A Clean Well-Lighted Place

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Ernest Hemingway in a cafe in Italy 1951

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (German translation 1947 A clean, well-lit café by Annemarie Horschitz-Horst) is a short story by Ernest Hemingway that was first published in New York in March 1933 in the respected literary monthly Scribner's Magazine and later that year in the short story book Winner Take Nothing , New York 1933 (German translation: The winner goes empty , 1958) was included.

It is one of Hemingway's short stories that have received the most attention from literary criticism and, in the opinion of many critics, is probably one of his most successful works.

The story is about a situation in a street cafe where two waiters are waiting for the last older guest to leave the cafe.

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In a small Spanish street café, like almost every evening before, there is only one guest sitting at a table with a glass of brandy, an old deaf man, long after midnight. The two waiters in the café are talking about their last guest. The younger of the two wants to go home to his wife as soon as possible and therefore close the café. The older waiter, on the other hand, feels sorry for the obviously lonely old man and understands his need to spend as long as possible in the street café. The younger waiter impatiently asks the old man to pay, even though he wants to order one last drink, and closes the café. With a heavy heart, the older waiter also makes his way home, but decides to stop by at another restaurant. He doesn't like this place, however, as it doesn't have the same “clean and bright” atmosphere as the café where he works. So he goes home, knowing that he will lie sleepless in bed until daylight. He would have preferred to serve the old deaf man longer.

Interpretative approach

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place , as Dolch notes, is divided into three parts. The turning points arise from the departure of the old man and the younger waiter; In the first two parts the story of the personal narrator is largely told in a dialogical mode of presentation ( "showing" ), while in the last part of the short story the flow of thoughts of the older waiter is reproduced as a self-talk, as it were in an inner monologue .

In the first part, the focus is on the deaf old man and the relationship between the two waiters and him. According to the waiters, the old man is at least 80 years old; he gets drunk almost every night in the café, but maintains his dignity and self-control ( "This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk" , German: "The old man is clean. He drinks without what to spill. Even now, drunk. " ). The older waiter tells of an attempted suicide by the old man who is lonely and depressed because of the loss of his wife. Only by getting drunk can he endure or forget his fate. His social isolation is underlined by his deafness, which almost symbolically reflects his isolation from the world around him, but allows him to perceive the changes all the more precisely and intensely (“ The old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference " , German: " The old man liked to sit here late because he was deaf and now it was quiet at night and he felt the difference. " ).

In the early part of the story, in which the old man is still the main subject of conversation between the two waiters, their different views and attitudes towards life emerge in their respective reactions to the old man's situation and resignation. While the younger waiter whose despair and suicide attempt can not understand, because the old man was materially well provided ( "He has plenty of money" , dt .: "He's got a mass of money." ) And in his own materialistic or external values attitude reveals, the older waiter shows - as will be shown later, also due to his own age and his own way of feeling - understanding and concern for the sad and hopeless situation of the old man. The younger waiter, on the other hand, reacts blankly and irritably to the presence of the deaf old man, whom he generally treats with little respect and sometimes even insensitively, if not even brutally ( “'You should have killed yourself last week', he said to the deaf man " , dt .: " 'You should have killed yourself last week,' he said to the deaf man. " ); he is only interested in getting back to bed with his wife as quickly as possible - loneliness, loss and grief are alien to him.

In the middle part of the short story after the old man's departure, the relationship between the two waiters and their fundamental differences come to the fore. The gradual differentiation of the waiters is further completed by what they are now saying, while at the beginning the waiters are personal and therefore often indistinguishable as speakers. As Lubbers explains, in addition to the previously "apparent contrasts between youth, haste, marriage partnership on the one hand and age, leisure, loneliness on the other", there is now "the more essential distinguishing feature of the youth's confidence and self-assurance and the lack of self-confidence in old age".

The final part of the short story focuses on the older waiter's relationship to himself; the “narrative camera” wanders, so to speak - as it does in later works by Hemingway, for example in In Another Country - and focuses dramatically on a fundamental human situation based on an everyday occurrence.

In the older waiter's “Nada” talk to himself, it becomes clear that the meaning of human existence is threatened by the fear of nothing. If the youth still has everything, the aging person is withdrawn one by one until nothing is left. In the interpretation of this passage by Lubbers it says: "The experiences of loss, death and nothingness lead man into a cell of loneliness."

With regard to the narrative technique, Hemingway's special narrative form is already striking in this early short story, which is almost exclusively limited to brief hints or references, omits essentials and leaves the actual meaning to the reader's imagination (see also Hemingway's " Iceberg Model ") ). For example, a network of different light and shadow symbols is built up on a deeper level of meaning in the short story.

Impact history

From the perspective of literary studies , A Clean, Well-Lighted Place occupies a central position in Hemingway's early work . Several critics speak of a “model story”. American literary criticism in particular points out that the “Nada” self-talk presented here lays the foundation for Hemingway's design of his later tragic protagonists , who try to cope with their fateful lives with serenity or stoicism (cf. Hemingway's “Code -Hero ").

James Joyce praised A Clean, Well-Lighted Place as a masterpiece, one of the best stories ever written. ( "He [Hemingway] has reduced the veil between literature and life, which is what every writer strives to do. Have you read 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'? [...] It is masterly. Indeed, it is one of the best short stories ever written […] " )

As Paul Foucar writes in his analysis of the story, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place can be considered "the prototype of a modern short story, at least one of Hemingway's style."

German translation

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place was translated into German by Annemarie Horschitz-Horst in 1957 and published for the first time under the title A clean, well-lighted cafe in the second volume of the anthology American narrators edited by Elisabeth Schnack .

In the literary analysis from 1967, however, the problems in the German translation were thematized and discussed in more detail.

Others

Hemingway himself once said of this short story: “Another time I was leaving out good was in 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.' There I really had luck. I left out everything. ” In his analysis of the short story, Klaus Lubbers quotes other remarks by Hemingway, from which it clearly emerges that the author counted this story among his favorite stories.

literature

  • Martin Dolch: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place . In: John V. Hagopian, Martin Dolch (Eds.): Insight I Analyzes of American Literature , Hirschgraben Verlag Frankfurt a. M. 1971, pp. 105-111.
  • Detlev Gohrbrandt: Ernest Hemingway: A Clean Well-Lighted Pace . In: Michael Hanke (Ed.): Interpretations · American Short Stories of the 20th Century . Reclam-Verlag Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-017506-2 , pp. 63-72.
  • Paul Foucar: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway . In: Werner Hüllen et al. (Ed.): Contemporary American Poetry · An introduction to American literature review with texts and interpretations . Hirschgraben Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., 3rd Edition 1969, pp. 88-95.
  • Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 278-287.
  • Klaus Lubbers: 'No happy end to it': Studies on Ernest Hemingway's 'In Another Country', 'A Day's Wait' and 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place' . In: Hans Galinsky and Klaus Lubbers (eds.). School and Research: Two Classics of American Short Story: Poe and Hemingway . Diesterweg Verlag, 2nd edition, Frankfurt a. M. 1978, ISBN 3-425-04213-0 , pp. 72-83.
  • Reiner Poppe: Ernest Hemingway · From the short story · Investigations and comments . Beyer Verlag Hollfeld / Ofr. 1978, ISBN 3-921202-40-X , pp. 35-37 and 44-51.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. See Carlos Baker: Hemingway - The Writer as Artist . Princeton University Press, 4th ed. 1972, ISBN 0-691-01305-5 , p. 418. See also Hemingway and The Magazines . On: University Libraries South Carolina . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  2. ^ Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 278.
  3. Martin Dolch: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place . In: John V. Hagopian, Martin Dolch (Eds.): Insight I Analyzes of American Literature , Hirschgraben Verlag Frankfurt a. M. 1971, p. 105
  4. Martin Dolch: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place . In: John V. Hagopian, Martin Dolch (Eds.): Insight I Analyzes of American Literature , Hirschgraben Verlag Frankfurt a. M. 1971, p. 110
  5. ^ Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 281
  6. See also Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 282
  7. ^ Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , p. 285
  8. See Martin Dolch: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for details on the use and meaning of the symbols . In: John V. Hagopian, Martin Dolch (Eds.): Insight I Analyzes of American Literature , Hirschgraben Verlag Frankfurt a. M. 1971, p. 110f.
  9. See the information from Klaus Lubbers: 'No happy end to it': Studies on Ernest Hemingway's 'In Another Country', 'A Day's Wait' and 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place' . In: Hans Galinsky and Klaus Lubbers (eds.). School and Research: Two Classics of American Short Story: Poe and Hemingway . Diesterweg Verlag, 2nd edition, Frankfurt a. M. 1978, ISBN 3-425-04213-0 , pp. 80f.
  10. See the various documents from Klaus Lubbers: Hemingway • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In: Karl Heinz Göller et. al. (Ed.): The American Short Story . August Bagel Verlag, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-513-02212-3 , pp. 286f. For Hemingway's “Code Hero” cf. also the (English) remarks on: "Lost Generation" . Retrieved October 10, 2013
  11. quoted from: "Lost Generation" . Retrieved October 10, 2013
  12. ^ Paul Foucar: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway . In: Werner Hüllen et al. (Ed.): Contemporary American Poetry · An introduction to American literature review with texts and interpretations . Hirschgraben Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., 3rd edition 1969, p. 91.
  13. Annemarie Horschitz-Horst: A clean, well-lit café . In: Elisabeth Schnack (Ed.): American storytellers (2nd volume), Manesse Verlag , Zurich 1957, pp. 313-320. This authorized translation by Horschitz-Horst is also reprinted in the collection of Hemingway's short stories The Sieger Goes Out Empty , pp. 13-16, which was first published in paperback by Rowohlt Verlag in 1958 .
  14. Cf. the discussion in the Mainz Americanist contributions 10 of 1967 (pp. 105-11) and in detail Hans-Joachim Kann: Translation problems in the German translations of three Anglo-American short stories: Aldous Huxley's "Green tunnels", Ernest Hemingway's "The killers "and" A clean, well-lighted place " , Hueber Verlag, Munich 1968.
  15. quoted from: Lisa Tyler: Student Companions to Classical Writers: Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway . Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 2001, pp. 82f.
  16. See Klaus Lubbers: 'No happy end to it': Studies on Ernest Hemingway's 'In Another Country', 'A Day's Wait' and 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place' . In: Hans Galinsky and Klaus Lubbers (eds.). School and Research: Two Classics of American Short Story: Poe and Hemingway . Diesterweg Verlag, 2nd edition, Frankfurt a. M. 1978, ISBN 3-425-04213-0 , pp. 80f.