Der Zauberkaftan

Mikszáth, Kálmán, 1847-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 177K words
Chapters: 18

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Der Zauberkaftan by Kálmán MikszáthAuthor: Mikszáth, Kálmán, 1847-1910,Language: German, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Dec 5, 2007

Editor's review

Kálmán Mikszáth was a major nineteenth-century Hungarian novelist. The German translation of The Magic Robe, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook, carries on his gift for storytelling: a single symbolic robe links characters and events, and through light, humorous narration it brings out human manners and turns of fate. The German is relatively plain, making this a good entry point for seeing Hungarian literature in German translation, and a good fit for readers who enjoy tightly structured short and medium-length narratives with a folk flavor. Don't rush the plot; watch how the robe as a thread drives changes in the characters' relationships, and note the narrator's interjected commentary. If your German is not yet fluent, read one chapter first, use a dictionary to sort out forms of address, then continue.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in Eastern European literature and Hungarian fiction
Readers with intermediate German who want to try literary works in translation
Fans of symbol-linked narratives and humorous short and medium-length fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers with no German who want only a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer strong suspense plots or fast-paced modern narratives

Reading tips

Read the first chapter to gauge the German difficulty, then decide whether to read closely or straight through.
As you read, track the characters' relationships and the robe's chain of hands; the structural design becomes clearer.
After finishing, revisit the narrator's commentary to appreciate the author's sense of humor and satire.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a German original or a translation?

It is a German translation of a work by the Hungarian writer Mikszáth, in German. It suits readers who want to encounter Hungarian literature through German, but it is not a German original, and the translation's style affects the reading experience.

What German level is needed to read it?

The text is literary narrative with somewhat difficult sentence patterns and vocabulary. Intermediate German reading ability and a dictionary for unfamiliar words are recommended. If you are just starting German, try a short chapter first, then decide whether to read the whole book.

What should I keep in mind when reading the ebook?

This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, mainly plain text; notes and layout may be less polished than a paper book. Use reading software with dictionary lookup and bookmarks so you can easily revisit characters and clues.

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About the author

Mikszáth, Kálmán, 1847-1910 Author

Kálmán Mikszáth (1847–1910) was a Hungarian novelist. Publicly available details of his life in this database are limited, yet his works already convey his character as a writer. The collection holds nine of his works, including the short-story volumes When the Wick Only Glimmers, Old Cart, Faded Harness, The Story of the Nest, and The True Humorists: Articles on Hungarian Folk Humor, as well as the novels St. Peter's Umbrella, The Case of the Noszty Boy with Tóth Mari, and Master Filcsik the Heathen. Set mostly against Hungarian rural and bourgeois life, these works are marked by folk humor and an ironic tone, with sharply drawn characters and strong storytelling, and they hold an important place in the Hungarian literary tradition.