The innocent

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The guiltless is a novel in eleven stories by Hermann Broch , which was published in 1950.

The three-part novel is about 1913, 1923 and 1933 in a central German royal seat. The story is told of the victory of the “strong, unspoilt” maid Zerlina over her well-off rule.

From 1954 to 1974 Broch's retirement work was published in Japanese, French, Polish, Italian, Slovenian, Spanish and English.

title

In his "Genesis Report" from October 1950 Broch explains why the novel is called The Guiltless . Petty bourgeoisie - like Zacharias (see below) - appear. The chosen figures are definitely "non-political". Although none of these were directly guilty of what happened in Germany from 1933 onwards, a “petty-bourgeois middle class” had gradually successfully filled the power vacuum that had developed after the collapse of the German Empire in 1918. Broch wanted to portray the "culpable innocence" of the petty bourgeoisie and "justify it internally".

content

Anno 1923: The 30-year-old wealthy Dutchman Mr. Andreas, looking for a furnished room, finds accommodation in the house of Baroness Elvira W. Andreas knows how money is made. He got rich all over the world, especially in South Africa. Since the death of her husband, a former court president, the baroness has lived in seclusion with her daughter Hildegard and old Zerlina, the housemaid. Andreas, who pretends to be a gem dealer, is on the hunt for dirt cheap real estate in and around the city during inflation . Andreas is generous towards the baroness. He is met by the distrust of the 30-year-old Hildegard.

Neither the baroness nor her daughter can tell Andreas details about the family situation. Zerlina soon shared these delicate secrets, more than thirty years ago, with him without being asked. Zerlina had sexual experiences at a young age with the male servants between door and hinge. Even the Baron himself had "one day grabbed her by the breasts". Since then she had loved the landlord a lot. Following this affection, Zerlina had raised Hildegard from childhood as the true daughter of the baron. Hildegard is just a bastard, conceived with the diplomat Mr. von Juna during a bathing trip. The womanizer had lived in the old hunting lodge outside the city. Zerlina assesses the character of the baroness as "weak". The mistress never dared the tempting visit to the hunting lodge. Zerlina had managed to make Herr von Juna want her. The maid had made a condition. In the hunting lodge she wanted to give herself to him. The diplomat had played along. Zerlina sees the affair as her victory over the baroness. During her stay in the hunting lodge for several days, Zerlina had, not lazily, acquired part of the compromising correspondence between her mistress and the master of Juna. Zerline's departure was certain. The young maid had indicated to the diplomat who had fallen into disrepair that she would only return to the hunting lodge after he had chased his other lover who lived there to hell. A few weeks later that lover had died. Rumor had it that Juna had poisoned her. The diplomat was then arrested. Zerlina had leaked the correspondence to the Baron. The president of the court had proven himself a coward. Mr. von Juna had been acquitted by the jury. The baron had tolerated the "murderer banker" Klein-Hildegard under his roof. Not yet 60 years old, the baron had died of a broken heart.

In search of inexpensive real estate, Andreas meets the 19-year-old laundress Melitta E., granddaughter of the old hiking teacher and beekeeper Lebrecht Endeguth. Melitta and Andreas become a couple. Zerlina contributes to theirs. The old matchmaker puts the lovely maiden in bed with Andreas' lodger. Broch tells of "two human bodies fit into one another".

Hildegard is indignant. What is immoral going on all night long in the room of the subtenant in your apartment? The baroness is also more than irritated and asks Andreas to clarify. Melitta leaves the fine house. The lodger wants to buy the old hunting lodge; wants to take Zerlina and the baroness with them. Hildegard confronts Andreas. She accuses him of being "a plaything in the hands of Zerlinens" and suspects that he also wanted to lure Melitta into the "murderer's house". Andreas remains firm. He intends to give the hunting lodge to his - now maternal - friend, the baroness. After their eventual death, Zerlina is to inherit the property.

Hildegard turns around: “You can court me,” she suddenly allows Andreas. Moreover, she orders the perplexed to rape her in bed. But Andreas would like to take the brittle, suddenly wild woman out of love. Nothing will come of it. Suddenly, in the middle of it all, the man loses his potency. Hildegard - triumphant - declares herself the winner in bed.

The other day the manorial house receives the terrible news in the morning newspaper. Melitta perished immediately after Baroness Hildegard W. visited her. Skull fracture. Hildegard had called the police after the "accident". Andreas sees through Hildegard. You murdered Melitta. The accused frankly admits this in private. She went to Melitta and told her that Andreas loved Hildegard and would marry her as soon as he got her yes.

Anno 1933: If the title of the novel was meant ironically, then at the end, fairytale tones are heard. Andreas, the Baroness and Zerlina have lived in the old hunting lodge for ten years. A singing voice can be heard in the nearby forest. The old beekeeper approaches cheerfully and calls on Andreas to atone for his failed life and thus indirectly to suicide - in retaliation for Melitta's suicide. Andreas, systematically fattened to a fat belly by Zerlina, shoots himself. The baroness dies soon after from an overdose of sleeping pills administered by the maid. Zerlina, now the heiress and mistress of the hunting lodge, keeps a servants.

Zacharias

The genesis of this novel goes back to 1913. The novels contained in the novel were written between 1917 and 1934. At the urging of Ernst Schönwiese , the work was to be published in 1946. Broch did not give in at first. The book, published in 1950, makes an inhomogeneous impression on the reader for at least two reasons.

First, the author strains the reader's patience several times when he reads for pages in a new novella, e.g. B. lets Andreas appear, but only circumscribes his name with A.

Secondly, the reader would like to understand important appearances of secondary characters, but cannot fit them into the larger plot. There z. B. Zacharias and Andreas in the middle of the novel, so in 1923, a wine bar. There the teacher Zacharias gives four speeches. Zacharias, authoritarian, feared as a strict examiner at high school, does not tolerate any contradiction while drinking in the pub. Then at home he turns out to be a henpecked hero. The drunken math teacher Zacharias, bearer of the Iron Cross second class, first lieutenant, loser of the First World War, is put in the corner by his wife like a disobedient schoolboy and beaten up.

Zacharias, shutting himself off newer ideas, is used to "drawing his views from those in power without contradiction". As a German, he belongs to a people of "world teachers". Only through the intervention of the stupid Americans would the French have triumphed over their teachers in 1918.

Quote

  • "The more time has passed, the more powerful the voice of the times becomes."

Testimonials

Broch commented on the novel in 1933 and 1950.

  • The new is carried by the shape of the beekeeper. Broch means Melitta's grandfather, the hiking teacher Lebrecht Endeguth.
  • Andreas is a representative of colonialism who hunted through the money jungle.
  • Zerlina is his straightest and richest figure. This matchmaker puts the young Melitta in bed with Andreas, thus preventing Andreas from becoming the baroness's son-in-law. In addition, Zerlina, "the moving of the events", becomes the mistress of the old hunting lodge through her clever moves.

reception

  • In 1913, when Broch began the preparatory work, he had turned against the war enthusiasm of poets and philosophers.
  • As early as 1936, Schönwiese had asked Broch for permission to publish a novella from the novel in a literary magazine.
  • In the novel, recent “German history is viewed from an ethical perspective”.

literature

First edition

  • Hermann Broch: The innocent. Novel in eleven stories. Rhein-Verlag Zurich 1950. 402 pages

Used edition

  • Paul Michael Lützeler (Ed.): Hermann Broch: The guiltless. Novel in eleven stories. P. 7–290 in Volume 5: Hermann Broch: Annotated Work Edition . Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main 1986 (3rd edition). Copyright 1950 by Rhein-Verlag AG, Zurich. 352 pages, without ISBN

expenditure

  • Hermann Broch: The innocent. Novel in eleven stories. With an introduction by Hermann J. Weigand. Rhein-Verlag Zurich 1954. 368 pages
  • Annotated work edition. Novels and short stories. Paul Michael Lützeler (Ed.): Hermann Broch: The guiltless. Novel in eleven stories. Suhrkamp Taschenbücher 2367. 1995. 360 pages, ISBN 978-3-518-38867-9

Secondary literature

  • A “selection bibliography for secondary literature” with 17 characters can be found e.g. B. in the source.
  • Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German authors AZ . S. 85. Stuttgart 2004. 698 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Wilpert, p. 85, 2nd column, 24. Zvo
  2. ↑ Source, p. 349 below
  3. ↑ Source, p. 350
  4. ↑ Source, p. 325
  5. ↑ Source, p. 184 below
  6. ↑ Source, pp. 344 to 349
  7. ↑ Source, p. 345, 16. Zvo
  8. ↑ Source, p. 312 middle
  9. ↑ Source, p. 346 center
  10. ↑ Zacharias appears at the beginning of the novel in 1913.
  11. ↑ Source, p. 141, 11. Zvu
  12. ↑ Source, p. 149, 20. Zvo
  13. ↑ Source, p. 12, 1. Zvo
  14. ↑ Source, pp. 293 to 300
  15. ↑ Source, pp. 301 to 328
  16. ↑ Source, p. 304, 6. Zvo
  17. ↑ Source, p. 305 middle
  18. ↑ Source, p. 305 below
  19. ↑ Source, p. 320 middle
  20. ↑ Lützeler in the source, p. 344, 3rd Zvo
  21. ↑ Lützeler in the source, p. 345, 1st Zvu
  22. ^ Lützeler in der Quelle, p. 349, 14. Zvo
  23. ↑ Source, p. 351