Mephisto (novel)

Mephisto (novel)

Mephisto – Novel of a Career is the sixth novel by Klaus Mann, which was published in 1936 whilst he was in exile in Amsterdam. It was published for the first time in Germany in the East Berlin Aufbau-Verlag in 1956. This novel (a thinly-disguised portrait of the actor Gustaf Gründgens), the Tchaikovsky novel Symphonie Pathétique and the emigrant novel Der Vulkan are Klaus Mann's three most important novels. An award-winning 1981 movie was based on Mann's novel. The novel adapts the Mephistopheles/Dr Faustus theme by having the main character Hendrik Höfgen abandon his conscience and continue to act and ingratiate himself with the Nazi Party to keep and improve his job and social position.