Thomas Mann crowns his extensive body of novels with the story of the con artist Felix Krull. The linguistic elegance of this fictional autobiography and its ironic duality, as well as Krull's actions, demonstrate that he is "the god of thieves." A jack-of-all-trades, he is equipped to handle every new and unexpected situation. No other work has occupied Thomas Mann for such a long time as the Krull novel. Started in 1910, the novel was published in 1954, thereby accompanying nearly the entire literary life of the author. As part of the major annotated Frankfurt edition, the text has been completely newly edited, taking into account all available manuscripts from the estate.