At the University

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At the university is the title of a novella by Theodor Storm . The work of 1862 is about the tragic fate of an attractive girl from the lower class. Introduced into bourgeois society as a dance partner by chance, the young woman, desperate at the arrogance of her surroundings , enters into a relationship with a rich, unscrupulous student. She flees to suicide without a future .

Structure, time, place, people

The plot is reported episodically by the first-person narrator in eight titled chapters. The events stretch over several years, the representation is divided into two time periods. The first four chapters tell the prehistory, after a leap in time the dramatic intensification follows.

The story takes place in the northern German part of the entire Danish state in the 19th century during Storm's youth.

The main characters:

  • Lenore Beauregard , daughter of a flick Schneiders French origin, thirteen years old at the beginning
  • First-person narrator, addressed as Philipp , secondary school graduate, later law student
  • Christoph Werner , friend of the narrator, takes up the profession of carpenter , later successful in the furniture trade
  • Fritz , son of the mayor , school friend of the narrator and later his fellow student in Heidelberg
  • The foreign student, without a name, called the Rauhgraf , a young man described as beautiful, inconsiderate and intent on his own pleasure
  • Lenore's parents, " Monsieur " Beauregard , grandson of a stove heater at the court of Louis XVI. ; Margrethe , Lenore's mother, a cook . Both die prematurely.

action

1. Lore. - The eight secondary students of the small-town Latin school only find seven young women who are appropriate for their class for dance lessons. Fritz and the first-person narrator (Philipp) succeed in winning over the tailor's daughter Lenore.

2. In the dance lesson. - After Lenore's initial rejection by the common daughters of the town's dignitaries , the dance lesson takes place regularly. At the prom, there is a near scandal when Lenore's father comes in to see his daughter dance.

3. On the mill pond. - The new year is over. Fritz, Christoph and the narrator took a great liking to Lenore. During popular ice skating , Lenore can be driven over the ice in a seat sledge. The narrator succeeds in taking the place of the sleigh driver unnoticed by Lenore. When Lenore discovers the fraud, the narrator ignores their protests and threatens to drive her onto unsafe ice. There is a fight with the jealous Christoph, who has chased them both, and in which the narrator goes to the ground unconscious. Christoph sincerely regrets what he did, and the two are reconciled the following day. The narrator resolves to also learn something from the carpentry trade, which seals the friendship.

4. In the palace garden. - Spring has begun, the narrator has become a primary student at the Latin school. At the fair , Lenore has fun with a carousel ride with a ring jump . Since she does this skillfully, has "ridden herself free", she is allowed to continue driving for free. The amorous narrator accompanies Lenore through the palace gardens to their parents' house as darkness falls. In the following winter, the narrator changes to a Central German high school.

The Düsternbrook wood as the setting for Storm's novella (Source: Schleswig-Holstein State Archives )

5. At the university. - A few years later. The narrator studied at a foreign university (Heidelberg) for three years, together with his childhood friend Fritz. To take the law exam, he returns to the state university (unnamed, Kiel ) to complete the prescribed academic year. He sees Lenore again by chance on the occasion of a pleasant boat trip. He also meets Christoph, who is successful in the furniture trade. In a retrospective, he lets a seamstress known to him, the "lame Marie", tell him about Lenore. After the death of her parents, she lived with a relative and got involved with the "Rauhgrafen", a rich, foreign student. The narrator is told about the memorable encounter between the two of them, during which the student succeeded in winning them over by inviting them to ride his expensive horse. The foreign student is hated by the craftspeople because he abuses them of their girls. Christoph also feels provoked by the "Rauhgrafen" and gives him a beating because of Lenore. The following day, Christoph is forced to leave the city. When he parted, he reproached the narrator that the “Latins” shouldn't have used Lenore as a substitute for a missing dance partner.

6. A walk. - It's August. The narrator takes a walk to a forest tavern (unnamed, the Sanssouci restaurant in Düsternbrooker Gehölz near Kiel ), where the students from the Corps hold their pub evenings. There he hears students talking about an upcoming ball, the "Witches' Sabbath". There is also gossip about Lenore as the "Countess" because she is considered the girl of the "Rauhgrave".

7. Out in the woods. - The narrator again has Marie tell him details about Lenore. There is a (somewhat half-hearted) engagement between this and Christoph. Lenore has now learned of Christoph's intentions to marry into the master family at his new place of residence. Out of anger and disappointment with Christoph's (supposed) intentions, she turned to the “Rauhgrafen”, bought an expensive ball gown and attended the student dance evenings. The narrator goes to the Waldschänke for the announced "Witches' Sabbath". Lenore and the "Rauhgraf" are present as expected. The narrator seeks an opportunity to speak to Lenore alone. She gives him a letter to read from Christoph, which she received on the same day. In it he clears up the misunderstandings and invites Lenore to come to him. But Lenore believes she has fallen for the beautiful foreign student and sees no future together with the craftsman Christoph.

8. On the beach. - During a walk together Fritz and the narrator on the beach (unnamed, on the Kiel Fjord near the Carl-Loewe-Weg ), they learn about the discovery of a drowned person. They rush to the dead. It's Lenore.

Others

The Waldschänke Sanssouci no longer exists. At the point in question there is now a memorial stone with the inscription “At the University” and an explanatory board. The location reference is irrelevant for the plot of the novella.

literature

Hedwig Sievert: Sanssouci, the Düsternbrooker forest management in Theodor Storm's novella “Auf der Universität”. In: Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Kieler Stadtgeschichte, 1953, no. 3, pp. 21–32.

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