Moor and the Ravens of London (novel)
Mohr and the Ravens of London is the title of a book for young people by the couple Vilmos Korn and Ilse Korn .
The siblings Joe and Becky Kling live with their parents and siblings in a very poor family in London of the 19th century . 13-year-old Joe and his mother work in a textile factory , Becky has to work free of charge for a dealer. The father is unemployed, the older brother Billy, aka King, is the leader of a youth gang in the docks. One day the children get to know Karl Marx , who lives under the name Mohr in London and is there to help the children. Because Joe rebels against the system in the textile factory, he and his mother are accused of theft and punished unjustifiably. Poverty and child labor are vividly portrayed in the book, as well as the living conditions and family life of Karl Marx in London.
Karl Marx lived in London from 1849 and worked there, among other things, as an editor for the New York Daily Tribune . During this time he actually reported on the living conditions in England, in particular on the poverty described in the book and child labor in the textile industry. However, apart from historical facts, the plot is fictional. At the edge of the story, the basics of the fairy tale Hans Röckle are inserted, which were later published as a book and film . In the GDR , the work was school literature in the 6th grade and achieved general awareness as a result.
The book was filmed in 1969 by DEFA under the direction of Helmut Dziuba as Mohr and the Ravens of London .
criticism
Mohr and the Ravens of London is considered the best-known Marx book for children. Through the overemphasized portrayal of the “childlike joy of the wise man”, the glorification of the communist pioneer should be brought closer to the reader in addition to the vivid description of the life of the poor.
literature
- Vilmos and Ilse Korn : Mohr and the Ravens of London . Children's book publisher, Berlin 1962.
- Hans-Dieter Schmidt (based on Vilmos and Ilse Korn's novel of the same name): Mohr and the Ravens of London. Acting . Henschel, Berlin 1974.
- Heroes according to plan, catalog of the 19th Oldenburg children's and youth book fair on GDR literature
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 12th edition 1972, further textbook editions and last edition 2018. In addition, various translations.