Daddy Long Legs
Daddy Longlegs (Original title: Daddy-long-legs ) is a 1912 published epistolary novel of the American writer Jean Webster .
action
The heroine of the novel is the orphan girl Jerusha Abbott, who lived in the John Grier Home until she was eighteen and is now being sent to college by one of the institution's wealthy board members because of her literary talent. The man wants to remain anonymous, but expects something in return from Jerusha: In exchange for her permission to go to college, she is supposed to write a letter every month about her progress, without ever being answered. Upon entering college, Jerusha begins a journey of discovery into the completely unknown world outside the orphanage. Everything that she experiences, she describes to the board of directors, which she affectionately calls Daddy Longlegs (American: 'daddy longlegs' = harvestman ), because she only knows the man's shadow, which made his legs look disproportionately long. During her life in college, she met Jervis Pendleton, the uncle of a fellow student, whom she seems to run into repeatedly on her way through life. Over time, they get closer to each other. When she gets to know Daddy Langbein at the end of her college days, it turns out that Jervis is Daddy Langbein.
effect
The motifs of the book show Jean Webster's interest in social issues and the women's movement . The book was reworked into her most famous and later a stage play.
Today it is often assigned to youth or children's literature . At the time of its publication, however, it was a sample of a large number of girls' or student novels whose protagonists were on the threshold of adult life, dealing with subjects such as studies, work and marriage. These books were ahead of the contemporary view of adolescence. Other writers in this genre were Lucy Maud Montgomery , Louisa May Alcott, and later Mary Stoltz .
In 2006, the author Do-Jiang adapted Daddy Long Legs for the present day with his e-mail novel of the same name. In this novel, the young orphan Youngmi finally becomes a radio journalist for a radio station.
Expenses (selection)
- Daddy long legs . New York, NY,: Grosset & Dunlap 1912 (English)
- Daddy long legs . Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun. 1995. ISBN 3-15-009205-1 (English)
- Daddy Long Legs . Translator: Margret Boveri. Berlin: Minerva-Verlag, 1947
- Daddy Long Legs . (Tb.). Frankfurt: Fischer, 1995. ISBN 3-596-22410-1
- Dear daddy long legs . Übers. Ingo Herzke , Reinbek: Carlsen, 2017. ISBN 3-551-56044-7
Film adaptations
The story was made into a film in 1919, 1931, and 1955, the 1955 film Daddy Langbein with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in the leading roles.
Under the title Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan ( 私 の あ し な が お じ さ ん ), a 40-episode animated series based on the novel was first broadcast on Japanese television in 1990. This anime was created in the animation studio Nippon Animation as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series. As The Secret of Daddy Langbein , it was also broadcast on German-language television on RTL 2.
continuation
Under the title Dear Enemy, Webster followed up with Daddy Long Legs . In Lieber Feind , Jerusha puts her college friend Sallie McBride in charge of the John Grier Home. Dear Enemy is also a letter novel, but unlike Daddy Langbein , the letters are not only addressed to one person. The book contains both Sallie's letters to Jerusha and the letters to the institution's doctor, Dr. Robin McRae, and Sallie's fiancée, the politician Gordon Hallock.
Musical version
John Caird (book) and Paul Gordon (music and lyrics) brought out a musical version of the novel in 2009. It premiered on October 17, 2009 at the Rubicon Theater in Ventura County, California. A West End production followed in 2012, and an off-Broadway production in 2015. a. a Drama Desk Award in the category "outstanding musical libretto". The German premiere took place on November 25, 2018 in the Bielefeld Theater. The Austrian premiere took place on February 14, 2019 in the Theater im Neukloster, Wiener Neustadt
Individual evidence
- ↑ Do-Jiang: Daddy Long Legs. 2006, accessed December 12, 2017 .