The Perfect American

by Peter Stephan Jungk, Michael Hofmann (Translator)

The Perfect American is a fictionalized biography of Walt Disney's final months, as narrated by Wilhelm Dantine, an Austrian cartoonist who worked for Disney in the 40s and 50s, illustrating sequences for Sleeping Beauty. It is also the story of Dantine himself, who desperately seeks Disney's recognition at the risk of his own ruin.

Peter Stephan Jungk has infused a new energy into the genre of fictionalized biography. Dantine, imbued with a sense of European superiority, first refuses to submit to Disney's rule, but is nevertheless fascinated by the childlike omnipotence of a man who identifies with Mickey Mouse. We discover Walt's delusions of immortality via cryogenic preservation, his tirades alongside his Abraham Lincoln talking robot, his invitation of Nikita Khruschev to Disneyland once he learns that the Soviet Premier wants to visit the park, his utopian visions of his EPCOT project, and his backyard labyrinth of toy trains. Yet, if at first Walt seems to have a magic wand granting him all his wishes, we soon discover that he is as tortured as the man who tells his story.

After Disney refuses to acknowledge Dantine's self-professed talent and hard work, he fires the frustrated cartoonist for writing, along with other staff members, an anonymous polemical memorandum regarding Disney's jingoistic politics. Years later, in the late 60s, still deeply wounded by his dismissal, Dantine follows Disney's trail to capture what makes Walt tick. Dantine wants us to grasp what it is like to live and breathe around the man who thought of himself as more famous than Santa Claus. Walt's wife Lillian, his confidante and perhaps his mistress Hazel, his brother Roy, his children Diane and Sharon, his close and ill-treated collaborators, and famous figures such as Peter Ustinov, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Geraldine Chaplin, all contribute to the novel's animation, its feel for the life of the Disney world.

This deeply researched work not only provides interesting interpretations of what made Walt Disney a central figure in American popular culture, but also explores the complex expectations of gifted European immigrants who came to the United States after World War II with preconceived notions of how to achieve the American dream.

Genres: Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2004

About the author

Peter Stephan Jungk (December 19, 1952 in Santa Monica, California) is an American, German speaking novelist.

Peter Stephan Jungk was born to futurologist Robert Jungk. He grew up in the United States and after 1957 in Vienna. From 1968 to 1970 he attended the Robert-Steiner-School in Berlin. He lived in Salzburg from 1970 till he took his Matura in 1972. In 1973 Peter Stephan Jungk worked with the theater of Basel as an assistant director. From 1974 to 1976 he studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

From 1976 to 1979 he lived in Salzburg again. In 1979 he worked with Peter Handke on filming Handke's The Left-Handed Woman as an assistant director. In 1980 Jungk attended a Torah School in Jerusalem. He moved back to Vienna in 1981. Since 1988 he is living in Paris with his wife, photographer Lillian Birnbaum. In 1994 their daughter Adah Dylan was born.

Peter Stephan Jungk is an author of novels, essays and scripts. In some cases he also directed the movie version of his own works. Besides that he translates from English.

In January 2013 the opera 'The Perfect American' by Philip Glass, based on Jungk's novel of the same name premièred at Teatro Real in Madrid.

Peter Stephan Jungk is a member of the Austrian Pen Club.

Reviews

[Mariel]

When I find myself lying awake at night, my first thought is always of him. I often lie awake, ever since the time he walked into my office and told me I'd been fired.

If I had to finish this I would become one of those people who don't read. I gave up on this a year or two ago. I must have been eating knuckle sandwiches or something to punish myself like this a second time. Now I've read almost half I'm out. It was the misty eyed Walt communing with an animatronic Lincoln. It was when a man-child Walt sneaks out of his wife's home to spend the night with his nurse cum lover. I googled Hazel George and none of this may be true. It doesn't matter. The rich man who employs a woman to allow him to be a little boy was the cherry on the creeped the hell out cake. The frozen Disney head to walk among us once more makes an appearance. I don't know if it's because of the stalker lens or the constant running for office feel of Disney's speak but I couldn't care about the sixty plus man afraid of death. It's all empire, no man alone with himself or anyone to be himself with. It has to be a legend spinning and that was unbearable. So a former animator was fired by Disney and now he stalks him. Hell hath no fury like a Disney animator with a hard on for the so-called American dream, apparently. I guess annual passes to one of the theme parks wouldn't be enough for him. The '50s and '60s setting rules out a house in Celebration! in Orlando. I think I read that Disney was pulling their name from that after residents were murdering homeless people. Well, this Dantine is nuts enough to fit in with those Disney fans. He follows Walt to his hometown of Marceline, Wisconsin. See Walt embrace his childhood beloved tree. Interrogate those who knew him, scrape the crumbs off the forest floor like a starved witch. I have seen enough of tacky shopping malls with Disney characters painted on living in Florida. It's accurate, I guess? I'm not planning a trip to Marceline any time soon. I don't care if Disney was a task master at work. If he told Dantine he was doing a great job what then? Would he need a new carrot or only a bigger version of the Disney carrot. Bubbles or podiums? Where's the dreaming part of this? I don't get liking Disney so much you want to live in a cafeteria (that's what it looks like to me). (Walt's six year old palette was not fun to read about either. It felt like tip toing around an dying old guy you want to be in their will. This fake ooh aaah it's Disney wipe his ass for him was boring and creepy.) I skipped to the end. Dantine is drooling over Disney movies still. His son loves Sleeping Beauty. His film because he worked on it. Disney will live forever, blah blah blah.

If I ever turn masochist I guess I could youtube the Stephen Glass opera made of The Perfect American.

[Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó, es un libro que se agarra de muchos mitos sobre Walt y que los presenta como reales pero la historia es adictiva. Si son fanáticos de Disney deberían leerlo!

[Mariano Hortal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/el-american...

Con motivo del estreno mundial el próximo día 22 de enero de la ópera sobre la vida de Walt Disney, “The perfect American” de Philip Glass, se ha publicado anteriormente el libro en el que se basa el libreto de la ópera: “El americano perfecto. Tras la pista de Walt Disney” (“Der König von America”) del norteamericano, aunque con lengua materna alemana, Peter Stephan Jungk.
El libro no es una biografía al uso, está a medio camino de la biografía y el relato de ficción y se basa en la vida de Wilhelm Dantine que es el que se encarga de construir la narración al completo desde su punto de vista. Dantine fue el creador de los bocetos para “La bella durmiente” y fue expulsado por el propio Disney en 1959, lo cual desencadenó su obsesión por el creador estadounidense:
“Echo la vista atrás y contemplo la historia de su vida, como si me fuera más próxima y familiar que la mía propia. Incluso ahora, treinta años después de nuestro último encuentro, le sigo dedicando mi primer pensamiento cuando me levanto al amanecer y el último cuando me voy a la cama por la noche. Hace algunas semanas, cuando me propuse dar forma a lo vivido, no sabía si saldría una elegía, un libelo difamatorio o una epopeya”
Esta mezcla de veneración y odio que deviene en obsesión nos hace ver, casi desde el principio, lo falible, lo poco fiable que es este narrador y; desde luego, todo lo que vaya sacando de Disney irá entre lo elegíaco y lo despreciativo. Construirá su vida desde los momentos en que se relacionó con él, pero también a través de los testimonios de aquellos lo trataron. Y todo con continuos cambios en el tiempo, según le interese, lo que convierte la narración en algo poco predecible y por supuesto tremendamente entretenida, además de estar bien escrita.
Casi al principio de todo nos damos cuenta de que era un “megalomaníaco” sin lugar a dudas:
“Soy un líder, soy un pionero, soy uno de los grandes hombres de mi época; en su interior, a Walt estas palabras le resuenan como un eco. Esta oración de alabanza de sí mismo se la repite todas las mañanas, mientras está tendido despierto, antes de que salga el sol, desde Blancanieves, desde 1937. Mi nombre está en boca de más personas que el de Jesucristo. Millones de personas conocen, por lo menos, una de mis películas. Soy un mito. Mi ratón gusta más que el Niño Jesús y Papá Noel juntos. Es algo que no existía antes de mí: un género artístico, una idea, un concepto, que llega a toda la humanidad, que gusta y deleita a todos. He creado un universo. Mi fama durará siglos.”
A pesar de que el discurso, ciertamente, acusa de delirio de grandeza, el tiempo nos ha mostrado que no estaba muy lejos de la realidad. Otras pinceladas de su personalidad, igualmente menos agradables, tenían que ver con su falta de reconocimiento de los demás en público:
“Walt casi nunca daba su aprobación, y cuando esto ocurría lo hacía de una manera indirecta, con rodeos: hacía saber que otro había hecho un trabajo sorprendentemente bueno. con lo cual quedaba implícito que, aquel al que se dirigía debía comprobar en sí mismo si había dado muestras satisfactorias de su capacidad para entusiasmar al jefe.”
O simplemente con sus sentimientos racistas o machistas:
“Siente usted una llamativa simpatía por los negros, así sí que no estamos de acuerdo. [...] No permito, bajo ningún concepto (y en todo caso no se ha dado nunca hasta ahora) que trabajen para mí, ni aquí, en Anaheim, ni en los estudios de Burbank. Dejo que haya uno o dos como jardineros, y la mayoría de las mujeres de la limpieza del estudio son negras, por supuesto. Pero yo prefiero apartarme de su camino.”
“Que nunca ha permitido ni a una mujer tomar parte de un proceso creativo. Las mujeres estaban autorizadas a copiar, pintar y colorear con tintas las ideas, los patrones y los bocetos de los hombres, pero no a producir ni el más mínimo trabajo creativo.”
A pesar de estos delirios, se nos revela como hombre, con sus miedos, quizá el miedo mayor sea a que desaparezca en el tiempo su persona:
“En los últimos tiempos no me abandona la sensación de que mi nombre ya no me pertenece. Es como si yo fuera el portador de este nombre, cuyo propietario es, en realidad una empresa. Una compañía que ofrece mi nombre como si fuera el suyo ¿Yo soy yo o soy una empresa? Dentro de cincuenta años, mi estudio aún existirá, pero nadie sabrá ya que tras él había un hombre de carne y un hueso, un tal Walter Elías Disney”
Miedos visibles por la forma en que se refiere a los animales: “Prefiero los animales a las personas, con mucho. Y creo que a la mayoría de la gente le sucede lo mismo. El éxito, en todo caso, me da la razón.” Walt Disney resulta, cómo no en este tipo de grandes figuras, un personaje muy paradójico según lo que nos cuenta Dantine: por un lado tenemos al visionario e influyente empresario capaz de influir en las elecciones democráticas de EEUU, recibir al presidente ruso o hablar con Neil Armstrong para conseguir que sea el primero en salir a la luna con un muñeco de Mickey Mouse (si no lo consiguió es porque murió antes); por otro tenemos a una persona insegura, anclado en la nostalgia de su niñez (visitó muchas veces su ciudad de origen, Marceline), profundamente asexual (tuvo una amante con la que prácticamente ni se acostaba) y temeroso de las relaciones con las personas.
Sin embargo este hombre de contradicciones supo rodearse de personas de mucho talento, (tal es el caso de Ub Iwerks, creador de Mickey y “capaz de crear 700 dibujos en un día”. Ward Kimball, creador de Dumbo, o el propio Dantine, etc.), y exprimirlos para crear lo mejor que se podía hacer con un punto de partida muy claro y que nunca perdió en su horizonte:
“Nosotros no producimos filosofía, Bill, sino entretenimiento. [...] Puede que una metáfora tan rebuscada satisfaga tu cerebro retorcido, pero no a los millones de personas que forman mi público.”
Esta biografía ficcionalizada nos ofrece esto y más (las pequeñas anécdotas y muchos más datos es mejor descubrirlos leyéndolo), pinta a Walt desde una óptica postmodernista que podemos creernos o no pero que no está muy lejos de la realidad, y que pone en perspectiva a una de las más importantes figuras del siglo XX, un visionario que ya es inmortal (como su empresa), en boca de su colaborador Ward Kimball:
-De Leonardo todavía nos acordamos hoy, cuatro siglos y medio después de su muerte. Y lo mismo ocurre con Miguel Ángel, Rubens y Velázquez. De igual manera se recordará a Walt Dinsney, en un futuro lejano , muy lejano. Y así debe ser. Puede que las películas de Walt sean simplificaciones., pero son clásicos. Deberían ser preservadas; no, no deberían, se preservarán de hecho como la Biblia de Gutenberg.”
Guste o no, la influencia de Walt Disney y el imperio que creó es inmensa y, sobre todo, decisiva en la forma de entender la cultura popular :”Resulta difícil imaginar un mundo sin Walt”.
No me gustaría acabar sin una carta-anécdota que se nombra en las últimas páginas, tras su muerte, y es la que Disney dirigió a Charles Chaplin pidiéndole perdón por haberle acusado en la caza de brujas contra los izquierdistas; en esa carta Disney comenta: “Tan solo quería hacerle saber lo mucho que usted ha significado para mí. Sin su ejemplo, nunca habría existido el ratón Mickey. Sin su inspiración, no habrían existido Blancanieves ni Pinocho, ni casi ninguna de mis películas. Usted fue mi maestro y mi modelo. Sin usted, nunca habría existido Walt Disney.”
Gracias Chaplin, gracias Walt, por haber hecho tantísimo por la cultura.

[Ron Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read four novels recently that announce upfront that they're "fictionalized biographies." Such voluntary self-disclosure is meant to alert everyone to the dangers within, like "may cause death" or "you could lose money." But, of course, anybody who lights up a Lucky Strike or plunks down savings in the Internet Vision Fund imagines those warnings don't really apply to him.

That kind of exceptionalism is irresistible when reading one of these hybrid biographical novels. "Yes, yes, I know it's a work of fiction," I mutter, "but most of this is probably true."

"The Perfect American" is a perfect example of this unsettling genre. Everything about it is a house of mirrors: The author, Peter Jungk, is an American-born novelist who lives in Paris and writes in German. His novella has been translated by Michael Hofmann, who was born in Germany, raised in England, and now teaches in Michigan. The story purports to be a confession, written in prison, by Wilhelm Dantine, a fictional Austrian-born cartoonist who worked for several years with Walt Disney, the real filmmaker who sought to create the future in California with fantasies of his past in the Midwest. Every detail in the book is true, except for those which are made up. You may lose money. Could cause death.

The story opens in Marceline, Mo., in 1966, during the final months of Disney's life. The filmmaker has returned to his boyhood hometown to dedicate a new park. In the audience of well-wishers lurks Dantine, who tells us this was the sixth time he'd planned to confront Mr. Disney. In fact, since he was summarily dismissed from the Burbank Studios in 1954, Dantine has abandoned his career and family to study his great idol and enemy, the father of Mickey Mouse.

Sometimes in this fact-packed but endlessly questionable biography, Dantine explains how he acquired bits of personal information by befriending Disney's friends, ingratiating himself to his mistress, collecting thousands of newspaper clippings, and sneaking into parties and meetings. But at other times, he merely speaks with a creepy kind of omniscience, reciting to us, for instance, the egotistical little prayer that Disney repeats each morning in bed: "I am a leader, a pioneer, I am one of the great men of our time. More people in the world know my name than that of Jesus Christ.... I have created a universe. My fame will outlast the centuries."

Ultimately, this is a haunting story not so much about the wonderful world of Disney as about the corrosive effects of personal obsession, the porous membrane between adulation and hatred.

The day that Disney hired him was the happiest day of Dantine's life, but it infected him with a need for the man's praise. While Dantine produced thousands of drawings for "Sleeping Beauty," Disney never delivered a kind or encouraging word. What's worse, Dantine saw firsthand how little Disney actually did - no writing, no drawing, no filming, just vague directives to his minions, dismissive criticism, and an absolute insistence that all credit for everything flow exclusively to him. He couldn't even write out his own famous signature.

Dantine has spent his life trying to prove that the king of Disneyland is an emperor with no clothes. But the record he collects is maddeningly ambiguous, no more conclusive than Dantine's hatred, which is so mingled with awe and love.

The portrait that emerges is not flattering to either man. Disney comes across as maniacally egotistical, unapologetically racist, and embarrassingly immature. But again and again, the artists who toiled away in complete anonymity for decades to create all that we think of as Disney's work tell Dantine that they adored their boss, that his energy and inspiration generated everything they did.

At the center of the story is the day Dantine finally climbs over Disney's fence and confronts him in his own backyard. "You are personally responsible for the fact that nothing in my life has turned out well," Dantine announces while Disney tinkers on his giant train engine. Dantine has fantasized about this encounter for years, choreographed it perfectly to devastate his nemesis, but it's a moment of madness and self-mutilation rather than assault - a comic and grotesque demonstration of obsession.

In the end, Dantine's entire prison testimony fails to expose or ridicule the man as he'd intended because Jungk captures something tragic and moving about old Walt. Whether he's planning to have himself frozen in nitrogen or trying to talk sense into his malfunctioning Abraham Lincoln robot, this Disney is a strangely sympathetic character.

Disneyland, Disney World, EPCOT, and, more recently, the faux town, Celebration, all express their creator's desire to meld an idealized past with a technological future. For millions of people throughout the world, that remains an irresistible dream.

Even without its heavy-handed title, the story obviously means to imply that no one better expressed that essentially American desire to be loved and to dominate. And it makes a strong case. But with poor Dantine, who remains so madly faithful to his "beloved antagonist," the author has captured something essentially European, too. Dantine's mingled disdain and admiration for a man who seems more energy than intellect is a wry emblem of the Continent's complex envy toward the United States and all its galling success.

Proceed with caution into Jungkland. There are some wonderful rides here, and it's often impossible to distinguish the factual from the fantastic, but the insights are true - and troubling.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0713/p1...

[Sara Santana Hernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

La vida de Walt Disney desde el punto de vista de un ex empleado del estudio.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the Walt Disney myth.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro delirante sobre un personaje fascinante.

https://liblit.com/peter-stephan-jung...

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the people who interacted and worked with Walt Disney attest that his greatest talent was in his ability to bring out the best in a person's creativity and imagination. If this is the case, when you consider a book like The Perfect American, it appears that Disney is still doing just that.

I didn't know what to expect before reading this book, and quite honestly, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I should preface this review by first explaining that, for years, I've been fascinated by Walt Disney the man. I've consumed a few of his biographies and visited the Disney Family Museum twice. I wouldn't say that I necessarily revere him (read the book and you'll have some idea as to why not), but I am impressed with his astounding body of work, his unparalleled achievements, his influence on culture (even and especially today) - and for these reasons, I've always held a strong, almost feverish curiosity about him. The problem with being in possession of this desire to know Walt Disney is simple: Walt Disney is inherently unknowable. He is a myth, an invention - and no matter how much information you imbibe about the man, you'll never really know him. The protagonist of the novel (Wilhelm Dantine) - repulsed, spurned, and yet uncontrollably attracted to his former employer (Walt Disney) - seems aware of the fact that to "crack the Disney code" (so to speak) is an ill-advised and insurmountable feat, yet still finds himself ruining his own life in order to chase down this impossible dream. This renders Dantine an instantly relatable access point through which to tell Disney's life story. I tore through the book in three days (which is fast for me), and I have to say that of all the biographies I've read, it's one of the more satisfying reads about Disney that I have come into contact with.

Sure, there are cringe-worthy moments in which I found myself exclaiming: "I can't believe the author just wrote that! Isn't he afraid of backlash?"

Yes, the protagonist does things that would cause any vaguely normal person to seriously question his sanity. (Ahem - WHY wouldn't you call security when a vengeful, emotionally unstable former employee shows up at your house brandishing a razor and a live mouse in a cage? This cannot end well.)

Yes, some of the dialogue is rambling and awkwardly loaded with exposition (I suppose there really is no graceful way of delivering that much background information).

But somehow, it all works. And in the end, we walk away with a strangely satisfying sense of "knowing" Disney in the only way we possibly can: through our imaginations.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictionalized “biography” of Walt Disney, as told by a fictionalized animator fired by Disney, named Wilhelm Dantine. Charming Uncle Walt comes off more like mean, self-centered Uncle Walter.
Among all his vitriol for being fired after drawing most of Sleeping Beauty, Dantine can't help but admire the man. He is obsessed with his old boss to the point of neurosis, more rightly mental illness. He even thinks of assassination and brings his 9 year old son along on a confrontation as Walt plays with his 1:8 train set in the garden of the Disney home. There are actual events and people used to tell the story of this once hopeful immigrant from Austria and the man who the world believes created everything Disney. But he did, didn’t he? We are made to think of all the working people who were amazingly creative, and made to think what would have happened to them without Walt Disney as the force behind the ideas. What is real and what isn’t in this story? What is real and what isn’t in all our dreams? A hypnotic book and quite an accomplishment by author Peter Stephan Jungk.

Here is a link to the presentation, by Teatro Real-Madrid, of Philip Glass’ opera based on the book The Perfect American by Peter Stephan Jungk:
http://www.medici.tv/#!/the-perfect-a...

[Artemis Pavlidou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed reading this book. If you really have some interest in the life of Walt Disney you will probably enjoy it. It’s kind of weird reading stuff that a guy who either hates Mr. Disney or worshiped him. It’s a fictional biography but I’m not sure what to believe and what not to believe. Some part where’s very easy to read and the flow was great but other parts were a bit harder.. (English is not my first language) I recommend this book for people who have already some interest in this character but as I will do myself, will read also a biography of Walt Disney just to see how fictional was this one.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a recommended read for a true Disney fan. This fictionalized biography follows the last days of Walt Disney, literally. The protagonist was one of the Disney illustrators for "Sleeping Beauty." After Disney fires him, he becomes obsessed with his former employer. His obsession is by turns funny, tragic and frightening.

[Tracey]

AllEarsNet Newsletter - 7 Oct 2008 - being made into opera

Blmgtn - Herman B Wells Library (B-WELLS)PT2670.U53 K6613 2004 1
Indpls - IUPUI University Library (I-UNIVLIB)PT2670.U53 K6613 2004

[Jeff Vankooten]

A fine example of fictional biography. It tells the story of Walt Disney's final days and describes him in raw, human terms

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel written from the perspective of one of Disney's animators who was fired by Disney but remained intrigued by the man to the point of stalking him.

[Lisa Devona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes you think..how much is really fiction? Loved it. Makes Walt more than human.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on the life of Walt Disney (fiction-wise anyway)