The Owl's Cry (novel)
The Cry of the Owl (Engl. The Cry of the Owl ) is a psychological thriller of the American writer Patricia Highsmith . It was first published in 1962 by the American publisher Harper & Row . The German first edition was published in 1964 by Rowohlt Verlag under the title Das Mädchen hinterm Fenster , in 1976 a new edition was published as Der Schrei der Eule by Swiss Diogenes Verlag .
The book tells of the divorced Robert Forester who spies on the young Jenny Thierolf. For him it symbolizes the harmony that his own life lacks. When she surprised him one day in front of her house, instead of reporting him, she invited him over. A subsequent argument between Robert and Jenny's ex-fiance sets off a chain of dramatic (and ultimately fatal) events.
content
The engineer Robert Forester, who is divorced from his wife Nickie, regularly drives to the house of the young Jenny Thierolf. From a safe distance he watches her doing her daily chores - she symbolizes for him the harmony that his own life lacks. One evening Jenny discovers him, but instead of reporting him, she invites him to her house, where they talk.
Shortly afterwards, Jenny, who considers the meeting with Robert to be a sign of fate, breaks her engagement to the hot-headed Greg. She invades Robert's life, contacts him at home and at work. Robert, who is getting increasingly uncomfortable with Jenny's advances, hopes that a prospective promotion and transfer will provide the necessary geographic distance.
One evening Greg gets Robert in a fight. Robert manages to knock his opponent unconscious, who falls into a nearby river. He pulls the unconscious man out of the water and leaves him on the bank. When Greg is reported missing, the police interrogate Robert because they do not rule out death through negligence or intent. To make matters worse, Nickie told the police that Robert once threatened her with a gun during their marriage. Roberts' announced promotion is being withdrawn, according to a report in the newspaper. A body is found in the river that police believe may be Greg's dead body, but identification is slow due to the advanced state of decomposition. Eventually Jenny commits suicide believing that Robert is a harbinger of doom in her life.
Nickie's new husband, Ralph, informs Robert that Greg teamed up with Nickie and went into hiding to get Robert into trouble. When Greg attempts to shoot Robert, an bystander is seriously injured. The police arrest Greg but release him on bail. There is a final confrontation between Robert, Greg and Nickie. Greg goes after Robert with a knife, but instead fatally injures Nickie. Again, Robert is a suspect in a supposed crime.
people
- Robert Forester
- Jenny Thierolf
- Greg Wyncoop - Jenny's fiance
- Victoria "Nickie" Jurgen (née Grace) - Robert's ex-wife
- Ralph Jurgen - Nickie's new husband
- Jack Nielson - a work colleague of Robert
- Susie Escham - a friend of Jenny's
- Dr. Knott
- Detective Lipsholtz
background
Highsmith wrote The Owl's Cry between April 1961 and February 1962. According to her biographer Andrew Wilson, she counted the book as one of her weaker works, a view that critics did not agree with. In 1967, British writer and critic Brigid Brophy noted that five or six books would stand out from the past twenty years, including - alongside Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita - Highsmith's The Owl's Cry .
The title of the book refers to Jenny's idea that the events in her life are predetermined by fate and announced in advance: the owl is as much a herald of death for her as the appearance of an unknown man in her childhood, the death of her younger brother and Robert, who for them represents their own approaching death in the course of the plot.
According to Marijane Meaker , Highsmith's partner from 1959 to 1961, the author drew the figure of Nickie as a "billing" model based on Meaker. The dedication “for DW” in the book is for Daisy Winston, with whom Highsmith had a brief relationship in 1961.
reception
“[…] One of her lesser-known works from 1963, and one of her most disturbing, which says a lot. […] There is more blood in The Owl's Cry than in many of her other books, and it ends with a truly shocking scene […] The message that runs through Highsmith's entire work is clear and simple: We live on thin ice . ”- Richard Rayner , Los Angeles Times
expenditure
- The Cry of the Owl, Harper & Row, New York 1962
- The Cry of the Owl, Heinemann , London 1963
- The girl behind the window, translated by Gisela Stege, Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1964
- The cry of the owl, Diogenes, Zurich 1976
- The cry of the owl, newly translated by Irene Rumler, Diogenes, Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-257-06408-X
Adaptations
As early as the 1970s, Wim Wenders tried to secure the rights to make a film. After learning that these were already taken, he decided to film Highsmith's Ripley's Game instead .
In 1987 the French director Claude Chabrol adapted the book for a movie with Mathilda May .
Also in 1987, Tom Toelle made a film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel for German television.
Another adaptation was made in 2009 ; British director Jamie Thraves directed the film with Julia Stiles and Paddy Considine in the leading roles.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Andrew Wilson: Beautiful shadow. The life of Patricia Highsmith, Berlin 2004.
- ↑ Helena de Bertodano: A passion that turned to poison - Article in The Telegraph, June 16, 2003, accessed December 8, 2011.
- ↑ Richard Rayner comes from Great Britain , where The Owl's Scream was published in 1963 by Heinemann .
- ↑ "[…] one of her lesser-known works from 1963 and one of her most unsettling. Which is saying plenty. [...] "The Cry of the Owl" involves more blood than many of her novels, concluding with a truly shocking scene [...] The story message driving all of Highsmith's work is similarly simple and clear: We live on thin ice. "- Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2011, accessed December 10, 2011.