Daniel Kehlmann, Beerholms Vorstellung [Beeerholm’s Performance]

Patricia Simpson (Montana State University Bozeman)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1997

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Daniel Kehlmann's first novel, Beerholms Vorstellung [Beerholm's Performance, 1997], narrates the life of magician Arthur Beerholm in a first-person perspective. The narrative addresses an absent “you” whose identity as the imagined love object eventually merges with the reader's. Born to a young mother and adopted by Ella and Manfred Beerholm, Arthur begins his account with the death of Ella Beerholm, “die ich vermutlich ‘Mama' genannt habe” [“whom I presumably called ‘Mama'”]. Ella was struck by lightning on a beautiful day while taking in the laundry. This loss forms an absence around which Arthur develops without much inflection in the narrative report. …

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747 words

Citation: Simpson, Patricia. "Beerholms Vorstellung". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 August 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21664, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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