The lar

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Lar is a short story by Wilhelm Raabe , which was written from November 1887 to October 1888 and published by Westermann in Braunschweig in 1889 . The text had already been preprinted in " Westermann's monthly books ".

The beggarly Dr. With the young raisin, Kohl junior finds the right wife, becomes a father and, with the support of resourceful friend Bogislaus, manages to prosper.

content

The old Prof. Dr. Kohl comes home from the university lecture and dies at his desk, bent over a treatise on the Strasbourg oath of Ludwig the German . Paul Warnefried Kohl, the son of the unknown Germanist and student, comments on the death: "He [the old gentleman] has eaten into himself too much of annoyance and anger." And the people say: "The poor widow! She has truly endured her own with this nervous, stubborn, impractical, unworldly, abstruse-learned idiot ... The financial situation will be quite serious. "After the death of his mother, the young Kohl is powerless against the auction of his parents' estate. When the debt has been paid, he has nothing left. The house owner takes the house key from him. Shortly before Easter, Kohl is on the street and meets Miss Rosine Müller. The young piano teacher carts her belongings through town. On the way both meet the vet a. D. Dr. Franz de Paula Schnarrwergk. The old bachelor - he is the godfather of young Kohl - happens to be moving too. To top it all off, both moving carts also have a destination: "Hanebuttenstrasse number thirty-three, three flights of stairs up". In addition, Rosine had already met Schnarrwergk, this "hideous person", as she says to Kohl, from the student's blessed mother. The Kohls had taken care of the young lady, an orphan, while she was still alive. Back then, Raisin had even become the blessed mother's friend.

The young Kohl makes himself useful when moving. He carries the lar of the lonely former regimental surgeon and 1866 veteran to the third floor. The Lar, a stuffed ape ( Pithecus satyrus ), the household god of unpopular sponsor. Raisin rejects the approaches of the "squat, well-fed, blond, happy young German without a house key". Even the grumpy Schnarrwergk does not accept his godchild. The homeless person leaves and receives six marks from the postman - the fee from the Munich “ Fliegende Blätter ” for a funny anecdote. His friend Bogislaus Blech comes towards him on the street. Bogislaus, “the best future German portrait painter” comes from Landsberg an der Warthe . The two poor people buy a meal with the money. Kohl finds accommodation in the painter's attic shed. The artist's “studio” is almost empty. Bogislaus sold the chair and sofa. The friends have lofty art talks. There is talk of Platen .

Like the young Kohl, Bogislaus is rejected by Rosine. Under the aegis of the “most furious Germanic opponent of old Kohl”, of all things, the young Kohl studied philosophy for five years and did his doctorate, but failed to pass the state examination. On the occasion of his doctorate he received 600 marks from an anonymous man who was drawing with Hanno . When Dr. phil. When Kohl returns home, he meets Bogislaus Blech. As a corpse photographer, his friend has no longer had any financial worries and pays back by buying a meal. In conversation, Kohl comes across the noble donor of money: the godfather via the chain of associations Hanno, Periplus , Equatorial Africa, Gorilla , Lar. The "uncomfortable light and corpse artist" Bogislaus puts the newcomer in the picture: Rosine still lives next to the old Schnarrwergk on the third floor, Hanebuttenstrasse 33. Blech holds out a "life skirt" to his friend. Dr. Kohl is forced to wear them and in the following years, following on from his success with the "Fliegende Blätter", writes leading articles for the local press. Soon, however, he will be referred to the bottom line by the editor. On Dr. Fifty newspaper readers cancel their subscription to Kohl's ingenious feature pages. The editor scolds the guilty party as an "unqualifiable, tactless, hyper-genius printing paper scarecrow". Dr. Kohl becomes "local reporter". The ones from the competition don't sleep. The boss Dr. Rodenstock drives the successful "local reporter" from one murderous matter to the next. While the chase through the streets of the city, Dr. Cabbage on raisin. He looks at the clock and takes five minutes for his first love. The piano teacher reports good news. The contributions of Dr. Kohls are devoured by the godfather and also by the young lady herself. The newspaper writer cannot believe it - Rosinchen claims that Schnarrwergk is as if in love with him. Now he is almost convinced that Raisin carried the 600 marks for the old man into the post. The assumption later turns out to be correct. Even more - it looks like the vet turned the sponsored child into a doctor with money.

During the five-year absence of the young Kohl, Schnarrwergk and Raisin had found each other as the closest neighbors. The vet a. D. had defended the young lady and her loud pianino from the attacks of the people below. After the vet's appearance, Raisin did not have to move - as usual - and is very grateful. The unequal couple goes on an extended Whitsun excursion in the constant rain. On the way they dig up “ Orchis latifolia - the lucky hand - with all its roots in the dripping meadow splendor”. From then on, Rosine occasionally visits the old man in his apartment and talks to him. Schnarrwergk deals with unanswerable questions with a "Gnrrrrrr" sound. Otherwise he is sociable. The former “cattle doctor” tells the young lady about his life in a friendly manner. He had loved young Kohl's mother. But this had taken the old Germanist. Nevertheless, he remained a family friend, playing chess with the professor for twenty years and whist with the "old box" . The life memories of the strange Schnarrwergk at Rosine's address culminate in a confession: “You know, child, there was a natural bond between the horrible kid [young Kohl] and me. I had adopted him as a child, ideally so to speak. "Rosine also learns why the old man is so friendly to her:" In her childlike, cheerful liveliness, she [Mrs. Kohl] had a certain resemblance to you, child. "The young girl Now does not understand why Schnarrwergk would like to make everyone believe that he only adores his orangutan as a despiser . The answer is that the veterinarian used Lar the human eyes of his patron .

When Dr. Kohl, "reporter for the city's first newspaper", wanders through the Christmas market in the old town, he is attracted by the large audience. He routinely pushes people aside. Godfather Schnarrwergk "lay down". There is talk of a minor stroke . Kohl has the unconscious man brought home. Raisin is there and moans: The best, most real friend shouldn't die. Kohl follows the young lady’s plea for help. On Christmas Eve, for example, he does not need to accept the corpse photographer's invitation to a “four-handed man” on the “sweet, holy night”. The newspaper man isn't worried about the godfather at all. Kohl assures Rosine that the old man has a nature like ten rhinos and will probably outlive both of them “by two generations”. At the old man's bedside cabbage and raisin grow closer. The Lar grins at it. The couple thinks that the patient plays the sleeper and listens. Kohl and the young lady greet them as fiancés. On New Year's Eve, Schnarrwergk finds the language again and is surprised that cabbage and raisin are a couple. The new year starts well. Bogislaus Blech tells his friend that he has revealed the secret of the stuffed Lars. The great ape is filled with “the most productive, safest securities”. Dr. Kohl no longer has to go after “stupid daily news”.

The young Kohl can't help it, besides Schnarrwergk he has to ask his friend Bogislaus to be the godfather of his first son Franz. Ms. Rosine Kohl agrees. The vet calls the doctor his "son Kohl".

Quote

  • "We are mostly made into heroes, fools, criminals or paraclete by small things ."

Self-testimony

  • On May 29th, 1889 to E. Sträter: "After working on the 'Odfeld' I had to let myself go in this way again."

shape

In this “very true Laren and Penaten story”, the Lar is anything - orangutan, gorilla, baboon . Indistinct narration is expressly pointed out: "After a while, on this evening or perhaps on another - we cannot determine that exactly, but it does not matter much ..."

The narrator has absolutely no concerns. For example, he makes Schnarrwergk's friend Hein appear as a Deus ex Machina at the bedside . Death sees itself as the matchmaker; He thinks that by giving the vet the “first cemetery wave”, he brings raisin and cabbage together: “You really couldn't have wished for a better casual maker than me. Hm, hm, and you will still be decried as the enemy of all life. "

The happy ending is revealed in the preface. Ms. Rosine Kohl, née Müller, gives her husband Dr. Cabbage a son. Godparents are district vets a. D. Schnarrwergk and Kohl's friend, "the beautiful Bogislaus Blech".

Meyer-Krentler aptly calls the two-layer structure of the lar picture puzzle . In his book from 1986, the Raabe interpreter descended from the uppermost banal text level that was exposed into the deeper text layer.

interpretation

homosexuality

With the figure of Bogislaus Blech, Raabe alludes to an incident in 1878 "in a discreet but unmistakable manner", according to Sprengel. What is meant is the arrest of his "friend-enemy" Adolf Glaser on charges of pederasty . Raabe is never clear in this regard, but the reader notices when "the beautiful Bogislaus" repeatedly calls young Kohl his "(dear, sweet, heart) doll". Dr. Kohl does not once go into such advances, but does not reject the friend. As an ear witness, Raisin also does not react at all.

According to Meyer-Krentler, Bogislaus Blech is much more than a secondary character. Why don't the painter bring young Kohl onto a career path? Raabe designed sheet metal not only as the heir of M. Solitaire, but also as a descendant of Platen (see above under content) and Bogumil Goltz . As I said above - Platen plays a role in the conversations. Meyer-Krentler points out his homosexuality . The description of Blech, the "young man" with the "unbearded Antinous face ", speaks for a pederast.

House gods

In the subtitle “Der Lar” is announced as a Christmas story. But Dr. Kohl collects murder stories. The local reporter points out a parallel to Poe's “ Murder in the Rue Morgue ” and shouts: “Vivat the old orangutan and animal and human benefactor Godfather Schnarrwergk!”.

According to Meyer-Krentler, Raabe was inspired by Darwinism when writing . Schopenhauer also had a gilded house god - only that Schnarrwergk had hidden the values ​​(securities) inside the Lar.

Insidiousness

Meyer-Krentler has an eye for certain text passages that are usually ignored on first reading. For example, he quotes a passage in which Raabe smashed the pink picture that the reader had built in his harmony-minded brain: “... this woman [raisin] is perhaps even more insidious than the wicked old man [Schnarrwergk ]! ". Raabe is referring to Christian Reuter's Leipzig room landlord Anna Rosina Müller with raisin . Meyer-Krentler sees Rosine as a liar by Schnarrwergk's grace.

Meyer-Krentler calls the event eerie. First raisin and then, in her tow, the young cabbage falls under the spell of the cannibal Schnarrwergk. Sheet metal, however, turns out to be inedible - if only by name. On the other hand, cabbage and raisins are - again initially based on their names - a little more edible for the ogre.

reception

Contemporaries

Recent comments

  • Johannes Misslack says in 1920: "The Lar is not written for prudish people, because the tone is often quite rough, especially in the conversations between Kohl and Blech."
  • Oppermann would like to see the story as an interlude between “Odfeld” and “Stopfkuchen” and otherwise refers succinctly to Karl Hoppe's work “Der Lar. A humoresque with ethical standards ” from 1967.
  • Sprengel points to relationships in this “literary satire”: Behind the figure of the young Dr. Kohl is probably hiding from Wilhelm Raabe. When talking to Kohl's friend Bogislaus Blech, Sprengel thinks of the publishing house employee Adolf Glaser. And with the chief editor Rodenstock Julius Rodenberg ( Deutsche Rundschau ) could be meant.
  • Raabe also brought his own experience in dealing with newspaper editors to the figure of young Kohl. With the depiction of the "unequal couple" raisin and Schnarrwergk, Raabe succeeded in creating an "edible" work.
  • In Meyen there are references to further work ( Wilhelm Bachmann (1921), Wilhelm Fehse (1937) and Edgar Hampe (1949)).

literature

Text output

First edition
  • Wilhelm Raabe: The Lar. An Easter, Pentecost. Christmas and New Year story. Georg Westermann, Braunschweig 1889, 255 pages.
Used edition
  • The lar. An Easter, Pentecost. Christmas and New Year story. P. 221–395 with an appendix, written by Karl Hoppe , p. 447–480 in: Karl Hoppe (arrangement), Hans Oppermann (arrangement): Wilhelm Raabe: Das Odfeld. The lar . (2nd edition provided by Eberhard Rohse ) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1981. Vol. 17 in Karl Hoppe (ed.), Jost Schillemeit (ed.), Hans Oppermann (ed.), Kurt Schreinert (ed.): Wilhelm Raabe. Complete Works. Braunschweig edition . 24 vols., ISBN 3-525-20135-4
expenditure
  • Wilhelm Raabe: The Lar. An Easter, Pentecost. Christmas and New Year story.
    • 255 pages. Georg Westermann, Braunschweig 1890 (2nd edition). Linen, marble cut
    • 224 pages. Otto Janke, Berlin 1903 (3rd edition). fracture
    • 187 pages. Verlagsanstalt Hermann Klemm, Berlin-Grunewald 1916 (4th edition) (see also: 1919 (one-time edition for the field (together with " Die Akten des Vogelsangs ")), 1935 (7th edition), 1943 (8th edition. ))

Secondary literature

  • Edgar Hampe: The symbolism in Rabe's “Lar” . Messages from the Society of Friends of Wilhelm Raabe. 27, pp. 77-86 (1937)
  • Hans Oppermann : Wilhelm Raabe. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1970 (1988 edition), ISBN 3-499-50165-1 (rowohlt's monographs)
  • Fritz Meyen : Wilhelm Raabe. Bibliography. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973 (2nd edition). Supplementary volume 1, ISBN 3-525-20144-3 , 438 pages. In: Karl Hoppe (Ed.): Wilhelm Raabe. Complete Works. Braunschweig edition . 24 vols.
  • Eckhardt Meyer-Krentler: “The bottom line”. Literary market, triviality and novel art in Raabe's “Der Lar”. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1986, ISBN 3-506-78458-7 , 116 pages.
  • Eberhard Rohse: “Transcendental Human Studies” under the sign of the ape. Raabe's literary responses to the Darwinism debate of the 19th century. In: Jahrbuch der Raabe-Gesellschaft 1988, pp. 168-210, especially pp. 200-206, ISSN  0075-2371
  • Cecilia von Studnitz : Wilhelm Raabe. Writer. A biography. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-7700-0778-6
  • Peter Sprengel : History of German-Language Literature 1870–1900. From the founding of the empire to the turn of the century . CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44104-1
  • Eberhard Rohse: How Raabe formed death. On the iconography of temporality and death in later texts and drawings by Wilhelm Raabe. In: Herbert Blume (Ed.): By Wilhelm Raabe and others. Lectures from the Braunschweig Raabe House. Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 3-89534-354-4 (= Braunschweiger Contributions to German Language and Literature, Vol. 5), pp. 191–239, here pp. 228–231
  • Alexandra Tischel: Monkeys like us. What the literature says about our closest relatives. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-476-04598-0 , pp. 60–73.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Meyer-Krentler (p. 21, 15th line vu) calls Rosine "graceful-naive, able to live".
  2. ↑ In the press of that time, the leading articles were above the line and the bottom line was entertaining (Hoppe in the edition used, p. 474, 3rd line vu).
  3. ↑ Kohl asks Raisin: "So my doctor is from him [from the godfather]?" (Edition used, p. 357, 13th line), but he doesn't get an answer.
  4. ↑ With the "people downstairs" is meant the neighborhood on the lower floors, annoyed by the uninterrupted hour-long piano clinking.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Studnitz, p. 314, entry 62
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 447 above and p. 451 above
  3. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 79, 7th line from above
  4. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 66, below
  5. ↑ Edition used, p. 336, 12th line vo
  6. ↑ quoted in Hoppe in the edition used, p. 447, 15 th line
  7. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 98, 11. Z. vo
  8. ↑ Sprengel, p. 335, 3rd line vu
  9. ↑ Documentation "Offenses against morality " see Meyer-Krentler from p. 82, 5th line from
  10. ↑ Edition used, p. 275, 17th line from p. 277, 8th line from, p. 281, 1st line from, p. 291, 10th line from ...
  11. ↑ Edition used, p. 255, 16. Z. vo and 8. Z. vu; P. 256, 10th line from above and 20th line from above; P. 257, 11th line from above; P. 261, 18th line from ...
  12. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 45, 4th line from
  13. ↑ Edition used, p. 352 below
  14. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 31, 3rd line vu
  15. ^ Franz Brümmer:  Nürnberger, Woldemar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 57 f.
  16. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 38, 20. Z. vo
  17. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 34, 7th line from above
  18. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 76, 21st line from above
  19. ↑ Edition used, p. 255, 14th line vu
  20. ↑ Antinous was probably Hadrian's lover . (Meyer-Krentler, p. 75, 17th line from above)
  21. ↑ Edition used, p. 294, middle. In Poe's case, the perpetrator is an orangutan. (Meyer-Krentler, p. 51)
  22. ↑ Edition used, p. 294, 14th line vo
  23. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 56, 21st line from
  24. ↑ a b Meyer-Krentler, p. 65 above
  25. ↑ Edition used, p. 301, 13th line vu
  26. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 97, 28th line from
  27. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 99, 27th line from
  28. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 99
  29. ↑ The 7th chapter in Meyer-Krentler's book is called “Cannibal Table Talks”.
  30. ↑ quoted in Hoppe in the edition used, p. 452, 24th line of vo
  31. ↑ quoted in Hoppe in the edition used, p. 454, 17th line of vo
  32. ↑ quoted in Hoppe in the edition used, p. 453, 23rd line of vo
  33. ↑ quoted in Meyer-Krentler, p. 75, footnote 158
  34. ↑ Oppermann, p. 114, 6th line from above
  35. ↑ Oppermann, p. 154, 27th line vo
  36. ↑ Meyen, p. 360, entry 3037
  37. ↑ Sprengel, p. 335, 20th line from above
  38. ↑ Meyer-Krentler, p. 49, 18th line vu and p. 100, 14th line v
  39. ↑ Meyen, pp. 359-360
  40. ^ Complete digitized version of the website of the Bavarian State Library in Munich
  41. ↑ Meyen, p. 105