The children of Finkenrode

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The Children of Finkenrode is a novel by Wilhelm Raabe , which was written from November 1857 to July 1858 and published in 1859 by Ernst Schotte in Berlin.

content

The first-person narrator Dr. Max Bösenberg, an editor of the magazine "Chamäleon", is informed by his friend, the editor-in-chief Dr. phil. Theobul Weitenweber, are on leave and leave the residence in the direction of his birthplace. There, in the small town of Finkenrode on the Weser , his uncle Albrecht Maximilian - the penultimate Bösenberg - died after a river blow . The 29-year-old Max inherits the house where he was born from the widowed childless uncle - full of antiques and thousands of antiquarian books as well as “a lot of acres of land, meadows and forest”. During the stay of several weeks - Max was not at home for twenty years - there were countless encounters with all sorts of children from Finkenrode. As Maxen's traveling coach approaches his old homeland, the traveler recognizes the young playmate Arnold Rohwold as he drives past - according to the coachman, now Pastor zu Rulingen. Once in Finkenrode, Max is looking for his uncle, good old captain a. D. Friedrich Wilhelm Fasterling. Max is not related to Fasterling at all. As a boy he was just the old man's favorite. Max keeps an eye on 19-year-old Miss Sidonie, the only daughter of the widowed military. But it turns out that the actor Alexander Mietze is head over heels in love with the young girl. The inclination is reciprocated. The two gentlemen have bad cards. The captain doesn't want a mime or a journalist for his son-in-law. Alexander is also one of Max's childhood friends. Both of them later studied law together for a short time. Then Alexander was up and away with a group of actors. Now he still wants to become a decent person; would like to establish itself as an alcohol manufacturer in Finkenrode .

Max visits the 25-year-old childhood friend Cäcilie Willbrand and her old mother Agnes Willbrand.

Occasionally Alexander and Max get drunk. On one of these occasions, Max selflessly renounces Sidonie because he loves Cecilia. The actor is relieved. But Max has a problem. He wants to confess his love to Cecilia. Unfortunately, he lacks the courage to do so. Pastor Arnold Rohwold solves the problem. He puts Max in the picture. Cecilia be his dear bride. Max wishes luck, travels back to the residence and hides in the editorial office of the "Chameleon". Before that, Freund Weitenweber had stopped by in Finkenrode unannounced. In association with Max, the editor-in-chief had persuaded the captain to accept the future alcohol manufacturer as his son-in-law.

Weitenweber will most likely marry one of the daughters of Syndikus Mümmler in Finkenrode. This Fräulein Mümmler is described by the first-person narrator as the most beautiful girl in Finkenrode.

Quote

  • "It's a horrible thing not to be like the others!"

shape

The first-person narrator is designed with a lot of irony throughout. It is a question of a 'homecomer' who works as a journalist in a German metropolis and who is temporarily returning to his home town of Finkenrode, wrongly assuming that this world has no secrets for him; With a lot of humor, however, Raabe shows that this is not the case: the people of Finkenroden understand just as little about the new media world of the big city as the changed first-person narrator is familiar with the old homeland. The narrator's voice uses all sorts of tricks to distract from the plot shortly before an important twist, for example she mentions that she takes into consideration his “beautiful but impatient readers”. Using irony and satire, the story paints a very precise picture of the world of experience of a small German provincial town that has been left behind by modernization processes. Particularly noteworthy is the depiction of the unjust stigmatization and exclusion of those labeled as 'gypsies'. The text paints a critical picture of the German bourgeoisie, because its members accuse the 'gypsies' of what they themselves are responsible for. The 'gypsies', who, as the grandmother's stories make clear, are among the oldest inhabitants of the town, become 'scapegoats' - a process that the text examines with critical humor.

To the amazement of the reader, the narrator in Finkenrode sometimes talks to the absent Weitenweber in his writing.

As indicated above, the novel is teeming with little side stories. For example, the theme of the novel - the story of the homecomer Max - is varied several times. For example, Alexander has returned home. And the "great musician" Günther Wallinger, son of the town musician of Finkenrode, had turned his back on his bride Anna Ludewig and mingled with the "noble people" abroad. At home Anna had "felt like death". Now the “beggarly” and “madly” returned violinist Wallinger is lying on his deathbed and in his last hours thinks Cäcilie is Anna.

In a subordinate clause, the narrator mentions the revolution of 1848 .

reception

  • Hoppe has collected contemporary reviews. For example, Adolf Glaser misses a “large item” in the “Deutsche Reichszeitung”. In addition, the dispassionate characters lack the negative character trait. In the “ Blätter für literary entertainment ”, Raabe is indeed certified “fine genre painting”, but the author is not able to captivate the reader throughout. Inadequate composition and casual work are accused of Raabe by unnamed reviewers. There is also no lack of praise. The humorist Raabe receives applause.
  • Meyen mentions nine reviews from the years 1859 to 1951.
  • The novel has autobiographical traits. Raabe does not glorify the wonderful, sunken childhood days and grapple with unsuccessful parenting methods.

expenditure

First edition

  • The children of Finkenrode. From Jakob Corvinus . 288 pages. Ernst Schotte, Berlin 1859

Used edition

Further editions

  • Meyen names six issues.

literature

annotation

  1. ↑ Finkenrode stands for Holzminden and Stadtoldendorf . The residence is Berlin. (Hoppe in the edition used, p. 523, 23rd Zvu and p. 524 above and also Fuld, p. 120, 10th Zvu)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Studnitz, p. 309, entry 8
  2. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 521 bottom, p. 523 middle, p. 530 bottom
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 130, 8. Zvo (The narrator about the crazy musician Wallinger (see under “Form”))
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 32, 10. Zvu
  5. ↑ Herbert Uerlings (Ed.): 'Gypsies' and Nation. Representation - inclusion - exclusion . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-631-57996-1 .
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 68, 3. Zvo, p. 69, 13. Zvu, p. 92, 6. Zvu
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 158, 9. Zvo
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 79, 2nd Zvu
  9. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, pp. 526-530
  10. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 526, 7th Zvu and p. 527, 8th Zvo (Berlin, February 14, 1859)
  11. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 527, 11. Zvu (Leipzig, May 5, 1859)
  12. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 530, 13th Zvu
  13. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, p. 526, 7th Zvu and p. 528, 13th Zvo
  14. ↑ Hoppe in the edition used, pp. 528-530
  15. ↑ Meyen, pp. 357-358
  16. ↑ Fuld, p. 68, 8th Zvu
  17. ↑ Fuld, p. 15, 8th Zvu
  18. ↑ Fuld, pp. 33-34
  19. ↑ Meyen, p. 102