Red Dragon
Roter Drache (English Red Dragon ) is a 1981 novel by the US author Thomas Harris . It is about FBI agent Will Graham, who with the help of cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter chases a murderer who kills families. The German-language transmission by Sepp Leeb was first published in 1988 by Heyne Verlag , Munich .
Roter Drache is the first part of the four-part Hannibal Lecter book series. This was followed by Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1988), Hannibal (1999) and Hannibal Rising (2006)
In terms of content, Roter Drache , after Hannibal Rising , represents the second part of the plot about Hannibal Lecter. It is followed by The Silence of the Lammers and Hannibal .
action
FBI agent Will Graham managed to get the cannibals Dr. Arrest Hannibal Lecter, who not only murdered his victims but also ate some of their organs. Three years later, Graham is visited by his former colleague Crawford, who asks him for help on a case. One murderer has already killed two families of five. In both families' homes, the mirrors were smashed and shards of mirrors were inserted into the eyes and vagina of the family mother. The dead family members were placed nearby so they could see the killer touching the mother and raping her.
Graham is ultimately dependent on the help of his archenemy. Hannibal Lecter is supposed to help him convict the new psychopath, who is described by the police as a "tooth fairy" (in the English original toothfairy ). Hannibal publishes an encrypted advertisement in the newspaper "Tattler" in which he gives him the address of Graham and the demand that his family be killed. The police decipher the message and have the wife and son of Graham taken to a safe place. As a next step, the reporter for the tatter, Freddy Lounds, publishes false information on behalf of the police about the killer and the place where Graham lives. The police hope to infuriate the killer and set a trap for him in Graham's apartment. The toothfairy then does not go to Graham, but to Lounds, and tortures and kills him. Before killing him, he has a conversation with him and explains to him that he is the "great red dragon". He sends the recordings of the conversation to the police.
useful information
- The red dragon is the subject of a cycle of paintings by William Blake and was painted by him in various variations. The watercolor is in the Brooklyn Museum in New York .
- The serial killer is as a result of a characteristic bite impression of the police in the English original Toothfairy referred. The Toothfairy is a character from Anglo-American children's stories that is not very familiar in the German-speaking world and is usually translated as a tooth fairy . In English, the word fairy not only denotes a fairy , but also colloquially a gay person or a queen , which resulted in the misleading translation of tooth fagot for the murderer in various editions of the book .
Film adaptations
The novel about the cannibal Hannibal Lecter has already been filmed twice. In 1986 the first film adaptation appeared under the title Blood Moon by Michael Mann . Lecter's role was taken over by Brian Cox and William Petersen plays his opponent Will Graham.
However, after the two serial novels Das Schweigen der Lämmer and Hannibal were successfully filmed in 1991 and 2001 with Anthony Hopkins as lecter, the first novel was also to be adapted again with Hopkins. In 2002, Red Dragon appeared with Edward Norton as Will Graham, and Hopkins again took on the role of Hannibal Lecter.
The television series Hannibal , which has been broadcast since 2013 , once again shows the history of the novel. This time Mads Mikkelsen plays the Dr. Lecter, while Hugh Dancy plays Will Graham.
Audio books
- Thomas Harris: Roter Drache - abridged version read by Hans Peter Hallwachs , Heyne audio book , Munich 2002
Expenses (selection)
- Thomas Harris: Red Dragon . Heyne Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-02542-3 .
- Thomas Harris: Red Dragon . Heyne Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-453-02542-4 .
- Thomas Harris: Red Dragon . Dell, New York 1990, ISBN 0-440-20615-4 .