The Consolata

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The Consolata is a novella by Gertrud von le Fort , which, completed in 1943 and hidden in Kornau until the end of the war , was published by Insel-Verlag in 1947. The location of the work is Padua at the beginning of the second half of the 13th century. The tyrant Ansedio breaks with mercy .

title

The Consolata community in Padua consists of a few, inconspicuously dressed lay brothers who stand by the helpless in need. The hooded men courageously escorted countless unfortunates during the Ansedio's reign of terror on their last difficult walk through Padua and said the prayers for their death.

content

After the cruisers of the allied cities of Venice and Mantua ended the reign of the gruesome Ansedio in Padua, the legate Filippo Fontana insists on personally releasing the troubled hometown from the Pope's interdict . Fontana moves into Padua with his retinue. The legacy cannot cancel the interdict because the tyrant is still alive. Ansedio was abandoned by his followers, surrounded by bitter Paduans, but he is still sitting in his palace. While walking through the city, Fontana learns that the merciless tyrant had once been prophesied that he would one day fail because of mercy. The legate learns of this prophecy in connection with the Consolata. Fontana wants to get to know the pious laypeople and sends out a messenger. The brothers respectfully accept the call and send one of their brothers to accompany the legate to an urgent meeting of that mysterious association through Padua. Indeed, according to its vow, the Consolata is obliged to assist everyone who is dying in need of comfort, without exception. On the way, Fontana was astonished to see that he was being led into Ansedio's palace. The tyrant mocks the newcomer from Rome because Fontana has given him up to the anger of the Paduans. The legate is unsettled by Ansedio's speech. The completely defenseless tyrant considers himself insurmountable despite the threatening crowd approaching. Then the Consolata enters the palace. Ansedio, who now considers himself immortal, greets the men with sneer with "Gentlemen murderers". The Consolata prays for the tyrant and emphasizes that he was an unrepentant, mighty penitential preacher . Because some Paduans have become better through the abysmal badness of their ruler. Suddenly Ansedio's god-likeness is over, and he kills himself. The legate orders that the dead man's followers should be brought to justice. Fontana withdraws to Assisi .

reception

  • Arthur Maximilian Miller reports that at the beginning of 1944 he kept the manuscript of the story for Gertrud von le Fort. In it the author - "wrapped in historical garb" - foresaw the end of Hitler . Miller admires the author and says that she dared to obey “inner orders”.
  • According to Meyerhofer, Ansedio is to be understood as an image of Hitler or Mussolini . The author expresses the following truth in the text: A tyrant is powerless without accomplices.

literature

source
First edition
  • Gertrud von le Fort: The Consolata (= island library. No. 615). Insel-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1947.
expenditure
  • The Consolata. Novella. In: Gertrud von le Fort: The daughter of Jephthas and other stories. (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch 351). 1st edition. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1976, ISBN 3-518-06851-2 , pp. 7-28.
  • Gertrud von le Fort reading book. Selected stories, introduction and commentary . Edited and commented by Gundula Harand and Gudrun Trausmuth . 1st edition. Echter, Würzburg, 2012, ISBN 978-3-429-03498-6 .
Secondary literature
  • Nicholas J. Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort (= heads of the 20th century. Volume 119). Morgenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-371-00376-0 .
  • Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German authors A - Z. 4th, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 382, ​​left column, 7th Zvo

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see also: The Consolata.
  2. ^ NJ Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort. 1993, p. 103, entry from 1947.
  3. ↑ Friedrich II. Is no longer living (source, p. 111, 11th Zvu)
  4. ↑ Ansedio was a nephew of Ezzelino da Romano (source, p. 111, 6. Zvo)
  5. ^ NJ Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort. 1993, pp. 68/69.
  6. ^ NJ Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort. 1993, p. 69 below
  7. ^ NJ Meyerhofer: Gertrud von LeFort. 1993, p. 70 above