The King David's Report

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The King David Report is a novel by the German-Jewish writer Stefan Heym , which was published in the GDR in 1972 . He processes materials from the Tanakh about David and his kingship .

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In 26 chapters, the King David Report deals with a crucial phase in the life of the author and historian Ethan ben Hoshaja from the city of Esrah ("Ethan, the Esrahiter" is mentioned twice in the Bible - 1 Kings 5:11 [or 4:31 after the Counting the Vulgate] and Psalm 89: 1 ), who is forced as "editor" by King Solomon to work out the One and Only True and Authoritative, Historically Accurate and Officially Recognized Report on the Amazing Ascent, the Godly Life, and the Heroic Deeds and marvelous achievements of David ben Jesse, King of Judah for seven and both Judah and Israel for thirty-three years, God's chosen [!] and father of King Solomon.

Ethan is appointed to a commission of high-ranking state officials, but he does not have the right to vote. The other members are the chancellor Josaphat , the military leader Benaja , the prophet Nathan , the priest Zadok and the scribes Elihoreph and Ahija. In his research for the report, Ethan evaluates documents such as clay tablets from David's reign. He also speaks to David's contemporaries, including Bath-sheba , Solomon's mother, or David's wife Michal , as well as fortune tellers, whores and soldiers.

Ethan learns from sources and conversations that David was not the splendid king that Solomon wanted the report to portray. The historical picture that the historian makes of David shows a man of power who without hesitation sacrificed human life in order to achieve his political goals. David committed crimes under the pretext of acting under divine orders. Part of the ambivalent character of the king was that he was driven by his passions.

Though Ethan only hints at his findings about David in his report, he arouses the suspicion of the commissioners. They realize that Ethan's knowledge can endanger the heroic portrayal of David and bring him to trial for high treason . In a Solomonic judgment , King Solomon does not condemn the scribe to death; Instead, the report is to be hushed up, its author banished and his name forgotten - except for being named as the author of Psalm 89 , since Solomon considers this psalm to be unsuccessful. Solomon accepts Lilith, one of Ethan's three wives, at court, and on top of that gives a love song that Ethan wrote for Lilith as his own work (" The High Song of Solomon ").

interpretation

The King David report - like Heym's entire literary commitment in the 1960s and 1970s - can be interpreted in several directions. The first focus is on dealing with power and its abuse, as shown in the novel Lassalle .

The second focus is the criticism of Stalinism and the demand to come to terms with the past. In the West in particular, many reviewers saw clear references in the novel to the present and interpreted the work mainly as a settlement with Stalinism . Besides the King David report, the novels The Architects , which Heym kept under lock and key until 2000, and Collin are dedicated to this complex.

The third focus lies in the struggle for the publication of the books rejected by the regime - and thus in the struggle over freedom of expression and human rights under socialism .

The fourth focus is the Jewish topic. Heym was unwaveringly committed to the German-Jewish area in the GDR by speaking out in the West, for example, on the Middle East conflict .

“If you read a book of mine, I don't think you will say that it must have been written by a Jew. It could just as well have been written by a gentile. On the other hand, the King David Report and other books of this kind can only have been written by Jewish writers who can understand the spirit of a person like David or Ahasver or even Jesus from the history of the Jews, from the history of a constantly oppressed minority. "

Adaptations

  • A krónikás [the chronicler], rock opera by Gábor Kemenéy, Tibor Kocsák and Tibor Miklós. Hungary , 1984.
  • Sefer ha-Melekh David [King David's Book], theater play by Roee Chen. Israel , 2016.

literature

Primary literature

  • The King David's Report. Novel. Frankfurt / M., Fischer Taschenbuch, [Munich 1972] 1974, ISBN 3-463-00508-5 .

Secondary literature

  • Bohnert, Christiane: Stefan Heym “The King David Report”. The impotence of power before history. In: Klussmann, Paul Gerhard; Mohr, Heinrich (ed.): Dialectics of the beginning. Games of laughter, literary politics in libraries. About texts by Heiner Müller, Franz Fühmann, Stefan Heym. Bonn, Bouvier, 1986, pp. 143-195.
  • Sander, Hans-Dietrich: The prophet as a legend killer. [To: The King David's Report]. In: Deutschland-Archiv 5,2 (1972), pp. 753-755.
  • Harmful, Michael: Between power and spirit. Notes on Stefan Heym's novel “The King David Report”. In: Ders .: Title recordings. Studies of works by Thomas Mann, Heinrich Böll, Max Frisch, Graham Greene, Michail Bulgakow, Hermann Kant and Stefan Heym. Berlin, Union-Presse Hass, 1978, pp. 141–148.
  • Böll, Heinrich: The laurel is still bitter. Heinrich Böll on Stefan Heym: The King David Report Der Spiegel 39/1972, September 18, 1972, pp. 158, 160.
  • Reich-Ranicki, Marcel: King David alias Stalin , Die Zeit, August 18, 1972 (No. 33)
  • Nancy A. Lauckner: 1973: Stefan Heym's "Der König Davidbericht" which fictionalizes the biblical account of David's reign to comment on the contemporary situation in the German Democratic Republic, is published . In: Sander L. Gilman , Jack Zipes (Ed.): Yale companion to Jewish writing and thought in German culture 1096-1996. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1997, pp. 759-765

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The King David Report (1974), p. 10.
  2. ^ Bohnert, Christiane: Stefan Heym The King David Report . The impotence of power before history. In: Klussmann, Paul Gerhard; Mohr, Heinrich (ed.): Dialectics of the beginning. Games of laughter, literary politics in libraries. About texts by Heiner Müller, Franz Fühmann, Stefan Heym. Bonn, Bouvier, 1986, pp. 143-195.
  3. ↑ Koelbl, Herlinde: Stefan Heym. In: Dies .: Jewish portraits. Photographs and interviews by Herlinde Koelbl. Frankfurt / M, S. Fischer, 1989, pp. 115-117.
  4. ↑ The King David Report (A Krónikás). German musical archive.
  5. ↑ ספר דוד המלך - תיאטרון גשר 2016 .