Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

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Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Some of you have probably noticed that Google today has a doodle celebrating the "37th Anniversary of The Neverending Story's first publishing". I know the author Michael Ende's books have come up in discussions here before, but we don't seem to have a dedicated thread, so I thought it might be nice to start one.

The Google doodle is obviously very much based on the book rather than the subsequent films — you can see the artwork from it here.

The Neverending Story was and is one of my favourites from my childhood — I first encountered it when we picked it up in a book exchange during a trip to the Gold Coast when I was 7. I'd enjoyed the film, which came out when I was two years old (I'm pretty sure we saw it at the cinema, then later had it on video), and was quite surprised and baffled at first to find that the book was very different — many of the same characters and scenarios in the first half, but the second half of the book, which wasn't included in the film, takes it all in a quite different direction.

I soon started to realise, though, that the book actually has a deeper and more powerful message that the film and its sequels never really touched on. It's about the human need for imagination and fantasy to enrich our own world and make life worthwhile, but in the second half, it also takes on a darker theme, the real danger of that feature of so many fantasy stories — the power to have everything one wishes for. Bastian, the hero, is given this power when he saves Fantastica, and at first uses it well-meaningly, but gradually becomes more and more driven by selfish ambition until he almost loses his true identity — his memories of his life in the human world — and comes perilously close to destroying himself without realising what he's doing. It's one of those books that I can read again and again and find more in it every time, even more so as an adult than as a child.

The illustrations from the book are absolutely beautiful too — each chapter starts with a successive letter of the alphabet which is illustrated much like a medieval manuscript. I've only just found out from looking online that in the first German edition, the artwork was printed in red and green (it's not coloured in any of the copies I've owned, including an early edition of the English version):

Image Image Image Image

The first film was a good piece of cinema in its own right, but I wasn't surprised later on to find out that Michael Ende himself hated it and demanded to have his name removed from the credits, feeling the film destroyed the integrity of his work. It does, mind you, have a pretty cool theme song (at least if you grew up with '80s music!)... :mrgreen:

Do we have any other fans here of Ende's work (in the original German or in translation)? :D Wolfgang, I think you and I were having a discussion on Momo some time ago — his other best known book, which I read when I was 16 or 17 and also loved.
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

I must admit, I've never read The Neverending Story - I think I was sort of put off by the film, which I didn't really enjoy. I think I probably felt I was too old for it when it came out (I was 14, but going through a period when I turned my back completely on anything I deemed to be 'childish'!).

However, your comments about the book has encouraged me to seek it out and maybe give it a try! :-D
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 01 Sep 2016, 17:10, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by number 6 »

Same here. I've not yet read the book, but I've seen the 1990's (?) film version. Like Rob, I didn't really find the film appealing, but I may now give the book a whirl. :D
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

It was actually 1985 when the film came out! Time flies! :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Wolfgang »

I read the book (I think before the film was produced), but I wasn't impressed. I never watched the film therefore. I had read Momo (after watching the play with school) before, and I didn't find it that appealing either. What I really enjoyed by Ende are the two books about Jim Knopf (Jim Buttons) and the plays done by "Augsburger Puppenkiste". I suppsoe I should rewatch them (after more than 30 years or so)...
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by number 6 »

Rob Houghton wrote:
number 6 wrote:Same here. I've not yet read the book, but I've seen the 1990's (?) film version. Like Rob, I didn't really find the film appealing, but I may now give the book a whirl. :D
It was actually 1985 when the film came out! Time flies! :-D
Really!!!! Wow! :shock: I was convinced it was a 90's film! That just shows you how quickly time flies! :?
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Definitely 1985. We got the computer game version (which was actually pretty good for its time, when it decided to load... it took about 10 minutes to do so and frequently crashed along the way) later that year when we got our Commodore 64. 8)

Rob and Number 6, it's definitely worth reading! :D Meanwhile, I've found an early edition of it on German eBay, with the two-coloured illustrations, that's still at a low price after 5 bids — other copies that are "buy it now" are going for anything from €20 to over €40 — so I'm tossing up whether or not to bid (yes, it does ship worldwide). Maybe I'll see where it's at just before the auction ends, as it has a few days yet. The main thing that puts me off buying it is that I barely know a few words of Deutsch, not enough to read a picture book, let alone a novel!! :lol: But on the other hand, I've always thought I should learn it one day... :wink:
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by number 6 »

Ok, Courteney, you've convinced me to give it a go! :D
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Well, you still may or may not like it (and if you don't, please don't invoke Forums Rule No. 5,126 :wink: ), but that's good to hear! :D

The English translation (by Ralph Manheim) is still in print, so it shouldn't be difficult to find — I quite like the cover of the newest edition (2014):

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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Katharine »

I didn't realise it was a book. I have seen the film, but can't remember if I saw it at the cinema or on TV. I don't remember much about the film, I have a vague image of a little boy sitting in a dusty attic, looking through a book, and a little girl (a princess?) sitting with tears on her face. The one thing I do remember though is the theme tune, which I really like.

I might add it to my list of books to try and borrow from the library if I ever run out of other books to read.
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Katharine wrote:I don't remember much about the film, I have a vague image of a little boy sitting in a dusty attic, looking through a book, and a little girl (a princess?) sitting with tears on her face.
Yes, that's it — Bastian, the young boy, is a shy and lonely child who's bullied at school and estranged from his father (his mother is dead), so he spends much of his time escaping from real life through books and his own imagination. When he finds this book called The Neverending Story, he hides in the attic of his school to read it, and discovers the story of a fantasy world that is slowly being destroyed as its ruler, the Childlike Empress (the princess you remembered), is dying.

As the story unfolds, Bastian gradually realises that Fantastica (Fantasia in the film) needs him to save it, which he eventually does, and is drawn into the magic world himself. The film ends at that point, but that's only the first half of the book — the second half, following Bastian's own adventures in Fantastica, his near downfall and eventual redemption, is actually the best part in my opinion! :D Do give it a try if you can get hold of a copy.
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Wolfgang »

Courtenay wrote:The main thing that puts me off buying it is that I barely know a few words of Deutsch, not enough to read a picture book, let alone a novel!! :lol: But on the other hand, I've always thought I should learn it one day... :wink:
Would you like some Enid Blyton books in Deutsch to start up?
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Daisy »

Courtenay wrote: But on the other hand, I've always thought I should learn it one day... :wink:
That's after mastering Cornish and Welsh is it? :lol:
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

I'm only doing Cornish — Welsh isn't on the list, at least not at present. Several other languages are... :wink:
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Re: Michael Ende - The Neverending Story, etc.

Post by Soenke Rahn »

My favorite is Jim Button. I have read both books. Have seen the puppet version also and listen to the audio drama. The Neverending Story I have never read. I have seen the film, but it was not my favorite. Momo I have read some pages in English, If I have right in my mind. The Film was fantastic. And the Lummerland-Song ... ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiMmZTl4zdY The puppet versions of fantastic stories were an element of X-mas-TV over a long time .....
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