Mephisto

A novel of one career

The life story of a talented artist who, driven by his desire for fame, makes a pact with the devil in the form of the Nazis coming to power in Germany.

The life story of an artist who, driven by his desire for fame, makes a pact with the devil in the form of the Nazis coming to power in Germany. Hendrik Höfgen is a gifted actor who sacrifices his moral principles, artistic ambitions and personal life to his boundless ambition and boundless vanity. The conviction that in a perverse totalitarianism there can be an untouched island of art turns out to be an illusion, a delusion. He rises to the top of the social ladder, but he is lonely, internally conflicted and at the mercy of the Nazi power with which he willingly entangles himself. How chilling the final words of the novel sound: "What do people want from me? Why are they following me? Why are they being so hard on me? I'm just an ordinary comedian after all! ”

In 1981, Hungarian director István Szabó made a film based on the novel, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer in the title role.