The pastoral symphony
The pastoral symphony is a short story by André Gide that appeared in 1919 in the Éditions Gallimard under the title “La Symphonie pastorale” .
The pastor confesses a sin. The pastor tells how he betrayed his wife Amélie and their son Jacques and how he drove his lover Gertrude to her death.
time and place
The story spans almost three years and leads in the 1890s to the Neuchâtel Jura in French-speaking north-western Switzerland . Neuchâtel, La Chaux-de-Fonds , La Brévine , Val Travers and, as a larger, more distant city, Lausanne are mentioned .
action
The pastor is called to a dying woman in a desert and finds an “unspeakably dirty” blind girl in the straw hut, whose age he estimates at fifteen years. The clergyman takes the handicapped, "the soulless bundle of flesh", home with him to his proper Amélie. The wife is of the opinion from the start that five children - from infants to students - are enough: Claude is in the cradle and Jacques is studying theology . But Amélie takes care of the adopted child. It was given the name Gertrude from one of the pastor's children. The pastor educates and teaches Gertrude and even takes her to a concert in Neuchâtel. The pastoral symphony is given . Gertrude experiences the wonders of this world, but at the same time suspects that this world may not be as beautiful as heard in the symphonic work of art and not as beautiful as the pastor persistently paints this invisible world with words.
A love affair is developing between Jacques and Gertrude, which the pastor mentions only casually and rather reluctantly. It has to be serious because Gertrude asks z. B. the pastor, whether a blind woman could give birth to a child with sight. When Jacques tells his father that he loves Gertrude and wants to marry her, the pastor wants to prevent this marriage. Jacques obeys. The father registers the submission of the son with relief and continues to invest precious free time in Gertrude's further education. Amélie sees through her husband's approach to the blind young girl, but does not make a single scene, rather tolerates quietly and leaves it at the occasional sharp remarks.
Gertrude tells the pastor the truth in the face: he loves her. Amélie knows and that makes Gertrude sad, that makes Amélie sad. The pastor weighs it down. Gertrude is no less worried about Jacques: does the student still love her? The pastor says no: Jacques has given up Gertrude. Gertrude confesses to the pastor that she loves him.
Gertrude's eyes can be operated on. The pastor keeps the news to himself for the time being and fears the day when Gertrude will return from the Lausanne eye clinic healed. The priest hugs the blind man for a long time and kisses her on the mouth.
When Gertrude comes home after the successful eye operation, she sees herself as a criminal: Gertrude sees the grief in Amélie's face and tries to commit suicide. The river she plunged into has ice-cold water and Gertrude dies as a result of her deed. Before that, she accuses the pastor of selfishly thwarting her marriage to Jacques. Gertrude confesses that when she looked into the faces of Jacques and his father, she realized that she only loved Jacques. Gertrude can no longer see the pastor.
shape
The pastor reports the event in two notebooks of his diary. There are gaps between the notes. After reading the text it emerges: The pastor's marriage, blessed with children, had most likely broken up before the start of the plot. The diary writer does not condemn his wife, but does not approve of her behavior. The diary is a very personal, secret document. When things do not want to go on, the pastor pleads with God several times: "Lord, I have no more advice ..." The diary writer relentlessly portrays himself as a victim of his urges.
Quote
- "When love is lacking, evil attacks us."
Self-testimony
- "I was uncomfortable with this topic."
reception
- About “ cathartic writing”: In his epilogue “To The Pastoral Symphony ”, Alain Goulet goes into detail on two focal points. Gide confesses his homoerotic tendency "under the guise of his pastor" , and the insincere Mr. Pastor is well aware of his sin, but does everything in his "dodgy" diary-like report to disguise this reprehensibility with beautiful words.
filming
Jean Delannoy filmed the story in 1946 with Michèle Morgan as Gertrude, Pierre Blanchar as Pastor, Line Noro as Amélie and Jean Desailly as Jacques. Georges Auric wrote the music for the film . The film won an award at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1946 .
The film was released in German-language synchronization under the title And it was light .
German editions
- source
- The pastoral symphony . Translated by Gerda Scheffel. Collected works in 12 volumes. Ed. Raimund Theis, Peter Schnyder, Volume 10/4, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt DVA, Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-421-06470-9 , pp. 25-85
- German first edition
- The pastoral symphony . Translated from Bernhard Guillemin. The little book of Propylaea. Propylaea Verlag , Berlin 1925
- Secondary literature
- Renée Lang: André Gide and the German spirit (French: André Gide et la pensée Allemande ). Translated from Friedrich Hagen . German publishing company, Stuttgart 1953
- Claude Martin: André Gide . Translated by Ingeborg Esterer. Rowohlt, Hamburg 1963 a. ö. ISBN 3-499-50089-2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Source, p. 6
- ↑ Lang, p. 53, 19. Zvo: Not long after the end of the First World War, it was the French Gide who approached Rilke ; sent him a copy of the book with a "friendly dedication" to Switzerland.
- ↑ Source, p. 27, 15. Zvo
- ↑ Source, pp. 27, 37, 45 and 78
- ↑ Source, p. 71, 6. Zvo
- ↑ Source, p. 78, 9. Zvu
- ↑ Source, p. 70, 20. Zvo
- ↑ von Goulet quoted in the afterword of the source, p. 315, 2nd Zvu
- ↑ Source, pp. 315 to 327 (translated by Annette Theis)
- ↑ La Symphonie pastorale in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ And there was light . www.kino.de. Retrieved June 21, 2009.