The sisters (collection of short stories)

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Jakob Wassermann * 1873 † 1934

The book The Sisters contains three historical short stories by Jakob Wassermann . S. Fischer published the small volume in 1906. The texts had previously appeared in Fischer's “ Neuer Rundschau ” from 1904 onwards.

The three title characters are siblings - the Spaniard Johanna from the 15th / 16th. Century, the English Sara from the 18th century and the French Clarissa from the 19th century - in the sense: The love of women for the respective man is not reciprocated. So each of the three fates ends tragically.

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Donna Johanna of Castile

Before Philipp can marry Johanna , each of the two partners has to overcome certain resentments. Johanna was repulsed by her husband's inclination towards the mean, lustful, dirty and wicked. Philip shies away from his wife's demonic aura. He is afraid of her. Nevertheless, both overcome their dislikes. Six children result from the connection; Karl was born in Ghent in 1500 . A royal family that lets heretics burn, the newborns of the increasingly depressed mother are taken one by one and raised far away at court or even in Flanders . When the pregnant woman longs for her husband, the husband is usually absent. Philipp usually pursues his amusements, spends months away and loses Johanna from within. When Johanna found out about her husband's affair with the beautiful Portuguese Benigna from Latiloe, she had him poisoned. But soon Johanna wants her Philipp back. The dead are exhumed. The melancholy Johanna follows the coffin of Philip of Spain from year 10 by land to Ghent to her about son Charles. On the way back, the woman goes mad . The coffin is badly damaged by bad weather in the snowy mountains. The Duke of Savoy has Philip's remains transferred to Burgos . Johanna outlived her husband by decades. Aquarius describes her end: “ It was getting dark and she was descending. Her heart constricted anxiously and with the last spark of passing consciousness she sighed towards an unconsoled death. "

Sara Malcolm

In 1732 Sara, a laundress, was found injured and unconscious on the street near Templebar . Mrs. Duncomb takes the young woman of "childlike slender stature" into her lodging house as a maid. It turns out that Sara had dealt with thieves. She can't stop stealing. She steals a golden goblet from a guest in the lodging house, the young Scottish nobleman Francis Rhymer - a present from the bride. Sara recognizes the stranger. It appeared in one of her dream faces. In it he had married her and "made her happy".

While Sara's absence, Rhymer is killed by two of Sara's former cronies. The golden cup is found with Sara. The thief is suspected of murder and sentenced to death. While in custody, Sara notices and hides her pregnancy. A woman would rather take her unborn child with her to death than make use of the right to sparing a pregnant woman.

Clarissa Mirabel

In 1817 the lawyer Fualdes from Rhodez was found dead on the rocky banks of the Aveyron . From the accompanying circumstances, the law enforcement agency concludes that there is murder. One of the suspects was a nephew of the lawyer, a certain Bastide Grammont. Bastide is imprisoned. As a witness, Clarissa Mirabel testifies about her encounter with Bastide Grammont at the crime scene, a house in Rhodez. When they met - Clarissa had come across the house by chance - the 35-year-old widow suddenly realized that Bastide couldn't be a murderer. She had met him once - again by accident - on a morning hike in the great outdoors. Wassermann writes: “... while she walked through the sun-shined, damp bushes, above her the cheering of the songbirds and the glowing blue of the sky, below her the earth breathing like one body, she had seen a man of mighty limbs who was upright stood there, bare-headed, his nose in the air and with an unearthly desire, with wide eyes, savoring what was to be enjoyed: the scents, the sun, the intoxicating moisture, the shine of the ether. He seemed to smell all of this, he sniffed like a dog or like a deer and meanwhile his upturned face showed an unleashed, laughing satisfaction, the hanging arms trembled as if in convulsions. ” Clarissa has been dreaming of this man since then.

Bastide does not want to recognize his admirer during the court hearing. The scorned testifies wrongly - against her “forest man and earth demon” . The suspect is then sentenced to death. Clarissa is killing herself.

Self-testimony

In the 1933 “Self-Contemplations”, the author only accepts what was written after 1920. In this context, he expressly mentions, among other things, “The Sisters” as preparatory work for literary works to elevate the present to the image.

Form and interpretation

Several sentences from Wassermann's three small early works contain something poetic. In addition, little is trumpeted. The reader needs imagination if he suspects, for example: Sara wants the carefree sleeping young Rhymer to be the father of her unborn child. Another example is the portrayal of Clarissa's love. In this case, Wassermann maintains a state of limbo: the reader cannot separate what has happened from Clarissa's wishful thinking. In this respect alone, the last two of the three novellas appear to be technically solid products.

The novella "Clarissa Mirabel" captivates with the credible description of a criminal case. Numerous suspects from Rhodez want to relieve themselves and burden their neighbors with lies.

reception

  • Although the booklet was not a bestseller in 1906, Hofmannsthal praised the three texts in “Conversations about a new book” and examined them critically with Wassermann.
  • Wassermann likes to incorporate horror effects into his novels. In “Clarissa Mirabel” the author of the “ Maurizius Case ” dealt with the work of the courts for the first time.

literature

First edition

  • Jakob Wassermann: The sisters. Three novels. S. Fischer, Berlin 1906.

Used edition

Secondary literature

  • Rudolf Koester: Jakob Wassermann . Morgenbuch Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-371-00384-1 .
  • Peter Sprengel : History of German-Language Literature 1900-1918. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-52178-9 .
  • Jakob Wassermann: Self-Contemplation. Appropriated to Marta. Salzwasser Verlag, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8460-0022-9 . (First edition 1933 (Koester, p. 90 above, entry 1933))

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Koester reads out that Sara, who had been knocked unconscious, was raped (Koester, p. 31, 3. Zvo).
  2. ↑ The novella is set in the Cevennes . There was a Mirabel family there.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Koester, p. 30 below
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 35, 3rd Zvu
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 71, 3rd Zvu
  4. ↑ Jakob Wassermann: Self-Contemplations. S. Fischer, 1933. Full text online in the Gutenberg project
  5. ↑ Self- Contemplations , p. 18 above
  6. ↑ Sprengel, p. 172, 16. Zvu and p. 728, 4. Zvu
  7. ↑ Koester, p. 31, 3rd Zvu
  8. ^ Sprengel, p. 173, 1. Zvo
  9. ↑ Sprengel, p. 172 below