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. Alone with Manfred Beerholm, Arthur discovers his first set of Tarot cards, and thematic links between cards and fate…
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Citation: Simpson, Patricia. "Beerholms Vorstellung". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21664, accessed 23 April 2024.]
