Thomas Mann, Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull [The Confessions of Felix Krull Confidence Man]

David Gallagher (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Thomas Mann worked on this

Schelmenroman

(rogue’s novel),

Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Der Memoiren erster Teil

[

The Confessions of a Confidence Trickster, Felix Krull. First Part of the Memoirs

, 1954], for two periods between 1910-13 and 1951-54 and it was published in its unfinished form a year before his death in 1955. The first creative phase has been shown to be inspired by three creative models: Georges Manolescu’s memoirs

A Prince of Thieves

(1905), Goethe’s autobiography

Dichtung und Wahrheit

[

Poetry and Truth

, 1813, 1831] and the fairy-tale motif of the

Glückskind

or fortunate child. The second phase is influenced by the genre of the picaresque novel founded by the anonymous Spanish author of

Lazarillo de Tormes

(1554) and exemplified in Johannes Jacob…

1594 words

Citation: Gallagher, David. "Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11473, accessed 28 March 2024.]

11473 Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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