Pavel Feinstein is known as a painter and draftsman. Now the artist is presenting his first novel “Krokodilopolis” at Hirmer Verlag in Munich. It is a book full of narrative.
With Pavel Feinstein's book "Krokodilopolis", the Munich art book publisher Hirmer is the first to present a novel. So to speak, the people of Munich discovered the Berlin and Moscow-born artist (1960) as a painter and draftsman with the volume "Pavel Feinstein - The Small Format". Now one could not resist his desire to tell a story - and neither does the reader. You indulge yourself with gusto and almost with a permanent smile on your face - although ... Of course he illustrated his literary work with drawings: goats, sheep, camels, frogs, hippos and crocodiles.
Pavel Feinstein
© Hirmer Verlag
Feinstein (photo: Vladimir Sichov) takes us to the Galilee and Egypt - with a side trip to Carthage - in the second century. We are in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious empire of Roman sovereignty. Our "authentic" guarantor is Shimon, whom Pavel Feinstein introduces with a suitable fiction. In 1936 a grave including a clay jug was found near Kapernaum - the inscription "Shimon ben S." - with scrolls and, strangely, a crocodile. Only much later was it possible to decipher the papyri, since the color had long since peeled off.
With Shimon's "autobiography", the author not only follows old narrative traditions, but also with the form of the picaresque novel, which he enriches with artist novels and social satire. No wonder that he maneuvers the Roman mockers Apuleius and Lukian into the narrative flow. Just like all sorts of Latin words. That's how you like to learn old languages: with a lot of wit and eroticism and not with bland political philosophers and warlords.
This reflects Shimon's life strategy: how do I solve my problems, how do I fulfill my wishes non-violently? For the goatherd who does not want to marry but wants to become an artist, this means first of all that he has to leave his village, baptized "Anus Mundi" (Ass of the World) by the Romans. The villager's adventures begin with a rapid sex success with the bacchants of the already comatically exhausted Bacchus priests, precisely because of the embarrassing goat skin leg warmers (Satyr / Faun!). And they end up in the retirement home of the saturated artist, who can afford to philosophize about art and bury his works with the knowledge that "they will be humbly dissolved in Him before the One, dissolved in Him". In between, there is a lot of work, careers and extensive celebrations.
This is only possible because the first-person narrator finds the right partners and friends and exercises tolerance. You respect the other, not only plan your own advantage, but always also that for the other: So Shimon and his friend Shlomo, the sculptor, can only do theirs with the pottery widow Ipsitilla - keyword: know-how - and the enterprising slave Titus Open artist workshop. It blooms mainly through votive offerings for the temples. Limbs made of clay symbolize suffering. Men's ailments and the right limb - with a showy dimension - are the most lucrative. Business is really prospering with the adorable Domina Phryne, who turns legionaries into lambs in rows.
Whether the Paganim temple (believe in the Greco-Roman world of the gods) or the Egyptian, the achievements of artists, artisans and the tamer of men are gladly taken and given, whereby the Jews remain loyal to the "one". So the troop comes in changing casts and sexual orientations not only to Alexandria, but also to Crocodilopolis, where the Nile crocodiles are worshiped. Dead portraits are now the bubbling source of income for Shimon - and the opportunity to mature artistically.
Pavel Feinstein and we as his readers enjoy his free-flowing, carefree, yet knowledge-rich telling and, without being malicious, his foray through the bizarre nature of religions, even Judaism. In addition to humor and subtle frivolity, he also gives us the utopia of an almost peaceful life.
Information about the book:
Pavel Feinstein: "Crocodileopolis". Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 221 pages; 19.90 euros.