The Redegonda diary
The Redegonda diary is a story by Arthur Schnitzler , written in 1909 and published in October 1911 in the Süddeutsche Monatshefte in Munich. The author took the little fantastic story into his short story collection "Masks and Miracles" (S. Fischer, Berlin 1912).
content
The narrator thinks the young Dr. Gottfried Wehwald would tell the following story - especially for him - on the bench in the city park at night: Dr. Wehwald from the political authority falls in love with Redegonda, the wife of Rittmeister Baron T. from Dragoon Regiment X in the small town of Z. The affection is reciprocated. The couple manages to hide the relationship from the Rittmeister. The catastrophe takes its course when the dragoon regiment is to be transferred to Galicia . Redegonda had confided the story of their love in her diary. The young woman had died - presumably from shock - when the husband entered her room and surprised the wife with the open book. The Rittmeister suspects the heartbreaker in Wehwald and confronts the doctor with the diary. Wehwald reads and nods in confirmation. You duel.
The narrator interjects: "And you killed him?" Dr. Wehwald has to say no. He himself was shot dead by the Rittmeister for an "act" that he had not yet committed. Suddenly, Dr. Wehwald down from the park bench has disappeared without a trace. The narrator imagined the doctor's presence, presumably because he had read a newspaper note the day before. There was talk of a Rittmeister Teuerheim who had a friend of the narrator, a certain Dr. Wehwald, had transported to the afterlife. Before that, Redegonda had run away with her real lover, a young lieutenant from the Rittmeister's regiment.
reception
- In the story according to Perlmann, only two facts can actually be considered certain: First, the narrator on the bench at night in the park and, second, the fatal outcome of the duel for Dr. Wehwald. Everything else most likely belongs in the realm of fiction.
- Scheffel admits that the author does not vouch for the truth of the story.
- After Sprengel, Dr. Wehwald derided by Schnitzler because the fool in love atone for a love he did not even declare.
Web links
- The text at Zeno.org
literature
- Used edition
- Arthur Schnitzler: The Redegonda's diary. P. 42 - 49 in Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): Arthur Schnitzler: Casanovas Heimfahrt. Stories 1909 - 1917. With an afterword by Michael Scheffel . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (1999 edition). 495 pages, ISBN 3-10-073553-6
- First edition in book form
- Arthur Schnitzler: Masks and Miracles. Novellas. S. Fischer Verlag Berlin 1912. 189 pages. Includes The Shepherd's Flute , The Bachelor's Death , The Murderer , The Dead Gabriel , The Redegonda Diary, and The Triple Warning .
- Audio book
- Arthur Schnitzler: The murderer. The Redegonda diary . Read by Wolfgang Hinze . Naxos Publishing House. Series of Classics of Literature. September 22, 2003, ISBN 978-3-89816-122-0
- Secondary literature
- Michaela L. Perlmann: Arthur Schnitzler. Metzler Collection, Vol. 239. Stuttgart 1987. 195 pages, ISBN 3-476-10239-4
- Peter Sprengel : History of German-language literature 1900 - 1918. Munich 2004. 924 pages, ISBN 3-406-52178-9
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . S. 555, right column, 14. Zvu Stuttgart 2004. 698 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ Source, p. 489, second entry
- ↑ Perlmann, p. 130
- ↑ Even the first fact is uncertain. Towards the end of the text, the narrator says: “Dr. Wehwald was no longer sitting in the corner of the bench. Yes, I have reason to suspect that he had never sat there at all. "(Edition used, p. 48, 12th Zvu)
- ↑ Scheffel in the afterword of the source, p. 483, 15. Zvu
- ↑ Sprengel, pp. 238/239