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Peter Furst (1) (1910–1998)

Autor von Don Quixote in Exile

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Don Quixote in Exile (1996) 7 Exemplare

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Wissenswertes

Geburtstag
1910-02-04
Todestag
1998-12-29
Geschlecht
male
Nationalität
Germany (birth)
USA
Geburtsort
Berlin, Germany
Sterbeort
San Francisco, California, USA
Wohnorte
San Francisco, California, USA
Vienna, Austria
Dominican Republic
Berufe
journalist
novelist
Holocaust survivor
Beziehungen
Fürst, Artur (father)
Kurzbiographie
Peter Furst was born to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. His father was writer Artur Fürst. Peter was a sports writer for the Berliner Tageblatt, where he rose to become editor and had his own column. In 1934, while in Monte Carlo reporting on an auto race, he realized it would be dangerous for him to return to Germany under the control of the Nazis; so he traveled instead to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War. After that he went to Vienna, and following the Nazi Anschluss (annexation) of Austria, he fled with his Viennese-born girlfriend (later wife) Gretl to Prague and then to Paris, narrowly escaping the German invasions of World War II. They went as refugees to the Dominican Republic, where they initially worked on a farm, and stayed for seven years. In 1946, they emigrated to the USA. Furst continued to work as a journalist, including for Voice of America. His autobiographical novel Der Zigarrentöter: Don Quixote im Exil, was first published in German in 1994, and in English in the USA in 1996 as Don Quixote in Exile.

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Rezensionen

Peter Furst, the protagonist of the story, is Peter Furst, the author, who penned this autobiographical novel. I see from the blurb on the back of the book that its marketers think it an episodic story. I suppose that comes from the title, and the allusion to Don Quixote. But Don Quixote in Exile is not episodic. It's fragmentary. It does begin with vignettes, somewhat of the type in Maugham's The Gentleman in the Parlour, essentially a travel book of encounters from Burma to Bangkok and on to Indochina. And Don Quixote in Exile has that same feel. But Furst does more. His fragments present themselves elliptically, leaving imagination to take root and complete the tale at many points.

Still, there is uncertainty on every page. You never forget that Peter is a refugee. A German Christian with Jewish grandparents who is fleeing Hitler's Germany and its conquests. In a way, he is a "converso," akin to the alleged family history of Columbus, which is brought up throughout the stay in Hispaniola.

Then, there are the individuals Peter, along with his wife, Gretl, encounter. They make for enticing descriptions, with their stories and background. Sometimes, you wish the novel would veer off and follow them into their worlds. Furst does a remarkable job in building atmosphere, after the disembarkation in the Dominican Republic, around these characters. As Peter's employer remarks on the last page, before Peter leaves for the United States, "Make this world here your past. It will feed your soul until the end of your days." Furst published this, which I believe to be his only novel, in 1996. A couple of years before he died. His days adrift did pursue him until the end.
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PaulCornelius | Apr 12, 2020 |

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Statistikseite

Werke
1
Mitglieder
7
Beliebtheit
#1,123,407
Bewertung
4.0
Rezensionen
1
ISBNs
10
Sprachen
2