Ernst Michalski - Die Verwandlung des Knaben Kai. Roman

„Die Verwandlung des Knaben Kai“ is a novel written by Ernst Michalski, a German-Jewish art historian of the years of the Weimar Republic, who was one of the founder of the reception theory. His category of the „aesthetic boundary“ has become a key-concept of the terminology of art history. A pupil of Wilhelm Pinder, he taught at the University of Munich between 1931 and 1933, when he was dismissed because of his Jewish origin. He died in 1936, only 35 years old, and left this novel bearing a strong autobiographical character, which is now published for the first time. It is set between the southern country of art, Italy, and the northern countries, between Rome, Munich and Norway. Art experiences alternate with acquaintances with famous persons, love experiences and natural sceneries. Through his literary fiction, the author reflects on his past life, his formative experiences, his profession and his destiny.