The family without a name
The family without a name is a novel by the French author Jules Verne . The novel was first published in 1889 by the Pierre-Jules Hetzel publishing house under the French title Famille sans nom . Volume I appeared on May 20, 1889 and Volume II on November 14, 1889. The first German-language edition appeared in 1891 under the title Die Familie ohne Namen . The English title of the novel is Family Without a Name .
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The story takes place in Canada at the beginning of the 19th century . The country is under British administration after the European powers France and Great Britain fought several times for the rule of the colony. These struggles happened at the same time as the struggle for the independence of the areas predominantly populated by French Canadians.
The goal of the Canadian patriots is to found an independent French-oriented state , analogous to the USA . The British-oriented government struck a blow against the insurgents through a traitor among the patriots. This delivered the leadership of the uprising of 1825 to the British. The lawyer Morgaz had betrayed his comrades for 50,000 dollars in order not to be charged with treason himself. Three leaders of the Canadian Patriots were subsequently executed and others were imprisoned for many years. The Morgaz family was hated by the French-Canadian settlers for this and had to flee because of it. The family finds no peace from popular anger and can only stay in one place for a short time. Morgaz, his wife Bridget and their sons Jean and John always have to leave after a short while. They hide near the US border. Morgaz is no longer able to cope with the nervous strain and shoots himself with his rifle. After his death, bundles of banknotes fell from his pockets and were part of Judas' wages for his betrayal.
Many years later, after several unsuccessful uprisings, the colony is fermenting again. The British notice that the situation is like a powder keg. A mysterious stranger coordinates the uprising from underground. He calls himself John nameless. Nobody knows his true identity, he is everywhere and nowhere, he also provides the patriots with money for weapons and holds all the strings of the uprising in hand. When he brings the leadership of the future uprising together in the villa of the patriot Vaudreuil, he also meets his daughter Clary. This has been an admirer of John Namenlos for a while, but after the meeting she is full of sympathy for him. But out of shame, the latter does not return Clary's feelings. Her father was one of the victims of Morgaz's betrayal and spent several years in dungeon. John Nameless is actually the son John of the traitor Morgaz. He wants to erase some of the family's shame through his actions. His brother Jean has chosen a different path: As a friar Jean he uses the freedom of preaching to rouse the inhabitants of the colony with fiery speeches from the pulpit. The hero John nameless, respected and admired by the Canadians, is the number one public enemy of the British. Private detectives are set on him and a $ 6,000 bounty is placed on him for clues about his capture.
John travels through the Canadian provinces to establish the network of preparation for the uprising and organizes arms deliveries. After a first partial victory of the insurgents, the overwhelming force of the British succeeds in defeating the Canadian patriots. The British take cruel revenge and roam the places of the insurgents, burning and desecrating. The old Vaudreuil is seriously injured in the fight and John manages to secretly bring the wounded to his lonely mother Bridget, who lives in a hut on the edge of a town. One of her husband's victims is now in her care and is said to never find out John's true identity.
Vaudreuil thinks he is dying. He wants to see his daughter Clary one more time. Bridget fetches this from the neighboring town at night. However, Bridget's house is surrounded by British captors who want to conduct a house search. You have the information that John Nameless is supposed to be in this house. The search is carried out by the private detective Rip, who excelled in the case of old Morgaz's betrayal. When he recognizes Morgaz's wife, he calls off the search. In his opinion, no leader of the patriots will stay with a traitor. After these words from Rip, Bridget and John are exposed to Vaudreuil's daughter. John then flees from his past.
In the final stages of the struggle, the last of the patriots withdrew to an island above Niagara Falls . When Rip reveals the true identity of the widow Morgaz, she is said to be lynched by the angry patriots. John throws himself in between and reveals himself to be the son of the traitor Morgaz. The waves of hatred are weakened, but the crowd does not forgive them. The next day, when the island is stormed by the overwhelming force of the British, he throws himself into the decisive battle, despising death. Even the tribes of the Hurons who fight on the side of the Canadian patriots cannot prevent the defeat of the freedom fighters. With the last of his strength, John tries to get Clary to safety in a boat from the British and collapses in their hail of bullets. Together with her dead lover, Clary drifts towards Niagara Falls ...
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6
Web links
- "The family without a name" as an e-book in HTML on zeno.org
- The family without a name in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection