Paradies der falschen Vögel

by Wolfgang Hildesheimer

In diesem 1953 zuerst erschienenen Roman taucht eine ganze Schar komischer Käuze, skurriler Zelebritäten und "falscher Vögel" auf, die übermütig mit ironischer Grazie und witzig-stichelnder Satire durch den Erzähler vorgeführt eine spaßige, intelligente und doch niemals moralisierende Parodie auf den Kunstbetrieb.

Genres: German Literature, Fiction, Germany

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Wolfgang Hildesheimer was an acclaimed German-born author, playwright, and visual artist who became a central voice in post-WWII European literature. Born into a Jewish family in Hamburg on December 9, 1916, he fled the Nazi regime in 1933, moving to Britain and later to Palestine. He initially trained as a painter and stage designer in London. After the war, his deep linguistic skills led him to work as a simultaneous interpreter and court stenographer at the Nuremberg trials in 1946.

This dark historical experience heavily influenced his transition from painting to writing. He joined the influential West German literary circle Gruppe 47, establishing himself as a pioneer of the Theatre of the Absurd in Germany. His early fame grew with the short story collection Lieblose Legenden (Loveless Legends, 1952) and the deeply psychological existential novel Tynset (1965). For his profound literary contributions, he received Germany's most prestigious literary award, the Georg Büchner Prize, in 1966.

Hildesheimer achieved international bestseller status with his groundbreaking, demythologizing biography Mozart (1977). He followed this success with Marbot (1981), a brilliant postmodern satire written as a serious historical biography of a completely fictional Victorian nobleman. In his final decade, deeply concerned with global environmental destruction, he completely abandoned writing to focus on visual collage art. He lived his remaining years in Switzerland, where he died of a heart attack on August 21, 1991.

Reviews

[Paulina (infinitechapters)]

2.5 ⭐

[Paul]

Nette Geschichte über einen Kunstfälscher und seinen Neffen liest sich easy runter eigentlich ganz unterhaltsam

[Frank]

clever and entertaining novel about an artist who makes a successful career out of counterfeiting the works of another artist. the trick is that the counterfeited artist never existed, that is, his persona is counterfeited as well.

[Christina Dongowski]

Sehr amüsante Lektüre, ein Virtuosenstückchen in der Verschachtelung von fiktionalen Identitäten & der Fiktionalität von Identitäten überhaupt - besonders im Kunstbetrieb. Hildesheimer verschränkt die Narrative & Topoi, die der Kunstbetrieb zur Verwertung seiner Produkte verwendet, zu einer Schelmengeschichte, erzählt von einem, der aus der Ununterscheidbarkeit von Künstler sein & Fälscher sein die Konsequenz zieht, keines von beiden mehr zu praktizieren & sich mit seinem ehemaligen Lehrer in eine Candide-sche Gartenidylle (aber mit harten Bänken) zurück zu ziehen. Sternabzug für ein bisschen zu unkritisches Verwenden von „völkerpsychologischen“ Klischees über „den Balkan“.

[Iamthesword]

Hildesheimer's small book is a witty satire targeting the art market. Set mostly in the fictious independant prinicpality of Procegovina in the Balkans in the first half of the 20th century, Hildesheimer manages to blend political commentary about the difficult history of the region into the genre of "Schelmenroman" about a talented painter who realizes that copying old masters is much more effective than building a body of work on his own and even manages to "invent" a national painter for Procegovina.

I particularly liked Hildeshimer's laconic tone which gave a special taste to the story and made the absurdities of the story quite believable. Still, the humor is rather subtle, you don't necessarily laugh out loud, but you smile almost constantly on the smart ideas Hildesheimer has on every page. If not for a few pacing issues in the establishing of new characters/settings, this would be a five star book.