Mandrake. The story of a living being
Mandrake. The story of a living being is a fantastic novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers that was published in 1911.
The novel begins with a description of fertilization without intercourse, in which the girl mandrake is produced. The mother is a prostitute . The ejaculate originates from a desire killers and this was the time of its execution by the guillotine removed. This corresponds to a superstition that surrounds the mandrake plant. The girl mandrake herself is described as having a promiscuous disposition and causes Professor ten Brinken's suicide . He was in charge of the artificial insemination that led to its creation. Then she becomes the lover of his nephew Frank Braun. The mandrake, which has since fallen into vampirism , ultimately falls to its death.
Gustav Klimt used a mandrake in his picture Ria Munk III to visually establish the connection between the depicted Maria Munk, who killed herself on December 28, 1911 “because of HH Ewers”. Her mother may also have made the connection between the book and death.
The story Alraune , which used clearly voyeuristic and lurid elements of the time, was quickly distributed in large editions (238,000 copies by 1922) and was filmed several times under the title of the same name Alraune .
In 2014 Alraune was published as a radio play of the same name with Sabine Bohlmann in the lead role as episode 87 of the Horror Cabinet series.
Film adaptations
- Alraune , directed by Michael Curtiz , 1918
- Mandrake, the hangman's daughter, called the red Hanne . , Directed by Eugen Illés , 1918
- Mandrake and the Golem , directed by Nils Chrisander , 1919
- Alraune , directed by Henrik Galeen , Germany 1928
- Mandrake , directed by Richard Oswald , 1930
- Alraune , directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt , 1952
Web links
- Facsimile from 1911 with full text (17th edition)
- Playing with chance and probability in Hanns Heinz Ewers “Alraune” by Sabine Frost, website of the Hanns-Heinz-Ewers-Gesellschaft, 2002
Footnotes
- ↑ Arthur Schnitzler, Diary 1909–1912, Vienna 1981, p. 296. 14/1, 1912. At an earlier point Schnitzler mentions the “suicide of Miss Munk because of HH Ewers.” Ibid., P. 294, 1/1, 1912 See Marianne Bisanz-Praken: Ria Munk III by Gustav Klimt. ( online ( Memento from April 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ))
- ^ Wolfgang Clauss: Alraune. The story of a living being. In: Kindler's new literary lexicon . Volume 5. P. 356 f.
- ^ Review of the radio play , published on May 10, 2014, accessed on May 17, 2014.