Kein Öl Moses? Neue Satiren

by Ephraim Kishon

Hier erzählt uns Kishon, wie er zu seinem Namen kam, von seinem Kleinkrieg für einen langfristigen Bankkredit und gegen die ungezogenen Sprößlinge, von seiner Begegnung mit einem freundlichen Straßenräuber und dem Gespräch mit einem besonders aufrichtigen Hündchen. Ein unerschöpflicher Karneval von Gestalten, Ereignissen und Phantasien zieht am Leser vorbei, gesehen mit dem scharfen, doch immer menschlichen Blick dieses "Weisen mit der Narrenkappe".
Aber diesmal geraten auch Krise und Krieg unter das Brennglas seinen satirischen Humors: Kein Öl, Moses? So ernst Kishon selbst die Erfahrungen im Jom-Kippur-Krieg nimmt, gelingt es ihm auch hier die groteske Seite aufzudecken. Etwa wenn er von jenem Mann erzählt, der sich vor seiner Haustür ein Bein bricht und dank des auffälligen Gipsverbandes zu Kriegsveteranen-Ehren kommt.
Oder wenn die libysche Regierung die schwedische mit der Drohung "Kein Öl," zur Vergabe des Nobelpreises für Literatur an ihren Präsidenten zwingt.
Kishons heitere Medizin gegen trübselige Stunden ist diesmal auch politisch gewürzt.
Martin Maier schreib kürzlich in der "Welt am Sonntag": "Die Zeit kommt, da wird man Ephraim Kishon ärztlich verordnen."
Und ist dieses Buch, das elfte von Kishon in deutscher Sprache, nicht tatsächlich das wirksamte Medikament gegen die akute Krankheit der menschlichen Schwächen?

Genres: Humor

317 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Ephraim Kishon (Hebrew: אפרים קישון‎) was an Israeli writer, satirist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director.

Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, as Ferenc Hoffmann (Hungarian Hoffmann Ferenc), Kishon studied sculpture and painting, and then began publishing humorous essays and writing for the stage.

During World War II the Nazis imprisoned him in several concentration camps. At one camp his chess talent helped him survive as the camp commandant was looking for an opponent. In another camp the Germans lined up the inmates shooting every tenth person, passing him by. He later wrote in his book The Scapegoat, "They made a mistake—they left one satirist alive." He managed to escape while being transported to the Sobibor death camp in Poland, and hid the remainder of the war disguised as "Stanko Andras", a Slovakian laborer.

After 1945 he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont to disguise his Jewish heritage and returned to Hungary to study art and publish humorous plays. He immigrated to Israel in 1949 to escape the Communist regime, and an immigration officer gave him the name Ephraim Kishon.

His first marriage, in 1946 to Eva (Chawa) Klamer, ended in divorce. In 1959, he married his second wife Sara (née Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003, he married the Austrian writer Lisa Witasek. He had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1963), and Renana (b. 1968).

Bulgarian Profile.

Reviews

[Igor Gligorijevic · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Truehobbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reluctant four stars - three and a half more like, really. This collection contained more everyday tales than the previous one I read, and only some political ones. These latter, if completely political, are still unfunny (though probably of some historical interest along the lines of 'the more it changes...'), but some of them are more generally about the political system etc - these tend to be amusing, though sometimes too exaggerated even for a satire to really work. Some of the at-home, personal ones, though, are among his best and make this a quick and enjoyable read.