The high glow
The Hohe Schein is a novel by Ludwig Ganghofer . It first appeared in the Adolf Bonz publishing house in Stuttgart in 1904.
introduction
The novel takes place in a fictional village in the Bavarian Alps . The village is dominated by a mountain, called "The high glow" in the novel, because the rays of the evening sun make it glow particularly beautiful. The city man Walter Horhammer, doctor of philosophy , takes quarters in this village - on the advice of his doctor - because he wants to enjoy the beauty and grandeur of nature in the mountains of the Alps for a while.
content
Coming from Hohen Schein, Walter Horhammer takes quarters in the village at the foot of this mountain in the house of Herr Ehrenreich and his daughter Mathilde. He is looking for "life", he is looking for answers to questions that philosophy and the natural sciences cannot answer. Walter Horhammer has so far found no help in life in the books. In the grandeur and beauty of nature, he believes he can find the right path for himself. In the village he met a number of people who impressed him. The story of the individual protagonists unfolds at a leisurely pace . In addition to Mr. Ehrenreich and his two children Mathilde and Bertl, he comes into contact with his "intimate enemy", the chaplain Michael Innenebner - whom he knows from earlier. He gets to know the dairymaid Lies, the strange Bonifatius Venantius Gwack and the moss hunter.
At first glance the author takes us into an ideal world. But what looks so wonderful and intact at first glance turns out to be neither intact nor fairytale-like on closer inspection. In addition to love and lust, it is grief and death that are always present as well as dominant and present. But for Walter Horhammer's soul, the beauty of this mountainous nature has a dominant and at the same time healing effect:
"Whoever had the strength to clearly recognize what is right for his earthly path, and to put what has been recognized as a bright sage in his life, as firm and immovable as the shining mountain stands there in the dark of the valley!"
he thinks as he watches the sunset from the Hohe Schein.
Relationships between the protagonists develop slowly until one day a theater group comes to the village and puts on Goethe's " Iphigenie ". This performance acts like a catalyst that makes the pent-up energies explode. The works of Goethe play an essential, almost supporting role in this novel, which is also often quoted in the novel. The Ehrenreich family adore the work of Goethe, which is quoted again and again in the novel.
When the book nears its end after almost 500 pages, the reader has the feeling that he has to say goodbye to many beloved protagonists who have almost become friends. The main actor in the novel, Doctor Walter Horhammer, has also changed and has become a different one. He is no longer the unworldly philosopher of the beginning of the book. The "reading of life" taught him more than the wisdom of his books. In the finale, the threads that were previously open knot and lead to a good ending.
style
The book is wonderfully "old-fashioned" and wonderfully out of date. It is kept in a somewhat outdated style (from the end of the 19th century), which increases the appeal of reading for many readers, especially if one is looking at an older edition printed in Fraktur . The book is mainly written in standard German , some parts - namely the literal speeches of the locals - are written in the Bavarian dialect, which does not lead to any reading problems even for readers who do not speak Bavarian . Since the events take place in the Bavarian mountains, pure standard German would be inappropriate.
Others
Ludwig Ganghofer dedicated the novel 'Der Hohe Schein' to the memory of his mother Charlotte Caroline b. Louis (born August 4, 1828 in Aschaffenburg , † December 19, 1888 in Munich ). In a detailed afterword he describes their memory in touching words.
Ganghofer's novels, often mocked as homeland novels , have earned Ganghofer the reputation of the "ideal world" writer. Even during his lifetime, the judgments about Ganghofer diverged widely. He was the best-selling writer of his time, and his books found enthusiastic readers outside of Bavaria as well . Kaiser Wilhelm II , with whom he met in person several times, called him his favorite poet. On the other hand, Ganghofer was a target of criticism from his colleagues - from Josef Ruederer , Lion Feuchtwanger .
This does not do justice to the author. On closer inspection, you will find that much, as in the novel 'Der Hohe Schein', is critically questioned. The conflicts between the stands are clearly highlighted. Ganghofer's stories, on the other hand, are largely free of ethnic ideology, which is evident in the description of the peasant characters; also anti-Semitic tendencies in Ganghofer works no place.
Ganghofer has a talent for writing that is seldom seen in any other German author. He knows how to use the German language with virtuosity, which is particularly noticeable in his wonderful descriptions of nature. As a rule, his books are so exciting from the first to the last page that you have to find yourself interrupting reading. It is certainly no coincidence that Ganghofer is one of the most widely read German authors of the 20th century.
literature
- Ludwig Ganghofer: The high bill. Publishing house Th. Knaur Nachf., Berlin 1936
Web links
Notes and Notes
- ^ The company Adolf Bonz & Comp. was founded by Adolf Bonz (* 1824, † 1877) in 1876 and continued by his eldest son Alfred Bonz (* 1854). The publishing house emerged from the oldest Stuttgart bookstore, the Metzler bookstore founded in 1682. The publishing house was Ludwig Ganghofer's house publishing house, who had almost all of his works printed by this publisher.
- ↑ Ludwig Ganghofer: Der Hohe Schein, p. 34f (see literature)