The steppe interrogation

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The steppe interrogation is a novel by Werner Helwig . It is a parable in which "the problem of terror is up for debate". Helwig dedicated the book to "All demagogues of politics, taste and conviction" .

content

An adventurous North American, the bourgeois refugee Ellington, is overtaken by two dubious “ Caballeros ” while riding through a lost South American steppe . They are primitive, cunning manhunters of an ideologically shaped dictatorship. In the course of an initially harmless conversation, which then turns into a diabolical interrogation, he gets further and further into bondage and the brutal violence of the two. Ellington finally escapes the manhunters, but has “been driven into a new zone of insight that he has previously avoided by the steppe interrogation”, because, as Die Zeit summarizes, “the real decision is made on the level of conviction. Your conclusion is: Not private standing, but a position, commitment. "

shape

The steppe interrogation was published in 1957 by the Diederichs publishing house (Düsseldorf and Cologne). In May of the same year, the novel was voted book of the month . A radio play version was also broadcast several times. The action takes place on two levels, that of the current time and that of a reminder that is reproduced in italics in the print. On this second level it becomes clear that Ellington has evaded military conscription and broken all bridges to the past. The external action is only sketched. Helwig “only gives hints, shows possibilities and leaves the reader's imagination to decide whether his figure will survive or die”.

reception

The book received various reviews, but the positive criticism outweighed it. Der Spiegel wrote: "Following the mythical realism of his great Greek novels, Helwig's attempt at a time-critical allegory seems quite experimental". Bettina Hürlimann compared the book with Max Frisch's Homo faber and found the way in which action and dialogue are intertwined "masterful and exciting". The literary scholar Walter Schmiele described the novel as a parable of time and culture, as a cipher: "The reader's pleasure is deciphering pleasure, it uncovers an epic-symbolic pattern." Wolfgang Grözinger asked the question: "Was it really necessary to understand the morality of the fascinating story History expressis verbis to include? A lack of trust in the fable becomes clear enough. "

Quote

“ When he looked around, there were two riders, gray, covered in dust, cheeky little figures. They followed him, one on the right and the other on the left of his grass trail. He accelerated the pass of his horse in order to be able to take precautionary measures unobtrusively. He quickly unbuckled his watch and slipped it into his jacket pocket. At the same time he drew Ralph's revolver, which he carried under his armpit on his bare skin, to the front. Disturbing incident, he thought, while he returned with weak friendliness the greeting of the cavaliers who were already in line with him and took him into their midst. "

- Werner Helwig

literature

  • Wolfgang Grözinger: Werner Helwig. The steppe interrogation . In: Wolfgang Grözinger: Panorama of the international contemporary novel. Collected ' Hochland ' reviews 1952-1965 . (Ed. Erwin Rotermund). Schöningh, Paderborn 2004, ISBN 3-506-70116-9
  • Bettina Hürlimann: Werner Helwig: The steppe interrogation. Max Frisch : Homo faber . Two men's books . In: Atlantis. Countries, peoples, travels . Freiburg Breisgau and Zurich, No. 12/1957
  • Maria Poelchau: In the steppe interrogation . In: Die Zeit of May 9, 1957
  • Walter Schmiele: Steppe parable . In: New German Issues. Contributions to the European present . Gütersloh, No. 40, November 1957, ISSN  0028-3142

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jean Améry : Portraits of famous contemporaries: Werner Helwig. Beyond the bourgeois tradition in: St. Galler Tagblatt from 2./3. January 1965
  2. ↑ Intent in: The steppe interrogation . 1957
  3. ^ Maria Poelchau: In the steppe interrogation . In: Die Zeit of May 9, 1957
  4. ↑ et al. in Hessischer Rundfunk and z. B. on August 31, 1958 at Radio Bremen
  5. ^ Maria Poelchau: In the steppe interrogation . In: Die Zeit of May 9, 1957
  6. ^ Der Spiegel , Issue 28, 1957
  7. ↑ Bettina Hürlimann in: Atlantis , No. 12/1957
  8. ↑ Walter Schmiele . In: New German Issues , No. 40, November 1957
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Grözinger: Background of the storytelling . In: Panorama of the international contemporary novel . 2004
  10. ↑ Werner Helwig: The steppe interrogation . 1957, page 30