Little Herr Friedemann

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Little Mr. Friedemann is a short novella by Thomas Mann . It was first published in May 1897 as a journal contribution to the Neue Deutschen Rundschau . It appeared in book form a year later in the collection of novels of the same name from 1898 in the Fischer Collection .

First edition (1898)

content

In fifteen short chapters, the novella tells the life story of Johannes Friedemann, who fell from the changing table as a toddler and has since suffered from a physical deformity. "He was not beautiful [...] with his pointed and high chest, his wide sprawling back and his much too long, skinny arms" and "offered a very strange sight. But his hands and feet were delicately formed and narrow, and he had large fawn eyes, a softly cut mouth, and fine light brown hair. Although his face sat so miserably between his shoulders, it was almost beautiful to be called. "

Although his family was one of the first districts of the medium-sized trading town, they were no longer wealthy after the early and sudden death of their father, a Dutch consul. His mother takes care of little Johannes with “wistful friendliness”, and his three older sisters, who are also “quite ugly” and remain unmarried maidens, lovingly look after their brother.

When at sixteen he falls in love with the pretty sister of a school friend and has to watch her kiss someone else, he chokes down his pain and decides "never to worry about all this again." [...] He renounced, renounced forever. He went home and picked up a book or played the violin, which he had learned despite his overgrown chest ”.

After the death of his mother, the second great suffering in his life, he becomes completely an "Epicurean" . Grateful for the few joys that are accessible to him, he also knows how to enjoy the unfulfilled wishes and longings, because he tells himself that when they are fulfilled, the best will be over. Since he recognizes "that education is part of the ability to enjoy, yes, that education is always the ability to enjoy", he dedicates himself to music and literature in addition to his profession and develops a great passion for the theater. He is now in his thirtieth year and awaits the rest of his life "with peace of mind".

But then the district command of the city changes and from Berlin come the “extremely wealthy” Lieutenant Colonel von Rinnlingen and his wife Gerda, a red-haired young lady, only 24 years old and of austere beauty, who smokes and rides and from their new surroundings as too liberal and boyish, even perceived as freezing cold. Johannes Friedemann, however, is stunned at first sight and immediately feels a strong affection for her. During his visit to decency, he happily registers that Gerda von Rinnlingen not only expresses the desire to make music with him, but also suggests a secret affinity by pointing out her own sickness.

At a large evening reception in the von Rinnlingen house, to which Friedemann was also invited, Gerda asked him to accompany her into the park-like garden of the splendid villa. On a bench on the bank of the adjacent river, she speaks to him directly about his physical ailments and elicits the confession that his entire life so far has only been apparently happy and in truth "was a lie and imagination". She praises his “bravery” and confirms her kinship again by emphasizing that she too “knows a little about misfortune”. Then Johannes sinks to his knees in front of Gerda and impetuously reveals to her his need for love, which he tried to suppress for a long time due to his injuries and injuries in his youth. She does not ward him off, but neither does she bend down, but gazes rigidly over him into the distance. But then she suddenly pushes him away with a contemptuous laugh and leaves him alone.

Johannes Friedemann feels treated like a dog - and destroyed. He hurries the few steps to the river bank and falls to the ground: “On his stomach he pushed himself further forward, raised his upper body and let it fall into the water. He didn't raise his head again; he didn't even move his legs that were lying on the bank. ”The carefree nature in the moonlit night takes no part in the tragedy. The crickets only briefly interrupt their chirping, then they start again and the park rustles as quietly as before. Muffled laughter sounds from afar.

Commentary by Thomas Mann

“The main figure is a person neglected by nature, who knows how to come to terms with his fate in a wise, gentle, peaceful and philosophical way and who has tailored his life entirely to calm, contemplation and peace. The appearance of a strangely beautiful and at the same time cold and cruel woman signifies the break-in of passion into this sheltered life, which overturns the whole building and destroys the silent hero himself. "

- On myself . Lecture in two parts given May 2-3, 1940 at Princeton University.

Thomas Mann's motif of the "Visitation"

Thomas Mann called this invasion of passion into a sheltered life "visitation". It is recreated in Death in Venice . In the Joseph volumes, it is Potiphar's wife who is haunted by a destructive love for Joseph ( Joseph in Egypt ). The motif of the visitation is playfully incorporated into Doctor Faustus . It can be found there in Frau Schweigestill's internal story (Chapter XXIII) about a young girl from the upper class of society who fell in love with a neat chauffeur and was made pregnant by him - a fate before the First World War that ultimately led to the extinction of this young boy Life led.

filming

The novella was filmed for television by Peter Vogel in 1990 , with Ulrich Mühe in the leading role.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Neue deutsche Rundschau , Berlin, 8th volume, issue 5 (1897).
  2. ↑ Thomas Mann, Der kleine Herr Friedemann . Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag (1898).
  3. ↑ For Thomas Mann's fictional characters, red hair usually doesn't mean anything good. In Doctor Faustus the devil is red-haired. So are the messengers of death in Death in Venice .
  4. ↑ "I'm sick a lot too, (...) but nobody notices. I am nervous and I know the strangest conditions. ” To understand her as a morbid beauty and femme fatale is obvious, especially since she later confesses:“ I know a little about unhappiness (...). "
  5. ↑ Even the young Thomas Mann was uneasy about nature in its moral indifference. Towards the end of his life, in The Chosen One (1951), he lets the fictional narrator express: "Nature is the devil, because her equanimity is bottomless".

literature

  • Tobias Kurwinkel: Apollonian outsiders. Configurations of Thomas Mann's "basic motif" in narrative texts and film adaptations of the early work. With an unpublished letter from Golo Mann about the making of the film adaptation “Der kleine Herr Friedemann”. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8260-4624-7

Web links

Wikiversity: Thomas Mann's self-comments on "Little Mr. Friedemann."  - course materials