The Pope and the girl
The Pope and the Girl is a short story published in 2001 by Robert Schneider . The topic is the reflection on the father figure from two contrary viewpoints. A little Roman girl meets the fictional Pope Silvester IV. A conversation develops. The child cannot get over the fact that his father has left him. The Pope, in turn, tells of his failure to be a father to the Catholic Church.
Schneider calls the text a study of powerlessness , stimulated by reading CG Jung's book, Childrens Dreams . The story is both a children's and an adult book. The text was illustrated by Helga Genser , designer of the publications of the SOS Children's Villages .
content
In the Borgata Tor Marancia, a poor suburb of Rome , where little Loredana Felice lives with her divorced mother. Shortly before Christmas, the girl is on a school trip to the Vatican . She gets lost in St. Peter's Square , arrives in the papal secret district and suddenly stands in front of Pope New Year's Eve IV. The two spend several hours talking, becoming friends with each other, even ending up on terms. Loredana confides her grief to the Pope. She can't get over the fact that her father has left her, considers it her fault, persistently hopes for his return and therefore does not accept a substitute father.
The Pope, touched by the child's openness and naivete, cancels all urgent business this afternoon and devotes himself to Loredana by reporting from his own life: the death of his alcoholic father, who died on the road. How he, New Year's Eve IV, fell in love as a student with a girl who turned him away. Of the expectations that were placed on him in the Vatican and that he neither wanted nor could meet. The waning influence of the Catholic Church in the western world. Much of the Catholic Church has grown old, dead old, he said literally. However, he has no intention of prolonging the life of this old woman by the name of the Church at any cost. (Pp. 103ff. Of the first edition, 2000).
The encounter proves to be mutual enrichment. For Loredana, the family situation is cleared up, at least initially. She gradually learns to accept her surrogate father. The outwardly resigned and weak-looking Pope finds a spark of hope in the child's cheerfulness.
At the end Loredana is in the popemobile drove home, but they slept through the big event. New Year's Eve IV dies a few days later. It is said that the Pope did not answer the burning questions of this time, that he was a weak, helpless man and that his pontificate was insignificant. But Loredana knows better.
Narrative
The narrative is divided into three parts: The father or how it all started - The lost father - We have a father . The latter heading is identical to the Latin Habemus Papam , with which formula a successful papal election by the cardinal protodiacon is proclaimed.
In terms of genre, it is about the form of an art fairy tale , the plot of which is fictitious. Significant is the appearance of the fantastic element, which is produced by the introduction of a parable made ad absurdum . In this parable, the story of the comet over the Termini train station (p. 111ff.), The protagonist finds himself in a kind of déjà vu experience, with which the episode returns to the beginning and is infinitely multiplied as if in two opposite mirrors.
The tone of the story is the classic fairy tale tone, the gesture of once-upon-a-time. The sentences are laconic, but full of emphasis, which has given the author the charge of being in a sentence. The characters involved are contoured by characterizing ways of speaking.
interpretation
The illustration of the text with drawings and vignettes and the form of the fairy tale suggest that Schneider designed the book for both children and adults, although the publisher and author failed to add a generic name to the text.
Schneider introduces the motif of reflection ( analytical psychology ), which runs like a red thread through the whole book: It wasn't until many years later, (...), that I understood what this light (...) was all about. It was my own eyesight. I was just mirroring myself. Mirrored in the eyes of the people who have touched my heart deepest. (P. 95) Here he is probably referring to the influences expressed in the interview with Ursula Prütz by CG Jung's personality theory . The I is the place of consciousness and is reflected in the complexes lying in the unconscious . In this respect, the text can be interpreted as a literary paraphrase of CG Jung's so-called model of insight therapy, which aims to give the patient insight into his dilemma.
reception
As in his previous books, Schneider could not expect anything flattering from literary criticism with this story. The only exception is the meeting of Ulrich Greiner in the period from 29 November 2001. Following the publication of the second of Schneider's novel The Luftgängerin (1998) was his work consistently negative rezipiert, with irrational motives the person of the author concerning with cursorily recurring thoughts and Mixed judgments on the literary classification of this outsider in German-language literature.
Werner Jung sees nothing new, interesting or something that could give rise to a discussion in his meeting (...) . Christoph Leitgeb asks: Is it cynical not to like this kind of irony, depth and simplicity? Ulrike Längle sees the book as a confrontation with Catholicism and the role of the Pope , and Ulrich Greiner writes about the recurring accusation of kitsch : Schneider's fairy tale is only kitschy if you find all modern fairy tales at all kitsch. Nevertheless, he finds the story a successful mixture of reality, fantasy and poetry. (...) With this beautiful novella (sic !, the author) Schneider has given himself and his readers a break.
expenditure
- The Pope and the girl . Narrative. Reclam-Verlag , Leipzig 2001. ISBN 3-379-00781-1
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ursula Prütz: Robert Schneider read in the palace gardens . In: Schweriner Volkszeitung , June 3, 2003.
- ↑ CG Jung: Children's Dreams. On the methodology of dream interpretation. Psychological interpretation of children's dreams , Olten 1987, ISBN 3-530-40680-5
- ↑ Ursula Prütz: Ibid.
- ^ Ivana Moser: Critical analysis of the works of Robert Schneider . Dissertation. University of Milan and Ulm, 2009.
- ↑ Werner Jung: Fully limited happiness . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , April 27, 2002.
- ↑ Christoph Leitgeb: The form of simple truths . In: Der Standard , Vienna, October 27, 2001. ( Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and remove then this note. )
- ↑ Ulrike Längle: The eyesight of a person who died with unfulfilled longing . In: Die Presse , Vienna, December 7, 2001.
- ↑ Ulrich Greiner: Nice Pope . In: Die Zeit , November 29, 2001.
- ↑ Ulrich Greiner: Ibid.
