The crocodile

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The crocodile. Illustrations by Rachel Szalit-Marcus (1921)

The Crocodile - An Unusual Event ( Russian : Крокодил, crocodile ) is a satirical story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky . In it he satirizes the economic principle and capitalism , in which people are no longer valid alongside profit. Dostoyevsky distributed swipes at the unworldly Russian administration and at the rigid social structures. The story was published in the magazine Epocha , which Dostoyevsky published together with his brother Mikhail ; the first episode appeared in February 1865. Since Dostoevsky was bankrupt and Epocha was discontinued in June, the story remained unfinished.

action

A German showman presents his sensation to the Moscow audience: the giant crocodile Karlchen. The official Ivan Matveyich, his wife Jelena Ivanovna and their house friend Semyon Semjonowitsch are curious to see the curious animal and go to the spot. When Jelena Ivanovna finally sees the "attraction", she is disappointed and finds the animal abhorrent. Besides, she doesn't even think it's alive; to convince them otherwise, the German teases it with a stick. Ivan Matveyevich becomes cocky and also teases the crocodile, whereupon he is swallowed without further ado. Jelena Ivanovna demands that the animal be slit open, but the German and his mother, who has been summoned, threaten to sue her if Karl is harmed. Ivan Matveyich's voice emerges from the body of the creature - he survived. Since he himself is a medium-sized company and is proud of it, he immediately takes sides for the German cause: the economic principle has priority. He could also carry out his job as a civil servant in the stomach of a crocodile, since this would obviously have to be the case in the future.

Adaptations

Anton Marti directed a Yugoslav television film Crocodile , which was first broadcast in 1960.

After a dramatization of the crocodile by Kristine Tornquist, Jury Everhartz composed an opera that was premiered in 2004 by the siren opera theater .

Expenses (selection)

  • The crocodile . Translation by Edith Ziegler, illustrations by Rachel Szalit-Marcus . Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1921.
  • The crocodile . In: The player. Late novels and short stories . Translated by EK Rahsin . Piper, Munich 1991, ISBN 978-3-492-10408-1 .
  • The crocodile . (Five) stories, newly translated by Christiane Pöhlmann. Manesse, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-7175-2362-8 .

Audio book

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Crocodile (1960). Retrieved December 4, 2013 .
  2. ^ The crocodile, siren opera theater, Vienna. Retrieved December 4, 2013 .