The hands on the mast
The hands on the mast is a short story by Werner Bergengruen that appeared in Zurich in 1948.
The seaman Markiewicz, the only survivor of the shipwreck of the “Red Marie”, is killed on land by the mast of the smuggler's ship.
content
They are all sea dogs, the old driving men around the baron. He, the fine gentleman and condemned cardsharp, has white, slender hands. The hands of the Baltic Seamen, on the other hand, of the crew of the “Red Marie”, the fishing trawler that sails under the Honduran flag, are marked by rough seaman's work and tattooed throughout . White spirit is smuggled in tin cans. The city officials chase the baron after the baron. The auxiliary machine on the powerful sailor “Rote Marie” is of no use either. The smuggler's ship was hit twice in the planks while fleeing, did not survive the next storm and was stranded behind Pedlangen near the Kaiserkrug. Pumpur, the landlord, and his sister Mihle feed up the damaged Markiewicz. Mihle wants to cannibalize the wreck of the "Red Marie" - z. B. salvage and sell the mast that is still standing. Speed is of the essence because the sea could get hold of the wreck at any time. Mihle has to persuade the brother and Markiewicz to take the action, but the energetic woman manages it. Three people manage to recover the mast. Now the mast on the beach has to be maneuvered onto the horse-drawn vehicle that is waiting. While lifting, Markiewicz has a vision of the sinking of the "Red Marie": He sees the slender white hands of the baron again, clutching the mast "in mad fear of death". And before that, Markiewicz had the last moments on the stranded “Red Marie” in his head: It was he, Markiewicz, who yanked the baron's hands from the mast to save bare life. During the vision Markiewicz lets go of the mast while it is being lifted and is killed by it.
shape
The masterful language is appropriate for the seafaring environment. Markiewicz's vision of the white hands on the mast is prepared throughout the narrative. Already at the beginning of the text it is told how the superstitious sailor prepares the mast in such a way that the men should be immune to the stormy seas. And as the story continues, Markiewicz's aversion to the recovery of the mast "which he himself entrusted to the ship" is palpable. Bergengruen creates an oppressively dense atmosphere around the ship's sinking, and the author also creates goose bumps in the neck of the reader - e.g. B. when Baltic fish suddenly articulate themselves acoustically during a strong storm, contrary to human experience. Fish roar, laugh, whistle, screech, giggle!
Quote
What are you standing there like a frozen towel?
literature
- source
- Werner Bergengruen: The hands on the mast. Story (= The Little Books of the Ark. 65/66, ZDB -ID 251917-3 ). Peter Schifferli Verlags AG "Die Arche", Zurich 1949.
- Secondary literature
- Frank-Lothar Kroll (ed.): Word and poetry as a place of refuge in difficult times. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7861-1816-7 .
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. Biographical and bibliographical concise dictionary based on authors and anonymous works. German authors. A – Z. 4th, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 50.