The long way of Luke B.

The long way of Lukas B. is a youth novel by Willi Fährmann , which was first published in 1980 . The book is part of the Bienmann saga and deals with the growing up of Lukas Bienmann, who traveled from East Prussia to the USA in the second half of the 19th century and trained there to become a carpenter. In addition to accepting responsibility, the generation constellation in the family plays an important role in the novel; Lukas is traveling with his grandfather; his over-indebted father has disappeared and is mentioned again and again.

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The Bienmanns are a family of carpenters . But in the vicinity of their small village in East Prussia there was no longer enough work at the end of the 19th century to support them and the families of their employees. So Lukas' grandfather decides to go to America with his team for a few years in order to earn big money there.

Lukas goes to America with his grandfather. He hopes to find his father there, who left the family a long time ago. Lukas 'father had learned the carpentry trade from his father, Lukas' grandfather, but was more of an artist than a carpenter. However, he was unable to support his family with his pictures, so that before he disappeared he was forced to take out a loan from the local landowner. The grandfather had vouched for his son and is therefore responsible for the debts. When he gets into financial difficulties himself, the family's situation seems almost hopeless. Only golden America can save them.

For the young village teacher, a revolutionary, America seems to be the salvation from the Prussian judiciary. So he accompanies the carpenter team. Mathilde Bienmann, who is in love with the teacher, joins as a stowaway.

Lukas finds the first traces of his father, an unfinished figurehead, on the ship . After a storm, the carpenters repair everything that was broken on the ship, and Lukas, with the help of his grandfather, finishes carving the Neptune for the bow. In return for schnapps, the sailmaker tells him stories about his father. In America, the Bienmanns travel across the country, building churches, houses and bridges. Two of the carpenters from the village die in the process. Again and again the tracks of his father cross Lukas' path.

Willi Fährmann deals here with the time of emigration at the turn of the 20th century. Many people in Europe could not find enough work to survive, and so they set off for the "promised land" America. The book shows how different cultural ideas collide, what opportunities the emerging country offered for those who knew how to use them.

In the book, spirituality and belief appear again and again "hidden in small details".

Award

1981 : German Youth Literature Prize : Youth Book

TV adaptation

In 1992 the novel was broadcast under the same name on ZDF as a Christmas series ( The Long Way of Lukas B. ). In the series, the reason for the trip to America is changed: Lukas watches Otto von Lebrecht commit a murder that his father is falsely accused of.

Book edition

Willi Fährmann: The long way of Lukas B. The Bienmann saga, vol. 1. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-86615-104-7 .

literature

Wolfgang Gabel : Long way. In: Die Zeit of March 28, 1980 (review).

K. Franz: Heaven is more than everything. Lived and told Christianity with Willi Fährmann. In: Heinrich Pleticha (Ed.): Books are like wings. For Willi Fährmann's 70th birthday. Arena, Würzburg 1999, ISBN 3-401-02135-4 , p. 30.

Christiane Althoff: Willi Fährmann: The long way of Lukas B. In: Historical fabrics. Suggested reading for the class. (King's recommendations for young people's books). Bange, Hollfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-8044-1846-2 , pp. 31-35.

Franz-Josef Payrhuber : Willi Fährmann's books for children and young people in the classroom in elementary school and secondary level I. (Children's and young people's literature in class, vol. 9). Schneider, Hohengehren 2009, ISBN 978-3-8340-0542-7 , Chapter V.2.2: The long way of Luke B. - An example for the 8th – 10th Grade level , pp. 93-108.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Rita Ghesquière: Hidden Religious Themes in 20th-Century European Children's Literature. In: Jan de Maeyer, Hans-Heino Ewers, Rita Ghesquière, Michel Manson, Pat Pinsent, Patricia Quaghebeur (eds.): Religion, Children's Literature and Modernity in Western Europe 1750–2000. Leuven University Press, Löwen 2005, pp. 305–326, here p. 317 f .

[rita-1] A ^b Rita Ghesquière: Hidden Religious Themes in 20th-Century European Children's Literature. In: Jan de Maeyer, Hans-Heino Ewers, Rita Ghesquière, Michel Manson, Pat Pinsent, Patricia Quaghebeur (eds.): Religion, Children's Literature and Modernity in Western Europe 1750–2000. Leuven University Press, Löwen 2005, pp. 305–326, here p. 317 f .