Карл Валентин: Неміс комедиясының шебері

German comedian

the Swedish composer

Karl Valentin (, born Valentin Ludwig Fey, 4 June 1882 in Munich – 9 February 1948 in Planegg) was a Bavarian comedian. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes called the "Charlie Chaplin of Germany". His work has an essential influence on artists like Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Loriot and Helge Schneider.

Karl Valentin came from a reasonably well off middle class family; his father had a partnership in a furniture transport business. Valentin first worked as a carpenter's apprentice, and this experience proved useful in the construction of his sets and props later in life. In 1902, he began his comic career, enrolling for three months at a variety school in Munich, under the guidance of Hermann Strebel. His first job as a performer was at the "Zeughaus" in Nürnberg (Nuremberg). In the wake of his father's death Valentin took a three year break from performing during which he constructed his own twenty piece one man band (with which he eventually toured in 1906). Valentin also took musical studies, learning the guitar with Heinrich Albert. Soon Valentin was performing regularly in the cabarets and beerhalls of München (Munich). He developed a reputation for writing and performing short comic routines, which he performed in a strong Bavarian dialect, usually with his female partner, Liesl Karlstadt. Valentin also made numerous films, both silent and with audio; but it was as a stage performer in cabarets that Valentin built a reputation as one of the leading comic performers in Germany during the Weimar Republic. He died in 1948 from pneumonia.

Valentin's naïve sense of humour produced sketches that in spirit were loosely connected to dadaism, social expressionism and the Neue Sachlichkeit. Along with Karl Kraus, he is considered a master of gallows humor. His art centered mostly around linguistic dexterity and wordplay—Valentin was a linguistic anarchist. His comedy would often begin with a simple misunderstanding, on which he would insist as the sketch progressed. The notable critic Alfred Kerr praised him as a Wortzerklauberer, or someone who tears apart words and language to forcefully extract and dissect its inherent meaning. His sketches often parodied and derided "shopkeepers, firemen, military band players, professionals with small roles in the economy and the defence of society". Many contemporary artists, including film maker Herbert Achternbusch and Christoph Schlingensief ("Valentin is one of the greatest for me! "), trace their artistic roots back to Karl Valentin.

In 1959 based on private initiative the Valentin Museum was established in the Isartor in Munich. This museum shows absurdities from parts of his legacy. A statue of Valentin was placed in the Viktualienmarkt in Munich. People still come and place flowers on this statue. 1986 Turkish musical play named "İçinden Tramvay Geçen Şarkı" ("The Song Through Which a Streetcar Passes") by Ferhan Şensoy is loosely based on life of Karl Valentin.

Complete Works in 8 volumes. Edited by Helmut Bach Maier and Manfred Faust. Munich: Piper. Volume 1: Monologe und Soloszenen (monologues and solo scenes). 309 p.
Vol 2: Couplets, 424 p.
Vol 3: Szenen (scenes). 388 p., 1995. Vol 4: Dialoge (dialogues). 485 p., 1995. Vol 5: Stücke (Pieces). 557 p., 1997. Vol 6: Briefe (Letters). 379 p., 1991. Vol 7: Autobiographisches und Vermischtes (Autobiographical and Miscellaneous). 400 p. ,1996. Vol 8: Filme und Filmprojekte (Films and film projects). 618 p., 1995. Dokumente, Nachträge, Register (Documents, amendments and register). 277 p., 1997.

Benjamin, Walter. 1983. Understanding Brecht. Trans. Anna Bostock. London and New York: Verso. Brecht, Bertolt. 1965. The Messingkauf Dialogues. Trans. John Willett. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry, Prose Ser. London: Methuen, 1985. Calandra, Denis. 2003. "Karl Valentin and Bertolt Brecht." In Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook. Ed. Joel Schechter. Worlds of Performance Ser. London and New York: Routledge. p. 189–201. Horwitz, Kurt "Karl Valentin in einer anderen Zeit," Stürzflüge im Zuschauerraum (Munich, Piper Verlag, 1970), pp. 16–17
McDowell, W. Stuart. 1977. "A Brecht Valentin Production: Mysteries of a Barbershop", in Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter, 1977), pp. 2–14. McDowell, W. Stuart. 2000. “Acting Brecht: The Munich Years," in The Brecht Sourcebook, Carol Martin, Henry Bial, editors (Routledge, 2000) p. 7183. Schechter, Joel. 1994. "Brecht's Clowns: Man is Man and After". In Thomson and Sacks (1994, 68–78). Thomson, Peter and Glendyr Sacks, eds. 1994. The Cambridge Companion to Brecht. Cambridge Companions to Literature Ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Willett, John. 1967. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects. Third rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1977. Willett, John and Ralph Manheim. 1970. Introduction. In Collected Plays: One by Bertolt Brecht. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry and Prose Ser. London: Methuen. p. vii xvii.