Me and Kaminski
Ich und Kaminski is a novel by Daniel Kehlmann that was published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 2003 . The theme of the novel, with which Kehlmann achieved his international breakthrough, is the attempt of the vain and arrogant first-person narrator , the art historian and self-proclaimed art critic Sebastian Zöllner, to give his hitherto not particularly successful career a boost with a biography of the old blind painter Kaminski . In order to take advantage of the life and death of Kaminski, he approaches the legendary painter personally.
The strange tension between the biographer and his living object and their mutual manipulations form the framework for a satire on the art business with its vanities and the depiction of the embarrassing discrepancy between Zöllner's overestimation of himself and reality.
content
Sebastian Zöllner, the ambitious, self-proclaimed art critic, hopes to finally achieve fame and money with the biography of the old, blind painter Manuel Kaminski. Kaminski, once sponsored by Matisse and Picasso and made world famous through a Pop Art exhibition and the lurid caption “Painted by a blind man”, has now been a little forgotten and lives secluded in the Alps . Since his death can be expected soon, Zöllner plans to take advantage of the attention that surely flared up again after Kaminski's death for the formerly famous painter: “My book was not allowed to come out before his death and not too long afterwards, for a short time he will be the focus of interest. I would be invited on television, I would talk about him, and at the bottom of the screen my name and Kaminski's biographer would appear in white letters. That would get me a job at one of the big art magazines. "
After talking to former companions, friends and enemies of the painter, he finally makes his way to Kaminski's domicile in the Alps, where he pushes himself penetratively into the life of the old man. He rummaged through his office and studio for material and even bribed the cook so that he could be alone with the old, apparently defenseless man.
When the customs officer confronts Kaminski with the fact that his childhood sweetheart Therese Lessing, who was believed dead, is still alive and that he, the customs officer, knows her address, Kaminski wants to be brought to her on the spot. During this spontaneous journey Zöllner realizes that he is in no way up to the frail old man - whether actually blind or not. Zöllner turns out more and more to be a failed, tragic figure. Kaminski's daughter Miriam finally gave his dream of a big breakthrough the final death blow when she revealed to him that someone else, namely the famous journalist Hans Bahring, had long been commissioned to write the standard work about her father.
Kaminski wants to be taken to the sea by the customs officer. Once there, Zöllner hands over his dictaphone, the tape recordings and page by page from his notebook to the waves. In the meantime, Kaminski has sat down on the beach and remains there while the customs officer moves away from him, the sea and the rising tide alone.
radio play
The book was produced as a radio play by Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne under the direction of Thomas Leutzbach . Among the contributors are Anian Zollner and Rudolf Wessely .
Movie
The novel adaptation Ich und Kaminski , directed by Wolfgang Becker with Daniel Brühl in the role of the first-person narrator and Jesper Christensen as Kaminski, opened in German cinemas on September 17, 2015.
expenditure
(Selection)
- Me and Kaminski. Novel . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-518-41395-3 (first edition, hardcover)
- Me and Kaminski. Novel . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-518-45653-9 (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch 365)
- Me and Kaminski. Radio play . Director: Thomas Leutzbach. Produced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Universal Classics and Jazz, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-8291-1452-4 (radio play CD)
Trivia
In Kehlmann's novel " F ", published ten years later , the character "Sebastian Zöllner" appears again in a short passage. Apparently Zöllner has aged, still as vain as he used to be and remained an art critic. He was “not even fifty. Too young to retire. Too old to still change saddles "
Web links
- Me and Kaminski on kehlmann.com
- Meetings of the plant on pearl divers