Farewell (novel)
Farewell. The first part of a German tragedy 1900–1914 is the title of a development novel by Johannes Robert Becher published in 1940 by the Moscow publishing house Международная книга (Meschdunarodnaja Kniga - The International Book) . In his strongly autobiographical book, Becher describes the development of the seven-year-old Hans Peter Gastl from the turn of the century 1899/1900 to the outbreak of the First World War .
Style and theme
This book is about Becher's best-known epic attempt, which was written in Soviet exile from 1935 onwards . The central motif of the novel is the “becoming different”, which is connected with the liberation of the human being from the constraints of the Wilhelmine bourgeois society. The hope is expressed that these constraints will not occur in a socialist society.
The novel, written in narrative form, also contains poetic insertions, some with expressionistic features. In addition, the 50 chapters of the book are repeatedly provided with confusing, surrealistic (day) dreams of the first-person narrator .
action
The novel begins with New Year's Eve 1899/1900. The first-person narrator Hans Peter Gastl, the only son of the Munich Public Prosecutor Heinrich Gastl and his wife Betty, vows to become “different” at the beginning of the new century. But the next few days in the loyal, orderly family dominated by the father shake the good resolutions. When Hans steals 10 marks from his grandmother and stays away from school with his school friend Franzl Hartinger, Franzl is the only one punished. The theft is also attributed to Hartinger's bad influence, and as the son of a worker and social democrat, Hartinger is rejected as not befitting. With the new, befitting friends Feck and Freyschlag, Hans mistreated his ex-boyfriend Hartinger. When the relationship with Hartinger is intended to explain Hans's relationship with a murdered whore, he sticks to the truth and thus for the first time opposes his father's influences.
Now Hans realizes that he cannot realize the desire to become “different” that he has often expressed in front of himself. Therefore he turns to his Jewish classmate Löwenstein, who confronts him with the terms class struggle , socialism and international .
When Hans learns of the attack in Sarajevo , he hopes that the new era will finally begin. However, his father demands that he register as a volunteer. This leads to a dispute between father and son, in which Hans manages to maintain his position. It culminates when Hans moves out of his parents' apartment.
In the last chapter, Hans draws an appealing conclusion: "If someone like me ... Then you all need not to lose courage ..."
Others
A second part of the work did not appear directly, because Becher saw the chapters On the Insurrection in Man in his work In Another Way so Great Hope. Diary 1950 as a continuation. Further designs with the title Wiederanders remained only fragments.
filming
In 1968 the novel was made into a film by the director Egon Günther under the title Farewell . Günther wrote the script together with Günter Kunert .
Text output
- Johannes R. Becher: Farewell , Structure Taschenbuch Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-746-61079-6
literature
- York-Gothart Mix : Youth suicide. H. Falladas 'Der Junge Goedeschal', JR Becher's 'Farewell', H. Hesse's 'Under the Wheel' and everyday upbringing in the German Empire. In: Germanic-Romanic monthly . Vol. 44, 1994, 63-76.