The turn of the twentieth century was a time of
identity crisis for the upper and middle classes, one in which increased social
mobility caused the blurring of traditional boundaries and created a need for
reference works such as the British Who's Who (1897). At the same
time, the rise of a new leisure industry and an increase in international
travel led to a boom period for confidence men, who frequently operated in
hotels and holiday resorts. Thomas Mann's Felix Krull, written between
1910-13 and continued (though never completed) in 1951-54, uses contemporary
accounts of these figures as a starting-point from which to explore the
aesthetics of society.
The early Krull marks an important stage in Mann's development in a
number of respects. In writing it, Mann acquired a more flexible conception of
identity and a new understanding of the relation between artist and public. Krull
also signals a deeper engagement with Goethe and a shift in Mann's work towards
a more open treatment of sexuality. The novel presents art as being central to
the development of the individual and to social interaction. While Krull is
nominally a confidence man, he is more of a performance artist, a purveyor of
beauty who relies upon the complicity of his audience. The later Krull takes
up where Mann left off and continues the justification of art as an essential
human activity. This study draws upon unpublished material in order to provide
a comprehensive reading of Felix Krull. It examines the novel within
the context of Mann's work as a whole, and, in doing so, it seeks to
demonstrate the remarkable continuity of Mann's creative achievement.