Die Feuerzangenbowle

Die Feuerzangenbowle (The Fire Tongs Bowl, The Punch Bowl) is a German novel, later adapted into several films, which tells the story of a famous writer going undercover as a pupil at a small town gymnasium after his friends tell him that he missed out on the best part of growing up by being educated at home. The story in the book takes place during the Weimar Republic in Germany. The novel by Heinrich Spoerl was published in 1933 and was adapted to film three times. The 1944 movie of the same name directed by Helmut Weiss is the most notable adaptation of the material. Authorship Die Feuerzangenbowle: Eine Lausbüberei in der Kleinstadt was written by Heinrich Spoerl. The novel adopts ideas from Ernst Eckstein's Der Besuch im Karzer (published 1875) and was partly inspired by personal accounts of Spoerl's own schooldays as well as his son's pranks at school. The first edition was published in 1933 by . On March 12, 2010, the Landgericht Hamburg (county court) ruled that Hans Reimann is not co-author of the novel. The fact that Spoerl shared his royalties with Reimann is in no way to be considered as proof of co-authorship. The court decided that the publishing contract on the novel, signed by Spoerl alone, clearly indicates his exclusive authorship. Plot summary The novel starts with an epigraph : "This novel sings a praise about School, even though School may take no notice about that."