The card secret

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The card secret ( ISBN 3-446-17710-8 , original title: Kabalmysteriet , ISBN 82-03-24447-5 ) is a philosophical novel by the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder from 1990. The German translation by Gabriele Haefs appeared in 1995. Similar to In his bestseller success Sofies Welt , which was written afterwards , Jostein Gaarder tries to convey philosophical questions in a way that is appropriate for young people through an exciting narrative.

content

The main characters in the story are 12-year-old Hans-Thomas and his father; both go in search of Hans-Thomas' mother, who left them some time ago. Now the father is a philosopher and shortens the boy's journey through various philosophical considerations. The story becomes a little more complex when the boy comes across a book, the content of which is told as a story in the story. This book is about the shipwrecked baker Frode, who is stranded on an island and who has a card game. The lonely baker now turns the characters shown on the cards into his virtual conversation partners until one day he meets them in person on the island (the title of the book refers to this). The characters are apparently not aware that they actually only sprang from the baker's imagination, but the card game also contains a joker who has this knowledge and now, a clear allusion to Plato and his allegory of the cave , tries to bring this fact closer to the others . As the creator of the characters, the baker practically takes on the role of God, which is problematic because the joker, like Nietzsche , demands of his fellow characters that they should kill God and live independently.

The story in the story is told from the perspective of the reading Hans-Thomas, who comes to the appropriate knowledge about human existence and discusses it with his father (to whom he initially concealed the existence of the book). In the meantime, the journey of the two, which began in Norway, continues, one actually finds clues about the whereabouts of the mother, who makes her way as a model in Greece, the home of philosophy. Before the family can finally get back together, the boy tells the father about the contents of the book without telling him that this book exists. He was labeled as very imaginative and shortly afterwards the book disappears and the boy is no longer sure whether it was actually real.

German translation

The German translation by Gabriele Haefs is made more difficult by the fact that the Norwegian original is partly set in Germany and Switzerland. For example, the original village where the baker lives was simply called “village” by Jostein Gaarder - this may be a bit confusing for German readers.

From a German perspective, individual stories by the father about his mother and her life in Norway, which was occupied by German soldiers, are also interesting. His mother got involved with a German soldier, and he emerged from the relationship. For many years he was ashamed to be a “German child”.

Symbolism of the purple lemonade

The purple lemonade is characterized by the fact that it unites in its essence all the flavors that we humans can perceive. It is obtained from the juice of the purple rose and then boiled. Frode invented this recipe during his 52-year island days. The purple lemonade can be interpreted as a symbol of a transcendent reality that contains all the experiences we can have on earth. Parallels to the Akasha Chronicle , in which all experiences that people have ever had, should also be noted.

Awards

1995 Youth Book of the Month March by the German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature

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