Confessions of Felix Krull

Confessions of Felix Krull (German: Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull) is an unfinished 1954 novel by the German author Thomas Mann.

Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man: The Early Years
English 1st edition
AuthorThomas Mann
Original titleBekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Der Memoiren erster Teil
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
GenreNovel
Publication date
1954
Published in English
1955
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN0-679-73904-1
OCLC25200982
833/.912 20
LC ClassPT2625.A44 B313 1992

Synopsis

The novel is narrated by the protagonist, an impostor and adventurer named Felix Krull, the son of a ruined Rhineland winemaker. Felix avoids military service and makes his way to France, where he takes a job in a prestigious hotel, first as an elevator operator, then as a waiter. Deftly using his natural charm, good looks, and subtle intelligence, the young man easily wins the heart of a rich writer, as well as part of her money. Later, Krull meets the young Marquis de Venosta and undertakes to help him in his love affairs; he substitutes for the Marquis on a trip around the world.

Background

The novel is a parody of Goethe's autobiography Poetry and Truth, particularly in its pompous tone.[1][2][3] The original title is Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Der Memoiren, erster Teil, translated a year later in English as Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man: The Early Years.

Poster art for the 1957 German film adaption of the Confessions of Felix Krull, starring Horst Buchholz as Felix

Mann had planned the novel since 1905, being inspired by the Romanian con artist Georges Manolescu's autobiographies Fürst der Diebe (A Prince of Thieves) and Gescheitert (Failed). Originally the character of Felix Krull appeared in a short story written in 1911. The story was not published until 1936, in the book Stories of Three Decades, along with 23 other stories written between 1896 and 1929, the year in which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 2023, Damion Searls' new translation of the 1911 story, translated as "Confessions of a Con Artist, by Felix Krull—Part One: My Childhood", was published.[4] In later life, Mann expanded the story and managed to finish and publish part one of the Confessions of Felix Krull but due to his death in 1955, the saga of Felix, the morally flexible and irresistible conman, remains unfinished.

Adaptations
Main articles: Confessions of Felix Krull (film) and The Confessions of Felix Krull (TV series)

The book was adapted into a film in 1957, with a screenplay by Erika Mann and Robert Thoeren, directed by Kurt Hoffmann, and starring Horst Buchholz as Krull alongside Liselotte Pulver.[5][6] A spoken word adaptation of chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 from the first book (dem Buch der Kindheit) of Felix Krull performed by O.E. Hasse, was included as a companion disk to the 1965 Teldec (Telefunken-Decca) release of Schwere Stunde (performed by Thomas Mann).

A television miniseries was directed in 1982 by Bernhard Sinkel, starring John Moulder-Brown. The novel was made into a movie again in 2021.[7]

Notes
  1. Mann's Letter to Paul Amann, 3 August 1915, quotation:
    eine Parodie auf Dichtung und Wahrheit, aber positiv endlich doch in seiner verzerrten Lyrik
    translation:
    a parody of Poetry and Truth, but in the end arriving at something new in its distorted lyricism.
  2. Schonfield (2008) p.19
  3. Schwarz (2004) p.257
  4. In Mann, Thomas, New Selected Stories, New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2023.
  5. "Confessions of Felix Krull (1957) - IMDb". IMDb.
  6. The American distributor billed Horst Buchholz as "Henry Bookholt" and Liselotte Pulver as "Lisa Pulver". "Hollywood: Henry Bookholt", Time, August 4, 1961 Penn Libraries
  7. Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull

References
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