Kéraban the Inflexible

Keraban the blockhead is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne. The original French edition was published in 1883 under the title Keraban -le- Pierre -Jules Hetzel têtu in Paris. The German -language edition was published in 1885 under the title Keraban the rigid head. The English title of the novel is Kéraban the Inflexible.

Action

After a marriage dispute the Dutch tobacco traders sir, Jan Van flees the middle with his servant Bruno from Rotterdam to Istanbul, where he visits his friend and business partner Keraban. Kerabans business premises are located in the European part of Istanbul. There, Van mids and Bruno meet him.

Keraban she invites to dinner at his villa, located in the Asian part of Istanbul - is - Scutari ( Üsküdar ). The European and the Asian part of Istanbul are separated by the Bosphorus. When they want to put on the Bosphorus along with Kerabans sluggish servant Nizib, they meet an officer of the police who proclaims a notice, after a small tax per person for the crossing of the Bosporus is charged with the boat. Keraban refuses to hate on the government to pay this tax. Out of defiance, he decides in his carriage to circumnavigate the Black Sea into his mansion for dinner. Since the middle of Van has accepted his invitation to dinner, he and his servants go with perforce.

After the travel company has survived an attack wild boar on the coach, they arrived in Odessa. There Keraban visits his nephew Ahmed, standing with Amaziah, the daughter of the banker Selim shortly before the marriage. The wedding should take place in the presence Kerabans. Keraban asks Achmed, to accompany him to Scutari. Shortly after departure Kerabans Amasia and her servant Nedjeb be kidnapped by the pirate captain Yarhud.

In Poti on the border of Russia with Turkey, they meet at a railway crossing on the make Saffar, who blocks their path. By an approaching train is the coach standing on the tracks in the middle, destroyed. The Mad Keraban is arrested by two Cossacks, set in the waiting train and taken over the Turkish border. Achmed, Van centers, Bruno and Nizib cross the border on horseback and read Keraban at customs house back on. You continue the journey into a two-wheeled horse-drawn carts.

As the travelers staying at a lighthouse keeper, they will witness how a ship sinking in a storm. Achmed rescues two women who were on board, and Amaziah Nedjeb. Captain Yarhud, the Amasia kidnapped on behalf of the rich Saffar and his manager Scarpante, has also survived the disaster.

In the caravanserai of Rissar the travelers learn the Kurds Yanar and his sister Sarabul know. Through an oversight Keraban, Van mids and Achmed penetrate into Sarabuls room. In a judicial investigation, the guilty are exposed. To an impending jail sentence to escape, Keraban and Amaziah Van persuade middle Sarabul to make a marriage proposal. In the near Trebizond, Van centers engaged reluctantly with Sarabul.

Unknowingly provides Keraban the rogue Scarpante as a leader. In order to shorten the way to Scutari, the travelers left on a proposal Scarpantes the coast and traverse the mountains of Anatolia. During a night the travelers camp of bandits attacked. Yarhud, Scarpante and Saffar of Keraban be killed before they can kidnap Amaziah. The next morning, it turns out that the travelers are nearing Scutari.

In Kerabans Villa Van confesses middle Sarabul that he can not marry her because he is already married. Immediately after the confession meets a telegram, which Van Facial is a widower for five weeks.

It turns out that the wedding ceremony of Ahmed and Amaziah can not take place in Scutari but only in the European part of Istanbul. The wedding threatens to burst because Keraban still refuses to pay the tax for the crossing of the Bosphorus. He solves the problem by crossing the Bosphorus in a wheelbarrow, to a tightrope walker moves on a 1,300 -meter-long tightrope over the water.

Achmed and Amaziah can now marry. Only Van centers is unhappy because he still has to marry the unloved Kurd. However, when he read the telegram again, it turns out that it contains a read error. Mrs Van centers is not " ... different ... " but " ... decided to visit her husband ." Shortly afterwards, Mrs Van hits the middle in Scutari.

Assessment

Keraban the rigid head is an exciting, action- rich novel with many surprising twists. The overriding character is the stubborn Keraban who rejects the "modern " achievements such as railroads, steamboats and telegraphy and by his obstinacy the action triggers only. He dresses deliberately old-fashioned and is against the dominated by the progressive Young Turks government. The Young Turks wear a fez as headgear, the Old Turks as Keraban a turban.

Van the middle is a mild-mannered Dutchman, but can also be a stubborn as Keraban, for example, in a dispute with his wife, in the personalize it to something typical for Holland - tulips - goes and it culminates, that pelt the couple to each other with tulip bulbs.

Bruno Van Mittens faithful servant who is concerned mainly about his weight. Bruno believes that in the Netherlands the social prestige of the body weight is dependent. As it decreases due to the rigors of travel, more and more, he pushes Van centers in vain to separate from Keraban. Van centers is far too meek ​​to prevail Keraban opposite.

The villains Saffar, Yanar and Scarpante are pale secondary characters. The novel ends by Keraban the government buys the tax. This Keraban immensely popular with the citizens.

Filming

• The novel was filmed in 1996 as an animated film in Germany and China. Manfred Durniok and to Hao Hong resulted in the puppet film director.

German translations

• Keraban, the rigid head. Julius Verne 's writings, Volume 43 and 44 A. Hart 's life Verlag, Vienna, Pest and Leipzig 1885 - no indication of the translator ( more later editions)
• Keraban, the rigid head. Well told, Volume 74, New Life, Berlin ( GDR ) 1967 - edited and shortened by the hard life issue ( more later editions, as licensed editions in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland )
• Keraban, the rigid head. Novel. German by Martin Doehlemann and Hans -Jürgen Wagener. Bärmeier and Nikel, Frankfurt am Main 1966-1968 - very free and drastically abridged translation with some illustrations of the French first edition (later published in several editions in the Fischer -Verlag)
• Keraban, the rigid head. German by Gisela Geisler. Books Gutenberg, Zurich, Frankfurt and Vienna, 1970, ISBN 3-7632-1423-2 - with numerous illustrations of the French edition
• Keraban the rigid head. Collection Jules Verne Volume 44 and 45 paperback Pawlak Verlag, Berlin and Mr. Ching 1984, ISBN 3-8224-1044-6 (Volume 1) and ISBN 3-8224-1045-4 ( Volume 2 ) - an edited reprint of the hard life edition without illustrations
• Keraban the rigid head. German by Gisela Geisler. German Bücherbund, Stuttgart and Munich in 1987 - with all the illustrations of the French edition ( book club edition of the license edition of the books Gutenberg ); the most complete and originalgetreueste German edition