Felix avoids military service and makes his way to France, where he takes a job in a prestigious hotel, first as an elevator operator, then as a waiter.

Deftly using his natural charm, good looks, and subtle intelligence, the young man easily wins the heart of a rich writer, as well as part of her money.

Mann had planned the novel since 1905, being inspired by the Romanian con artist Georges Manolescu's autobiographies Fürst der Diebe (A Prince of Thieves) and Gescheitert (Failed).

The book was adapted into a film in 1957, with a screenplay by Erika Mann and Robert Thoeren, directed by Kurt Hoffmann, and starring Horst Buchholz as Krull alongside Liselotte Pulver.

[4][5] A spoken word adaptation of chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 from the first book (dem Buch der Kindheit) of Felix Krull performed by O.E.