The judge (novella)

The Judge is a novella by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and was published in 1885.

content

Graciosus ( kingdom of grace) came to Rome on behalf of Judicatrix Stemma , the judge , to ask Emperor Charlemagne for help in the fight against the Lombards . It also seeks the stepson of Judge, Wulfrin Wulf after Rätien pick because Stemma for the sudden death of his father, Comes Wulf wants to justify. Wulfrin sets off for Raetia, but is ambushed by the Lombards. Palma , the judge's daughter, buys Wulfrin off without hesitation because she is so looking forward to his arrival.

The judge receives Wulfrin at her Malmort Castle. He should condemn her or acquit her of the death of his father. Wulfrin is convinced of her innocence and acquits Stemma in front of the assembled people. That seems to have settled the matter for the judge. She takes the hip horn from Wulfrin, which he inherited from his father, and hurls it into the abyss.

The judge has a second task for Wulfrin: He should betroth Palma to the bishop's nephew of grace. For this purpose, the siblings go on a hike to Pratum, where Gnadenreich lives. On the way, Palma kisses her (supposed) brother, which makes him shudder.

Palma has fallen in love with Wulfrin and would like to marry him; but since this would be like incest , she will take the kingdom of grace. There is an argument over dinner on Pratum. Wulfrin sends Palma home immediately. In a ravine he hurls his beloved sister on a rock and delivers the lifeless woman to the judge. Wulfrin wants Stemma to convict him of sinful sibling love; he does not want to return to Malmort with Kaiser Karl until the day of judgment.

During the night Wulfrin meets the shepherd boy Gabriel . He found Wulfrin's legacy, the Hifthorn, while fishing. Wulfrin blows in and follows Gabriel up to Malmort. He tries to talk to his father at the grave. He blows the horn again and disappears again.

Stemma was startled by the tone she thought she had destroyed. Angry, she rushes to her husband's grave and talks to him about his death.

16 years ago, Stemma was forced to marry her father's boyfriend, Comes Wulf. But she had a lover named Peregrin and he became pregnant. The Judex , her father, caught and killed this one. He was later killed himself. On Comes' return from the vengeance against his father-in-law's murderer, the judge offered her husband the Wulfenbecher in which she had mixed a poison. After Comes drank from it, he died instantly. Stemma protected an antidote.

Palma sneaked after her mother, saw everything and thus became a witness. On Judgment Day, the judge now confesses her act to the people and the emperor. Wulfrin is not Palma's brother and therefore innocent. The judge takes out a bottle of poison, drinks it and dies.

The emperor wants to know what is happening to Palma now. Wulfrin is supposed to go to war with him, and when he comes back afterwards he will marry Palma.

History of origin

It is a late work by the poet.

Meyer often stayed in Graubünden during the summer holidays . In 1866 he was in Thusis with his sister Betsy . He was inspired by nature; this is how the impressive Hohen Rätien Castle became Malmort Castle in his novella. The picturesque surroundings became the basis for the romantic love between Palma and Wulfrin.

The first drafts for the judge were made in the years 1881 to 1883. Meyer originally planned to name his work Magna peccatrix (The Great Sinner) and it was to take place at the court of Emperor Frederick II in Sicily. Then he moved it to Raetia at the time of Charlemagne and changed the title. In 1885 the judge appeared in the Deutsche Rundschau .

interpretation

Historical background

The novella Die Richter (like many of the poet's works) has a great historical figure as its background. It is set immediately after Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in 800. As the most important ruler of the Middle Ages, Charlemagne fought for law and order in his empire. With the fight against the Lombards, he brought calm again in the province of Raetia.

Meyer relocated his youthful experiences to historical epochs that showed certain parallels to the present. He said: "I prefer to delve into bygone times, the errors of which I gently ironize and which allow me to treat the eternally human more artistically than the brutal actuality of contemporary material would not allow me." So he uses the historical novella, to hide his views and to gain distance from the reader. Meyer is not concerned with the dissemination of historical knowledge, but with the representation of the individual in the political conditions of his time.

people

Stemma

“Ms. Stemma loves the benchmark and likes to deal with rare and intricate cases. She has great and always busy acumen. From a few points she guesses the outline of a deed and her delicate fingers reveal what is hidden. Not that no crime has been committed in her field, but none is denied, because the guilty party believes her omnisciently and feels she has seen through. Her gaze penetrates through rubble and walls, and the buried is not safe from her. She has acquired a fame that her wisdom is sought from far away through letters and messengers. "(P. 14f.)

This is how the judge is described in the novella of Gnadenreich. Like Charlemagne, she ensures law and order. In her sixteen years in office, she has earned a reputation as a just and wise judge. But she carries the secret of her murder with her. This makes her a very contradictory person. Should she be convicted of murder or is she unjustifiably under suspicion of murder?

Although she only confesses her deed to avoid making life unnecessarily difficult for Palma, she proves with her confession that she is an honest and sincere person.

Wulfrin

Wulfrin is the son of Comes Wulf from his first marriage. He ran away from home when he was seven because his mother was mistreated by her husband. He went to Rome to become a courtier with Emperor Karl. He has become a loyal and courageous companion of his emperor.

The love for Palma is the greatest happiness in his life for him. He's actually the real hero of the story.

Palma

Palma is the daughter of the judge and her lover, Peregrin, but Palma doesn't know until her mother tells her the truth. She is happy that she finally gets to see her supposed brother. She even falls in love with him, but this makes her feel scared.

When she learns that Wulfrin is not her brother at all, she is shocked at first, but also relieved because she can now live out her love for him.

Incest motive

Incest is a sexual relationship between closest blood relatives.

When Meyer lived together with his sister Betsy for a long time in Zurich, rumors allegedly circulated that they were lovers. Meyer commented on these rumors by writing to The Judge .

At first, the love of Wulfrin and Palma looks like an incest, but when it becomes known that the two are not related, the supposed sin falls apart. Meyer wanted to make it clear that he and his sister did not have such a relationship.

Language and style

Meyer uses a locus terribilis , the gorge, to describe Wulfrin's feelings. That's probably why there are so many metaphors in that passage of text. In other places too, nature is related to people's feelings.

Things like the Hifthorn, the Wulfenbecher, and descriptive names like Peregrinus, Palma novella, Malmort, and natural phenomena take on the function of symbols.

Meyer does not use an extravagant language, but uses a poetic, painterly language with artistic embellishments. Of course, not the whole work is decorated in the same way, but some situations are very impressively portrayed. The text is also very varied through many direct speeches.

expenditure

Relevant text in Complete Works , historical-critical edition, provided by Hans Zeller and Alfred Zäch. Benteli, Bern 1958–1996
The judge . H. Haessel , Leipzig 1885, 136 pages
The judge . Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-006952-1 (Universal Library No. 6952)
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: The Complete Works - read in full on 5 MP3 CDs by Klauspeter Bungert . Bungert, Trier 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024887-0 .

literature

Martin Pfeifer: Explanations on Conrad Ferdinand Meyer The shot from the pulpit, The monk's wedding, The judge . 5th enlarged edition. Bange, Hollfeld / Oberfranken 1981, ISBN 3-8044-0264-X (King's Explanations and Materials, Volume 257/258)
David A. Jackson: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer . Rowohlt's monographs, Reinbek near Hamburg, 1975
Peter von Matt: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: The judge (1885) . Official art and private imagination in conflict. In: Horst Denkler (Hrsg.): Novels and stories of bourgeois realism. New interpretations . Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-010292-8 , pp. 310-324

Web links

eText conrad-ferdinand-meyer.de
The judge (novella) in Project Gutenberg ( currently not generally available for users from Germany )
"Malmort" Castle