August fourteen
August Fourteen (Orig. Узел I - Август Четырнадцатого) is a novel by Alexander Solzhenitsyn , which describes Russia's path to revolution in the context of the First World War. The work is part of a narrative work covering several volumes on the history of the revolution in Russia. Solzhenitsyn originally intended to divide the story into ten parts, which he called the knot. The entire work, however, is entitled The Red Wheel . In the end, however, the author was only able to realize four knots. The first part deals with the story of Russia's entry into the war and the Battle of Tannenberg from the interwoven point of view of several actors from different backgrounds. It was published in 1971. In the same year the first version appeared in German, in 1987 the revised and expanded second version.
content
In his historical novel, which is essentially chronologically structured, the author tells of the troop movements and battles in East Prussia at the beginning of World War I and uses many examples to demonstrate the futility of these battles. As he explains in Chapter 40, the defeat of the Second Russian Army, which he analyzes, is the key event for the history of his country, which is treated in the following volumes. The main plot begins after the German defeat at Gumbinnen and the battle near Orlau and then focuses on the battles at Usdau , Waplitz and v. a. near Tannenberg . Like Tolstoy's War and Peace , Solzhenitsyn's work is a mixture of fiction and documentary: The political and military events in August 1914, which the author researched, include individual shops in which characters from fiction act together with historical personalities. The story is personal , i.e. H. from changing perspectives of the main characters. Authorized comments or explanations about the history and the strategies (e.g. chapters 12, 32) apparently reflect the opinion of the author. Situations are put together like a mosaic and people with different characters and fates are portrayed: soldiers exhausted from the continuous march, resting at the well, in the artillery fire, in the hospital, on the panic escape, plundering an abandoned city, etc. One of the final images is that of the dead and injured horses and by the prisoners in the newly established concentration camps (Kp. 58).
Some of these actions are linked by the inspection tour of the Colonel in the General Staff Georgiy Vorotynzew with the management level, which he z. B. to Alexander Samsonow , to the headquarters in Ostrolenka (11th – 13th cp.), Then to the left wing to Alexander Krymow in Soldau (16 cp.) And to General Leonid Artamonow in Usdau (cp. 25). He is the hero of the novel and repeatedly takes the initiative at the front without higher orders. With his eyes the reader sees the suffering of the brave soldiers, heightened by the weaknesses of the Russian campaign. At the end of the novel (Kp. 82) he tells the generals in the headquarters of Grand Duke Nikolai the omissions: the lack of information about the strategy and the movements of the enemy, the deficiencies in the coordination between the levels of command and the rigid hierarchical structures of the command apparatus, the contradicting assessments of the rival Generals Schilinsky and Samsonov, who were far from the front , the orders overtaken by development due to the long distances, the fatigue of the troops from the days of marching over rough terrain, the inadequate equipment and organization of supplies. All this leads to gaps between the two wings of the 2nd Army in the Battle of Tannenberg, which the enemy uses for the advance. Vorotynzew has to watch helplessly as the observations of the commanders at the front are ignored at headquarters because they do not go with their plan. The author uses many examples to show the helpless efforts of the soldiers on site: Major General Netschwolodow is looking for his ranged troops in Bischofsburg (Kp. 18) and has to retreat after a successful artillery battle near Rothfliess because the ammunition supply does not work (Kp. 20-21) . Infantry General Nikolaj Martos reports the surprising German troop movements from the west on Mühlen to Samsonov's army staff, but does not receive the requested support, but receives the order to move on to the north (Kp. 27). From the large number of people, the author has selected a few to represent their inner perspective: In addition to Vorotynzew, these are v. a. at the management level General Samsonow, who in his agony of conscience and helplessness in the face of defeat seeks prayer (Kp. 31) and shoots himself in the end (Kp. 48). Sergeant Terentij Tschernega (Kp. 19), who was decisive in defensive action, enjoyed the sympathy of the narrator among the infantry, as did the honorable Lieutenant Yaroslav Charitonov, who was horrified to see the brutalization of the soldiers on his platoon as a result of their privations (Kp. 29).
While the soldiers' patriotic, government-loyal and religious attitudes dominate in the act of war, interspersed chapters and v. a. In the last part of the novel, which is loosely networked with one another, the political situation in the tsarist empire and the revolutionary mood of social-liberal circles critical of the regime, which are in the foreground in the following volumes of the Red Wheel . Middle-class families and students discuss the social question, emancipation and a republican form of government. In the second version of the novel, these descriptions of the situation are supplemented by historical overviews and portraits of Tsar Nicholas II , Prime Minister Stolypin , his assassin Bogrov and Lenin in exile.
German editions
- August nineteen fourteen. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander: From d. Soot. by Alexander Kaempfe : Langen-Müller, 1971
- August fourteen. Translation by Swetlana Geier. Luchterhand 1972. (For 2 weeks in 1972 at number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list )
- The Red Wheel First Knot, August fourteen. Translation by Swetlana Geier . Piper 1987. (Final version from August fourteen ; fundamentally revised and expanded by around 500 pages compared to the edition first published in German in 1972)
literature
Wilhelm Goerdt : "August 1914" In: "Philosophy in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's poetry". Giessen 1972, p. 84 ff. Phlosphisches-jahrbuch.de
Elisa Kriza: “Who is the enemy here? Allies and opponents in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's representation of Germany ”. German Life and Letters, Volume 73, Issue 2, April 2020, pp. 312–338. onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rene Drommert: Respectable, but not congenial. A comparison of the two German translations. Zeit-Online August 4th 1972.