Ship of Fools (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Katherine Anne Porter
- First Published: 1962
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: August 22-September 17, 1931
- Setting: On the German ship between Veracruz, Mexico, and Bremerhaven, Germany
- Principal Characters: Jenny Brown, Dr. Schumann, La Condesa, Siegfried Rieber, Professor, Wilhelm Freytag, Karl, Mrs. Rittersdorf, Mr., William Denny, Mary Treadwell, Julius Löwenthal, Arne Hansen, Karl Glocken, Captain Thiele, Ric, The Spanish troupe
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Voyages, Class conflict, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Middle classes, Marriage, Prejudices or antipathies, Alienation, Class consciousness, 1930’s, Obsession, Ethnic relations, Anti-Semitism, Ships, Human behavior, Nazism or Nazis, Germany or German people, Gypsies
- Locales: Oceans, Veracruz, Mexico, Bremerhaven, Germany
Form and Content
The phrase “ship of fools,” as Porter mentions in a brief introductory note, is a translation of the title of Sebastian Brant’s moral allegory Das Narrenschiff (1494). As Brant’s work does, Porter’s work reflects on the many follies of human beings. Unlike the characters portrayed in Brant’s work, however, the passengers on Porter’s ship are not static homilies. They reflect on their own lives and interact with one another.
Described by one critic as a “wave,” Ship of Fools begins slowly, developing a large number of...
[The entire page is 2180 words long]
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