The way to laugh

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The way to laugh is a novella by Wilhelm Raabe that appeared in the spring of 1857 in the Berlin women's newspaper Der Bazar . In the late winter of the same year, the editors of the paper asked Raabe for a short story. The book edition came out in 1859 by Ernst Schotte, also in Berlin.


content

Jodokus Homilius, grizzled professor of astronomy, is admonished by his old friend, the medical advisor Zappel, to change the way of life fundamentally. Homilius must absolutely be cheerful. The professor, an old bachelor, is looked after by the housekeeper Mrs. Magdalena.

Following the instructions of his medical friend, Homilius opens the window and lets summer air into the study. Standing at the window, he bears witness to a conversation. Downstairs in the backyard, the craftsman Gottfried asks his Minchen to wait for him.

Homilius goes to a garden bar and looks over a glass of sugar water for someone who can teach him to laugh. The old man thinks back. 35 years ago he had loved sweet Mathilde; his girl who had to die young. A warm breath blows from the south. Homilius turns to wine. The sugar water is cleared away. The professor remembers Natalie, the second woman in his life. When Homilius drinks, a young girl who could be Natalie toasts him. It's Natalie's daughter Ida. The associated family comes for a walk. Ida's father, a childhood friend of the professor, jokes that Homilius could have the daughter. Ida and her groom protest. Cäcilie, the older daughter of her childhood friend, welcomes the professor - together with her husband and children. The children romp and are sent by their father to collect the snail shell in the bushes.

At home, the housekeeper Ms. Magdalena hardly recognizes the professor, who is suddenly in a good mood. Tipsy, he announces her numerous visits for the next day. Pretty ladies are among them. The prettiest is called Ida. One snail after the other crawls up the professor's back from his coat pocket. Homilius learns to laugh. It will probably be a hundred now.

reception

  • Hoppe and Rohse mention two concurring contemporary reviews (Hermann Marggraf and Paul Gerber). Although the milieu is accurately reproduced, the next major work remains to be seen. Raabe is recognized as a humorist.
  • Meyen names four reviews from the years 1860 to 1911.

expenditure

First edition

  • Half a mile, half more! Stories, sketches and rhymes by Wilhelm Raabe . 177 pages. Ernst Schotte, Berlin 1859 (The way to laugh. The student from Wittenberg. Christmas ghosts. Lorenz Scheibenhart. One of the crowd)

Used edition

literature

  • Fritz Meyen : Wilhelm Raabe. Bibliography. 438 pages. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973 (2nd edition). Supplementary volume 1, ISBN 3-525-20144-3 in Karl Hoppe (Ed.): Wilhelm Raabe. Complete Works. Braunschweig edition . 24 vols.
  • Cecilia von Studnitz : Wilhelm Raabe. Writer. A biography. 346 pages. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-7700-0778-6

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Studnitz, p. 308, entry 2
  2. ↑ Compare the evidence in the catalog of the German National Library
  3. ↑ Hoppe and Rohse in the edition used, p. 521 bottom, p. 523 middle, p. 555 bottom
  4. ↑ Hoppe and Rohse in the edition used, p. 555 above
  5. ↑ Meyen, p. 388