King Leopold's self-talk

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King Leopold's self-talk (Original: King Leopold's Soliloquy - A Defense of His Congo Rule ) is a polemic published in 1905 by the American writer Mark Twain .

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Frederick Funston's honor as a war hero was harshly criticized by Mark Twain
The 1905 edition contains a representation of mutilated Congolese under the rule of King Leopold

Although King Leopold's Soliloquy gave the title, it was supplemented in later publications by various essays, reports and sketches by Twain on the role of the USA in various current political issues at the turn of the century.

  • A Justification of General Funston (1902) - Criticism of false patriotism and dishonorable approach in the Philippine War
  • The Moro "Battle" (1906) - Critique of US war crimes committed by General Leonard Wood in the Philippine War
  • The war prayer (1905/1916) - criticism of the support of wars of aggression by clergy
  • To those who sit in the dark and To my critics from missionary circles (1901) - criticism of raids by American missionaries in China after the Boxer Rebellion
  • The tsar's self-talk (1890/1905) - outrage over the Russian policy of exile to Siberia and mockery of the tsar after St. Petersburg's Bloody Sunday
  • King Leopold's self-talk (1905) - sarcastic, cynical, ironic criticism of the Congo atrocities and the US support for Leopold's genocide
  • About the Jews (1899) - Thoughts on anti-Semitism in Austria-Hungary and France ( Dreyfus affair )
  • The United States of Lynchers (1901) - Racial Hatred Charges in the United States
  • Corn Bread Beliefs (1900) - Thoughts on Election Campaigning and Individual Adjustment
  • We need moral courage (?) - thoughts about the lack of character change in humanity
  • A Strange Piece of History (1894) - Thoughts on Abolitionism
  • Letter to Earth (1910) - Thoughts on the "Heavenly Archivist"
  • The turning point of my life (?) - views on causes and effects of personal developments
  • Was ist der Mensch (1906) - a pessimistic dialogue about the nature and purpose of man, the longest of the factual stories contained in this book
  • The lowest animal (1896) - thoughts on patriotism, religion and humanity

King Leopold's self-talk

The pamphlet, written to direct the public to the atrocities of the Congo , is a mixture of testimonies, missionary reports, statistics and newspaper reports, about which Leopold II, King of the Belgians, who ruled the Congo Free State , was annoyed in a fictitious monologue. Twain finally called for an international court of justice to sentence Leopold to death by hanging for his crimes.

German publications

In 2014 King Leopold's Self- Talk was published by Ahriman Verlag as part of the collection The Unknown Mark Twain, edited by Peter Priskil . Previously, King Leopold's self-talk in the German-speaking area had only been published in the GDR: In 1961 Tribüne-Verlag published a translation by Stefan Heym with a foreword by the translator. In 1967, the Aufbau-Verlag published a version translated by Ana Maria Brock with the same cover picture. Instead of the preface by Stefan Heym, this edition (and a second edition in 1979) contained an afterword by the Americanist Karl-Heinz Schönfelder .

See also

literature

  • Mark Twain, Stefan Heym (preface): King Leopold's self-talk - a defense of his rule in the Congo . Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1961.
  • Mark Twain, Karl-Heinz Schönfelder (epilogue): King Leopold's self-talk - essays, reports, sketches . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1967.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Priskil (ed.): The unknown Mark Twain · Writings against imperialism . Publisher's description to: Ahriman Verlag . Retrieved July 18, 2014.