The final temptation
The last temptation ( Greek original title: τελευταίος πειρασμός, O telefteos pirasmos ) is a 1951 novel by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis . The film The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese from the year 1988 based on the novel. The Pope put the novel on the index of forbidden books in 1954 , which finally made Kazantzakis world famous.
action
The novel is a transfiguration of the life of Christ . The Germanist Theodore Ziolkowski defines transfiguration in such a way that
"[...] the characters and actions - regardless of the meaning or subject matter - are shaped to a recognizable degree by the characters and events that are normally associated with the life of Jesus known from the Gospels."
In the novel the life of Jesus is told, whereby, similar to the Bible , mainly the last years are treated. Deviating from the contents of the Bible, in the novel, Jesus, as a carpenter, makes crosses which the Romans use to execute Jewish rebels. At the beginning he is not ready to submit to the divine will to redeem humanity. After he decides to do so, the crucifixion follows shortly thereafter. From here on the novel deviates considerably from the biblical representation. Suddenly Jesus is no longer hanging on the cross, instead an angel announces to him under a blooming tree that God has decided to save him and that he can lead a normal human life in the future. Several years later he is visited by Paul , who tells him that his earlier disciples have founded a new religion and worship him as the risen Messiah. Jesus is upset about this and tells Paul the truth. However, Paul is not interested in them and he leaves to continue converting people. Only a few years later did Jesus meet his disciples again as an old man, who accused him of treason and desertion. Then Jesus becomes aware that the angel on the cross was Satan and the promise of salvation was the last temptation . At that moment he opens his eyes, realizes that it was all just a dream and that he is still hanging on the cross.
Emergence
Kazantzakis wrote an early version of the novel entitled The Memoirs Christ for the first time in Aegina in 1942 . He completed the final version in Antibes from 1950 to 1951 . The author himself saw in the novel the laborious attempt to portray Christ in person, without the obscurations, falsifications and unimportance "with which he was falsified and distorted by the churches and robe wearers". He dedicated the novel " Marie Bonaparte , writer, Princess Georgios of Greece". As can be read in the biography of the widow of Kazantzakis, Marie Bonaparte had campaigned for the writer when the Greek Orthodox Church was preparing a “curse and an auto-da-fe ” for him.
reception
The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum notes on its website that with
“... the Last Temptation begins a new form of literary turning away from the Gospels; Kazantzaki's example is later followed by writers such as Robert Graves, Norman Mailer, Josè Saramango, Gérald Messadié, Erich-Emmanuel Schmidt, Anne Bernay, Eugene Whitworth, who portray Christ's story with himself or with Pontius Pilate as narrator, or with central myths from the East Mediterranean and with political and dynastic conflicts of the Hebrews. "
In a review of the film, Walter Jens writes about the book:
“Kazantzakis' book ends with a question; the battle between this side and the next ends in a draw - aesthetically plausible and theologically consistent. "The Last Temptation", an interesting and problematic book: occasionally sentimental, all too naturalistic in the presentation of the person of Jesus, but convincing in the visionary passages that show a Greek legend-maker at work who knows how to generalize Christian myths. "
The writer Stefan Jahnke writes in his review:
“A book that inspires? At first it is similar to the Bible ... but then! A book that won't let you go. Of course not, because it describes things that we all suspect deep down, but do not dare to speak openly. Kazantzakis does it for us. A book that makes you curious about a sequel? The material is well processed. Other works by the writer deal with other things. That's a good thing. A book to recommend? In any case. The book stirs up and sets new goals ... to find the truth and answer open questions. For that reason alone: Read it! "
Adaptations
It was not until 37 years after its publication that the book was filmed as The Last Temptation of Christ .
In 2003 there was an adaptation in Greek on the theater stage at the National Theater of Athens, directed by Sotiris Hatzakis . Other previously unlisted arrangements for the theater were in English by Nicholas Milich and James BA Conklin .
In 1984 a transcription of an opera was performed in a church in Milwaukee by members of the Lake Opera.
expenditure
-
Ho teleutaios peirasmos. (German alternative title: The last temptation ). Greece.
- The final temptation. German translation by Werner Kerbs. Herbig, Berlin 1952.
- The final temptation. 3. Edition. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-548-22199-8 .
literature
- Bernhard Lang, Religion and Literature in Three Millennia. Hundert Bücher , Paderborn: Schöningh 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-79227-3 , pp. 635–641.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Georg Langenhorst: Jesus went to Hollywood. The rediscovery of Jesus in contemporary literature and film. ( Memento of March 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; p. 29) Düsseldorf 1998, p. 24–42.
- ↑ action on the website of the Foundation Museum Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek); Retrieved November 19, 2013
- ↑ Quoted from: Steffan Schütze: Bachelor thesis p. 39
- ↑ a b Information on the book on the website of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum Foundation (Greek); Retrieved November 19, 2013
- ↑ In the name of the archbishop . In: NZZ ; Retrieved November 19, 2013
- ↑ Walter Jens : The Last Temptation of Christ - Pros and Cons . In: Die Zeit , No. 46/1988
- ↑ Website of Stefan Jahnke (PDF; 409 kB)
- ↑ Information on the edits on the website of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum Foundation (Greek)