骗子菲利克斯·克鲁尔的自白 (1954)

《骗子菲利克斯·克鲁尔的自白》（原名：Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull）是德国小说家托马斯·曼最后一部未完成的长篇小说，小说内容以菲利克斯·克鲁尔撰写回忆录的方式叙述他招摇撞骗的一生。菲利克斯·克鲁尔出生富商之家，家中高朋满座，由于父亲的破产和自杀，使得家境一落千丈，父亲的朋友一个个离去，只有一位教父参加了父亲的葬礼。克鲁尔深深体会到世态炎凉，他以一个侍者冒充别人名字游历世界，去过里斯本、巴黎等城市，混迹于上流社会，骗取贵妇和富家小姐的金钱，最后入狱。

克鲁尔在四十岁左右时开始回忆自己童年。他在回忆录里首先承认他之所以能屡屡得逞的原因，是因为这个世界上的人都希望受骗，他欺骗过匈牙利妓女、里斯本自然博物馆馆长的夫人，偷女作家霍普甫勒的首饰，欺骗侯爵夫妇，都是对方主动提出的主意。克鲁尔还认为艺术家都是骗子，艺术的本质只是美妙的幻想加上胡闹；这部小说一反过去“托马斯曼式”严肃风格，简直有点像是自我嘲讽的味道。托马斯·曼从1922年开始构思这部长篇，不久搁笔，1951年又继续执笔，到1954年临终前仍未竟笔，创作年代长达三十余年。

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

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. 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.

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 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

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. 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, directed by Detlev Buck, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Kehlmann. Jannis Niewöhner starred as Felix.