Michael

Herman Bang (1857-1912) need not be discovered; several works have been newly translated to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. The artist novel Michael from 1904, however, which was translated into German the following year, has not been published for eight decades. Michael is Herman Bang's most personal work; in it he dealt with the great love disappointments of his life. The successful painter Claude Zoret has to experience how Eugène Michael, his favourite model ("The Winner"), his foster son and lover (?), escapes from him and flees into the arms of a woman. The bitter realization that he has won in art but failed in life leads the artist to his last masterpieces ("Painter of Pain"), but the human being Claude Zoret to resignation and death. The novel was filmed twice during the silent movie era. Mauritz Stiller created with the (long different)