The novel "Mephisto" tells the story of actor Hendrik Höfgen, from his start at the Art Theatre of Hamburg in 1926 to 1936 when Höfgen emerged as a shining star of the new Reich.
When the Nazis seize power in Germany, he renounces his communist past and abandons his wife and lover to continue acting in the theater. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Propaganda notice him in the performance of "Mephisto" and Höfgen becomes the director of the State Theatre. He makes a deal with the Devil, betraying the values he once supported. In the end, he becomes a "monkey of power," a "jester entertaining murderers." But the moral consequences of his betrayal begin to haunt him, turning his world of dreams into a nightmare.
The book is a panorama of society in the Third Reich, with clear satirical elements. Klaus Mann sees actor Höfgen as the symbol of "a completely false, immoral regime," as he wrote in his autobiography.

"Mephisto" was first published in 1936 in Amsterdam, by the publishing house Querido, which published books by German-speaking exiled writers, such as Alfred Doblin, Heinrich Mann, Joseph Roth, and Anna Seghers. After its initial publication, it was soon released in 19 countries. In 1966, its circulation was banned in the Federal Republic of Germany by a court decision. In 1981, despite the ban, a new edition was released and the book gained a devoted audience.