves. Felix Krull, with his poor school education, gets to know this god figure. From now on, as soon as the opportunity arises, he will talk about the ancient Hermes - as if he were completely familiar with ancient mythology.

When looking at Krull's encounter with Madame Houpflé, Mechthild Curtius comes to the conclusion that it is a metaphor for incest . Arne Hoffmann also takes the view that the scene is in a strong sadomasochistic context. Werner Frizen shares this view .

Professor Cuckoo

Professor Kuckuck, the husband and father of his Portuguese double love, meets Felix Krull on the train to Lisbon. In the "Railway Chapter", one of the highlights of the novel, Thomas Mann lets him present the philosophy of the three spontaneous generations, the step-by-step creation of matter, life and knowledge. After that the scholar remains in the background. A little later, Thomas Mann took over essential parts of the conversation for his radio essay In Praise of Transience .

Stanko

The unshaven Croat Stanko, who works in the hotel kitchen and knows his way around the Parisian milieu, surprises Felix when he - supposedly unobserved - looks at the jewelry stolen from Madame Houpflé. Stanko gives Felix a tip on how he can turn the jewelry into money and asks for half part.

As a result, Felix accepts Stanko as an occasional leisure companion. He allows himself to be used by him, but remains with "you" towards him. When Stanko suggests risking a break-in together, Felix ends the chum.

The crook Stanko instinctively recognizes his kind in Felix Krull, the criminal. Felix misses this insight. In the self-loving conviction that he is a “favorite child of heaven” and “carved from finer wood”, he - unlike his fellow men - is not prohibited. The later convict Krull looks down on the hulking Stanko with secret contempt.

Mythological parallels

Hermes

Perhaps the central aspect of the dazzling half-knowledge with which Krull, the poor pupil at school, regularly impresses his fellow men, is Madame Houpflé's knowledge of the Greek god Hermes . Just like Felix, this god achieves his goals non-violently, but with the help of outstanding rhetorical skills, whereby he is also not entirely averse to deception. The characteristics of this deity, like the Krulls, are extremely varied, so that it is difficult to grasp the essentials of its being. His youthful elegance and natural talent form a further parallel to Felix's character. As a messenger of the gods , Hermes is between gods and humans, in a higher position than the rest of the earth's inhabitants - a status that Krull also claims for himself. Its episodic form of travel - horizontally and vertically in society - is reflected in Hermes' quality as the god of wanderers.

It should be noted critically, however, that Hermes is a figure from Greek antiquity, in which the latter , according to Friedrich Nietzsche , still has the contrast between “good” (in the sense of “noble”, ie “noble”) and “bad” (in the sense of “simple ", Ie from the lower class) was predominant and in which there was a" rule of the good ", ie an" aristocracy ". In the context of the associated “gentlemen's morality”, according to Nietzsche, it is pointless to accuse a “gentleman” of being a criminal because, based on his social position, he can decide for himself what he is allowed to do and what is not. In order to “get away” with this attitude, one really has to be “master” (like the god Hermes) and not just pretend (like Felix Krull).

Thomas Mann resumes work on the impostor novel at a time that has just survived the excesses of the National Socialistmastermind ”.

Narcissus

The mythological Narcissus and the fictional character Felix Krull are both equally filled with self-love and pride in the beauty they have been granted. The aesthetic of the physical nature of the two characters means that numerous people of every gender fall in love with them. While Narcissus rejects this love for him, however, which gives him an isolated fate and ultimately death, Krull at least accepts erotic advances often and with pleasure. Felix goes into a different, more positive kind of isolation. Although he is convinced that he has been chosen, he still has the feeling that in his all-round sympathy he loves the world, with all its big and small beauties, just as it loves him from his point of view. He was "made for love service and distinguished", says Rozsa, the "joy girl", his "teacher". However, the gossip about his fellow men that the memoir writer communicates to the reader is difficult to reconcile with this attitude; they do not show genuine charity. The endeavor to have a “proper” burial for his father is not only motivated by a feeling of piety, but also an expression of concern that the father might be “branded” as a suicide, as Goethe did at the end of his novel “Die Leiden des young Werther ”describes. Somebody like Felix Krull has to avoid this disgrace. Felix Krull has many features that characterize a narcissist , a clinical picture that was first systematically presented by Sigmund Freud , who was inspired by ancient mythology when choosing the name for this neurosis .

Andromache

The circus artist Andromache combines all of Krull's wishes. The body, described as androgynous but delicate, concentrates the double image of brother and sister from his time in Frankfurt and the subsequent symbiosis of strict, classy mother da Cruz and her daughter Zouzou on one person. Through iron discipline and an unconditional will, this trapeze acrobat is able, evening after evening, to surpass herself, to overcome all human weaknesses. Krull is reflected in it, in a supposed form of the superman, as Nietzsche demanded. The name of this figure alone grants a glimpse behind the heroic facade. In fact, the ancient Andromache , Hector's wife , is just a particularly tragic fateful woman, whose entire family was killed and treated inhumanly as a slave. Thus, the apparent superman is possibly nothing more than Kafka's consumptive rider on the gallery .

Felix Krull's world and self-image

Arthur Schopenhauer, 1859

The picaresque novel contains an ironically alienated appeal to ambition and self-discipline; Qualities that everyone should have in order to perfect themselves (as “self-conquerors” in Nietzsche's sense ). A tendency towards existentialism can also be discovered in Krull's understanding of the world. The one favored by fate - because this is how the Sunday child Felix sees himself - takes his life into his own hands, is his freedom and his fate, does not have to justify himself to anyone but himself. In these views there are aspects from the philosophies of Schopenhauer , Nietzsche and Sartre .

Felix '(lat .: the lucky one) life strategy:

  • The beautiful appearance: "By nature he feels privileged and distinguished, but it is not according to his social rank and corrects this unjust coincidence with a deception that is very easy for his grace, an illusion." Thomas Mann brings the impostor close by of the artist.
  • Love for yourself and the unshakable certainty that “you are made of finer wood” impress the environment and make you lovable.
  • Eloquence and charisma are more effective than violence.
  • Politeness creates distance.
  • “Love the world and it will love you.” Thomas Mann describes this longing for the world as “pan-eroticism” and “universal sympathy”.

Many of the unintended helpers of his ascension can miraculously gain personal benefit from meeting him. He does not leave any corpses, but rather Madame Houpflé enriched with an adventure with a mythological background, helped the simple-minded Stanko to get money and the Marquis de Venosta to freedom for his Parisian love affair, was an attentive listener to the professor Kuckuck, who was in need of information, and the proud Senora Kuckuck has happy. He only had to disappoint Eleanor Twentyman and Lord Kilmarnock.
Thomas Mann on October 17, 1954 to Fritz Martini: "This modern Hermes is basically not at all frivolous, but has a certain comic, reconciling worldview - it seems to me."

Krull's image of society

Krull's attitude towards the world around him fluctuates between "universal sympathy" and conceit of being chosen. Although Krull pretends to love the world in all its diversity, he leaves no doubt that he believes in a natural hierarchy, that he is convinced of the inequality of human beings. Thomas Mann described this attitude as aristocratic. Here he gave it to the son of an easy-going, bankrupt sparkling wine company.

Felix Krull speaks elitistically of the human "croup" (pattern), describes poverty as an illness and would like to spare the reader if he does not continue to describe the poor fellow travelers on the train to Paris. It remains to be seen whether Krull will communicate his own views or whether he believes the worldview expressed is part of his role.

Autobiographical references

It is certain that the novel Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull is an - albeit fictional - autobiography insofar as the memoir writer (the narrator) and the protagonist are the same person. It is more difficult to answer the question to what extent and in what form Thomas Mann depicted his own personality in the novel.

The imposter novel was planned as a parody of Goethe's autobiography Poetry and Truth . But behind the scenes, Thomas Mann, ironically looking through himself, writes his own psychogram . No novel by Thomas Mann is more autobiographical and confessional than this one.

Thomas Mann endowed Felix Krull with a cheerful disposition - and thus created a contrasting figure to the dismissive Adrian Leverkühn in Doctor Faustus and the melancholy Tonio Kröger in the artist's novel of the same name. Doctor Faustus and confessions of the impostor Felix Krull correspond under the generic terms autobiography / artist novel . The two novels show different facets of Thomas Mann's personality.

In the poet Diane Philibert and in Senhora Maria Pia with the barely noticeable little beard, both with their liking for Felix Krull's youthful appearance, there is also a bit of Thomas Mann, who has also been impressed by the distinctive virility. Daughter Erika immediately saw through the "arch-pederastic" nature of the love scene with Diane Philibert (Thomas Mann in the diary on December 31, 1951).

Finally, Lord Kilmarnock could be seen as Thomas Mann's alter ego in the novel: Thomas Mann, too, fell in love with a young waiter as an older man.

Felix Krull's preparation for the deception of the military replacement commission is worth quoting: “[...] that I went to work with great accuracy, yes, strictly scientifically, and was careful not to regard the difficulties that arose as minor. Because tripping was never my way of tackling a serious matter; on the contrary, I always believed that I had to combine the most extreme daring, the most unbelievable of the common crowd, with the coolest prudence and the most delicate caution, so that the end would not be defeat, shame and laughter, and I did well with it Thomas Mann also approached his artistic productions.

Felix Krull sums up his narcissism in the words: "Yes, the belief in my happiness and that I am a favorite child of heaven has always remained alive in my heart, and I can say that on the whole it has not been belied." Thomas Mann saw himself as well. From his American exile, justifying his successful life despite being forced to leave Germany, he writes to a friend in post-war Germany: “I have just been graciously led by a fate that was strict, but always very friendly. “The addressee, Hans Reisiger, is portrayed in Doctor Faustus as Rüdiger Schildknapp.

Language and style

Felix Krull rises with smoothness and suppleness. His means are his charisma and the affirmative, ingratiating speech. You open all doors for him. In demanding surroundings, he dazzles with half-knowledge snapped up in passing, ornate sentence constructions and high-quality choice of words. He also impresses the reader with it, apart from the occasional linguistic blunder that his author has intentionally incorporated. And yet the way in which Felix Krull achieves an effect with little material is a genuine achievement - the artistic achievement of the artist (and juggler).

Chronological sequence of the individual prints

literature

  • Donald F. Nelson: Portrait of the Artist as Hermes: A Study of Myth and Psychology in Thomas Mann's Felix Krull. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2020, ISBN 978-1-4696-5804-9 .
  • Stefan Helge Kern: Thomas Mann: Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull. King's Explanations and Materials (vol. 456). 3rd edition, Bange, Hollfeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-8044-1858-5 .
  • Martin R. Dean : The flapping of the wings of a Brazilian butterfly. Thomas Mann's "Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull" as a model of cosmopolitan narration. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , 9./10. December 2006 ( online ).
  • Bernd M. Kraske: In the game of being and appearance. Thomas Mann's impostor novel "Felix Krull" . Publishing house literary tradition, Bad Schwartau 2005, ISBN 978-3-930730-40-7 .
  • Thomas Speaker: Thomas Mann's praise of impermanence. In: Thomas Sprecher (Ed.): Magic of life and death music. On Thomas Mann's late work . The Davos Literature Days 2002. Thomas Mann Studies. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-465-03294-2 , pp. 171-182.
  • Helmut Koopmann : "Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull", in: ders. (Ed.): Thomas-Mann-Handbuch , 3rd, updated edition, Stuttgart 2001, pp. 516-533. (with detailed bibliographical information) ISBN 3-520-82803-0 (paperback edition with identical pages in Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag ISBN 3-596-16610-1 ).
  • Hans Wysling : On the adventurer motif in Wedekind, Heinrich and Thomas Mann . In: Hans Wysling: Selected essays 1963–1995. Edited by Thomas Sprecher and Cornelia Bernini. Frankfurt am Main 1996. pp. 89-125.
  • Hans Wysling: Narcissism and an illusionary form of existence. On the "Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull" (hardcover)
  • Jürgen Jacobs: Thomas Mann's 'Felix Krull' and the European picaresque novel . In: Laborintus litteratus . Ed. V. Ulrich Ernst. Wuppertal 1995. pp. 49-69.
latest issue
  • Thomas Mann: Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull, the first part of the memoir , Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-90281-1 (= Fischer paperback , volume 90281, classic ).
  • Thomas Mann: Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull. Large annotated Frankfurt edition. Volume 12 / 1–2 (text and commentary). Edited by Thomas Sprecher and Monica Bussmann. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-10-048345-4 .

Film adaptations

The classic is Kurt Hoffmann's Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull  (1957) with Horst Buchholz as Felix Krull. This film version, however, has a different ending from the book. The script and the idea for the final solution come from Robert Thoeren .

The book was filmed as a five-part television series in 1981-82 , with the script and direction from Bernhard Sinkel . A 125-minute version was also created. John Moulder-Brown played Felix Krull, Klaus Schwarzkopf his father.

In 2020 the novel was filmed again based on a screenplay by Daniel Kehlmann , directed by Detlev Buck and with Jannis Niewöhner in the title role .

Other media

  • The sample scene exists as an LP from S. Fischer Verlag, produced by Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (1954). Presumably it is advertising material, because the cover bears the imprint “The book edition of the novel BEKENNTNISSE DES HOCHSTAPLERS FELIX KRULL is published by S. Fischer Verlag”. The graphic design is based on that of the dust jacket of the first edition. (Source: Bielefeld Media Archive Foundation)
  • The “muster scene” can be heard on the LP Litera 8 60 001 “Thomas Mann - Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull. Sample scene, read by Thomas Mann "
  • There is also another LP (Ariola-Athena) of this scene from Fischer Verlag with the inscription: Thomas Mann reads the sample scene from his novel "Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull" , catalog no. 70 066
  • There are sound recordings of Thomas Mann, who is reading from Felix Krull. The mischievous joy of the author during the reading can still be clearly seen in the old sound recordings: ISBN 3-89940-263-4
  • The conversation with Professor Kuckuck exists as an LP from the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft in the Wort Resonance series (recording: S. Fischer Verlag). Headline: “Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull - Conversation between Krull and Professor Kuckuck, read by the author”, probably from 1957 (P year). (Source: private property of the original). Catalog no. 2571 127 (Edition as MC: 3321 127)
    This LP is printed on the dust jacket of edition 21. – 42. Tausend, S. Fischer / Frankfurt 1954 explains: As a surprise to the reader, an LP appears at the same time as the book. This - 50 min. Playing time - “was produced by the Deutsche Grammophon-Gesellschaft based on a recording by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg. In an artistically equipped protective cover ”. It goes on to say: The lively warmth of the voice of the poet and his personality take the place of the objective book page. (Source: book's dust jacket)
  • The actor OE Hasse read the first chapters of the novel for another LP for the Telefunken company (1964/1965).
  • 2001: Unabridged audio book version, read by Gert Westphal , 13 CDs, Deutsche Grammophon LITERATUR and Radio Bremen, ISBN 3-8291-1536-9
  • 2007: Unabridged audio book version, read by Boris Aljinovic , 12 Cds + MP3 version, Argon audio book, ISBN 978-3-86610-158-6
  • 2008: Radio play setting by Sven Stricker for NDR. The CD edition was published by Hörverlag in February 2009, ISBN 978-3-86717-238-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. "It is a somewhat reckless book whose jokes may be credited to me," said Thomas Mann in a letter to Peter Baltzer on September 10, 1954.
  2. The summary of the chapters in 'books' analogous to Goethe's work takes this allusion into account.
  3. p. 219f. - Thomas Mann portrayed himself with the figure of Lord Kilmarnock. See Diary, April 4, 1954. Like the Lord, he had a good sense of handsome young men. He also passed on his personal impact to Lord Kilmarnock: "His entry into the hall always had an embarrassment that could have been strange for such a great gentleman, but did not detract from his reputation, at least in my [Felix Krull's] eyes." (P. 220)
  4. ^ Thomas Mann: Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull. The first part of the memoir. Collected works in thirteen volumes, Volume VII, Fischer, Frankfurt 1974, p. 538
  5. p. 19
  6. ^ Mann, Thomas: The encounter. Olten: Association of Olten Book Friends 1953, p. 14
  7. Mechthild Curtius: Erotic Fantasies with Thomas Mann , Königstein, 1984.
  8. Arne Hoffmann: Bound in leather. Sadomasochism in world literature , Ubooks 2007, p. 98ff. .
  9. Werner Frizen: Oldenbourg Interpretations, vol .: 25: Confessions of the impostor Felix Krull , Oldenbourg 1988, pp. 59-61.
  10. or mind, imagination, abstract thinking
  11. ^ Hermann Kurzke: Pein and Shine. The angle star In: Thomas Mann. Life as a work of art. Beck, Munich 2006, p. 559
  12. cf. Aphorism 260 of his work "Beyond Good and Evil" (1883)
  13. p. 121
  14. Here Thomas Mann ironically uses the term "love"
  15. Werther is more buried than buried outside the cemetery at night. Engelbert Krull could also have been buried in a way that signals: "Here lies a suicide!"
  16. described on pp. 198-204
  17. ^ Mann, Thomas: The encounter. Olten: Association of Olten Book Friends 1953, p. 12
  18. ^ Mann, Thomas: The encounter. Olten: Association of Oltner Book Friends 1953, p. 13
  19. ^ Koopmann, Helmut: Thomas Mann Handbook. Stuttgart: A. Kröner 2001, p. 516
  20. Felix Krull, Thomas Mann's formula “The theater as a temple”, comes up with the awkward remark that the theater appears to him as a church of pleasure. (First book, fifth chapter)
  21. "Felix Krull" is being developed for the cinema. In: bavaria-film.de, May 2, 2019, accessed on July 18, 2020.