Felix Philipp Ingold

Noch ein Leben für John Potocki

«Wie nicht beginnen? Einen bestimmten Anlass oder zumindest einen bestimmenden Zufall dafür gibt es allemal.»

«No matter where he’s coming from, because he has all the necessary papers, Potocki can go as he pleases, without let or hindrance: for example, he can sail into any one of the Maghreb ports that are so heavily guarded by the local military or merchant marine…go ashore, find quarters, change money, plan his next voyage, buy provisions, sign on porters and scouts and so forth.» Potocki could do it all. Potocki?
Jan Nepomucem Count Potocki (1761 – 1815) was considered during his lifetime to be one of the richest men in Europe. He travelled the world, and left behind a milestone of European literary history, his book 'The Saragossa Manuscript'. In 'Another Life for John Potocki', Felix Philipp Ingold follows the trail of this legendary Polish nobleman and playfully, fancifully, effortlessly, weaves in biographical detail. Malta, London, Africa, Asia, St Petersburg; encounters with chess-automata, a talking ape, glittering parties, wherever he goes…and then the end of his life, about which there are many conflicting accounts. However it happened, it was a life-story made to be told.
Ingold creates a fascinating and wide-ranging drama from the many episodes of Potocki’s ‘real’ life, and draws on countless historical and fictional characters to create the cast of his ‘other’ life. This story-biography is based partly on Ingold’s own fantasies and experiences, but also on his independent research, typical of his approach to all the characters he writes about.

(Martin Zingg, translated by Max Easterman, Rosie Goldsmith)

Recommended for translation by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, www.12swissbooks.ch

Translation of title: Another Life for John Potocki

Matthes & Seitz Verlag, Berlin 2013

ISBN: 978-3-88221-075-0