The third stair
The third staircase is a novel by Eduard von Keyserling that was published by Wilhelm Friedrich in Leipzig in 1892. It takes place in Vienna towards the end of the 19th century and deals with social democracy in a humorous way.
action
1
Lothar von Brückmann, arriving from Geneva, moves to Vienna in the house “Third Stieg”, Margarethenstrasse 2, corner of Wiedener Hauptstrasse , on the third floor. The tenement house can be reached via the backyard.
2
Brückmann comes from the East Prussian landed nobility , was raised by his aunt near Königsberg , “where Latvian girls sing their songs”, and sent to the universities of Bonn, Göttingen and Leipzig in the Reich . The academic career turns out to be not quite to Brückmann's taste. In a noble house in Leipzig, Brückmann found out from a good acquaintance “with the second bottle of Sect” that there were “not only religious, but also socialist connections” in the Saxon university town. Brückmann feels almost magically attracted by the latter and learns from the Austrian social democrat Dr. Rotter know. Brückmann, who “didn't know what to do with his life, irritated” the “iron discipline” of the “comrades”. So he eagerly studies “agitation books”, but is of course not privy to the “party secrets”. Nevertheless, Brückmann stays with it - takes school in Geneva and becomes an “editorial member” of the magazine “Zukunft” in Vienna.
3
In Vienna, Rotter kisses his friend Brückmann "on the mouth" as a greeting. Rotter has married a Styrian maid and recommends marriage to her boyfriend. The “Future” editorial office is one floor above Brückmann's rented apartment and is “full of tobacco smoke”. In the "Editor-in-Chief's Room" Dr. Klumpf stands “a bust of Plato , one of Socrates ” and “on the wall” hangs “a engraving after Rafael's Disputa ”. It "is" "spoken" aloud. Among other things, an article about the "happiness problem" is discussed.
4th
The house owner, Ms. Würbl, lives on the first floor of the third staircase with her 37-year-old step daughter Clementine. Mrs. Würbl leads the regiment and keeps the securities in the safe of her "bedroom". Clementine has to obey the stepmother. Notary Dr. Backrath, the stepmother's asset manager, calls on Clementine. The discerning young lady doesn't like an old man.
The homeowner cannot fall asleep because lawyer Dr. Zweigeld a society. The 17th birthday of the only daughter Gisela is celebrated exuberantly by the Zweigelds and invited young people. After the celebration, Mrs. Zweigeld suspects the husband, one of the birthday guests, to be the young Dr. Franz Benze, will probably stop for Gisela soon. Mrs. Zweigeld would like to travel abroad with her daughter beforehand. The reader learns of the lawyer's thoughts: "You will have to borrow money."
5
While Brückmann is doing his day's work, “a long, strong boy pushes himself into” the editorial office - the unemployed unmarried Bohemian blacksmith Alois Chawar. No master took him and the police wanted to deport him. He asks for help and names the young, corpulent "haumeist girl" Tini as a contact person.
When Chawar left, it's about how the editorial team should support the "baker's movement". "The poor boys [Viennese baker boys] were treated like dogs". The "future" wants to give justice to those with the episteme [understanding]. Reading pleasure always arises in several socially critical passages of the novel as soon as the noble author Keyserling mocks the editorial staff of the "future". That "ridicule" borders on a loving description.
6th
Members of the editorial team of the “future” meet on Saturday in the evening, sultry summer beer garden with master craftsmen and then hold a - let's call it - conspiratorial meeting hidden under the roof of the pub. The "door" should be closed out of respect for the police, because negotiations should be "properly". The landlord is reluctant. Not much comes out of it, because "The party connection here in Austria is so loose". Proverbs dominate: "Let us teach the poor oppressed to win". There is also talk of “over in the Reich”. It is not spoken to the workers, but about them: "When they starve, they get courage". The "social democratic working days in Mainz 1872" are history. So the novel acts on it. The “hot” tobacco smoke in the hiding place ends the meeting.
7th
Brückmann and his editorial colleagues meet some of their "baker revolutionaries" in the next pub. Chawar also socializes with Tini there. It looks like the neighbors are afraid of the blacksmith. The bakers beat up - we would say today - a strike breaker. Chawar participates. When the police approached, the editorial staff ran away.
8th
On Sunday morning, the "telegraph officer Gerstengresser" urges his family to go on an afternoon excursion. The only thing he doesn't get out of bed is his son Poldl. Poldl is a “ clerk in the silk goods shop in Punzendorf” and loves Mietzi Hempel from the third floor. In order to be able to finance restaurant visits with Mietzi, Poldl stole "silk shawls " from Mr. Punzendorf and hawked them. The Gerstengressers have to move into the countryside without a son.
Mietzi - one floor below - stays at home alone. Mama Hempel got the “Diurnist [the diurnum: daily allowance] Hempel” through a “country party”. When the air is clear, Poldl comes down to the Mietzi.
9
Brückmann even works on Sundays. He visits a worker in the suburbs who had been “sentenced to a few weeks in prison” for “passionate speeches” at a meeting. But Brückmann realizes that he cannot help the man. "The Episteme" is simply missing. Then Brückmann went to an “inn garden” and, in addition to the “comrades”, met small merchants, house owners and officials at the “social democrats table”. The honest citizens want "nothing to do with the socialization of society". Nevertheless, the "future society" sits together in harmony.
Brückmann learns from an editorial colleague that the editor-in-chief Klumpf loves the Mietzi.
10
The Sunday rest at the Zweigelds is severely disturbed. The cheeky intruder presented a bill of 10,000 guilders due the next day. The landlord is not as surprised as the reader - the Zweigelds run a big house. Dr. Benze writes to his daughter Gisela. Gisela is shy. The Herr Papa encourages: “The doctor doesn't bite. Come on mother! ”The Zweigelds leave the couple alone and Benze answers. He kisses her "lips over and over again". Gisela lets it happen “a little amazed”.
11
Brückmann goes to the Prater with Tini . Tini drives the carousel and Brückmann watches. Dancing with the heavyweight Tini is exhausting for Brückmann. Then Chawar comes, unwinds the young girl for him and shows how to swim with Tini. Brückmann absolutely does not understand how to “be funny” and has to “stand apart”.
12
Mietzi works as Statistin in the Theater an der Wien . Poldl waits for her outside, leads her to a shabby hotel and confesses to his "Shawl" thefts. Mietzi is also desperate. An old, real count from the first rank box led them to the Sacher after the theater . “What he did!” Mietzi cannot say that at all. She would rather die than confess that to her mother. The couple want to pass away together; would like to take opium - but not right away. At night they “huddle tightly together”.
13
Dr. Zweigeld does not manage to procure the guilders due so quickly.
Zweigelds celebrate their beloved daughter's engagement to Dr. Benze. The celebration is not fun. The groom, a wicked rider of principles , gets into a bad fight in front of people with the bride's father. After the celebration, Mrs. Zweigeld quickly finds out the reason for her husband's depression: acute financial worries. The resolute wife and mother want to act; simply pump up the future son-in-law.
14th
Brückmann ponders - should he keep courting Tini? No - because he has “what he has been looking for so long: a job for life”. Tini only bothers you.
Secretly, quietly and quietly, Tini has sneaked into Brückmann's room and wants to be his. The fickle Brückmann wants to try it with her.
15th
Because Poldl kept stealing, Mr. Punzendorf threatens to take inventory and dismiss. Mietzi is publicly reprimanded in the theater by the director. The couple, plagued by misfortune, want to take opium in the hotel after all, but put the drug aside again. When Poldl came home from the hotel in the morning, Mr. Punzendorf was there and confiscated Poldl's stolen property.
16
Brückmann confesses to Rotter that although he wants to own Tini, he has lost that “power to live”. Rotter advises Brückmann to call it a day.
Tini goes to Brückmann again. On the one hand he reproaches her for getting involved with Chawar again and again, but on the other hand he comforts her. Tini is hiding something. The girl wants to be protected by Brückmann, but she doesn’t say what. Brückmann rejects Tini, because he has to hurry to the next "conspiratorial" meeting in that bar attic (see above chapter 6).
17th
At the meeting in "close, secret associations", it is about "the real life issues of the party". At first it seems as if Count Keyserling wrote not just a social but actually a political novel. However, the author then only pulls the comrades through the cocoa in his good-natured way. The relevant humor passage is delicious. “Clarity, that is our motto!” The “host” asks “for silence. A new - a better time must come. ”The police are coming.
18th
The "piano teacher" Amalie Remder from the 3rd floor, who is busy writing articles for the "future", loves the editor-in-chief Klumpf. After the meeting, she lets Klumpf accompany her home, supposedly out of fear - because a lumber yard is burning in the neighborhood - and asks him "for a cup of tea" in her apartment. Klumpf comes along, but admits to the lover that he adores someone else - the Mietzi. He has checked out the new address of the little ones and asks the "piano teacher" for a marriage brokerage.
19th
It was October. Clementine is now thirty-eight. Ms. Würbl constantly reminds her of the new age. During the night, Clementine is woken up by two intruders. Out of fear, the old girl remains silent as a mouse. In the morning it turns out that Ms. Würbl was suffocated with a pillow and the safe was broken into.
20th
Frau Zweigeld asks her future son-in-law to come and give him a pump. Dr. Benze wants to give the money, but he expresses moral concerns because he, the fighter against “corruption” in Vienna, is becoming a “crony”. The bride Gisela arrives uninvited and breaks off the engagement. The bride-to-be stands unreservedly on Papa's side.
21st
People who went in and out of the editorial office were arrested in connection with the night fire. The editorial staff feared consequences for the “future” too. Someone from the "future" is said to have helped the police with the arrest. The assumption that Keyserling wrote a political novel was rejected above (see Chapter 17), but is confirmed here. The whole truth comes to light with one jolt in the finale (see Chapter 25).
22nd
In the murder case, Ms. Würbl, the caretaker, Ms. Tuma, has to "swear and put on record" at the examining magistrate. In general, Ms. Tuma rates her house as "very bad stairs". Why? Well, Poldl is “in prison. The police are now going in and out of the Social Democrats on the fourth floor, searching and sealing them up. ”On top of that, the Mietzi is gone. Tini comes, but does not tell her mother. But Brückmann learns from Tini that she carried out the break-in with Chawar and that the blacksmith murdered the house owner. Brückmann wants to help Tini, but lets her go away. Tini rushes to Chawar and tells him that she cannot hide his act. Chawar acts consistently. Tini is "found murdered in the river".
23
Amalie Remder still has the slip of paper on which the Mietzi's new address is written. Although Amalie is no longer an article-writing “ Lassalle's disciple ” since the disillusionment caused by Klumpf , she is again a “piano teacher”, but she still sees opportunities with the beloved Klumpf. Amalie actually meets Mietzi at the address on the note. Of course, Amalie doesn't want to pair the Mietzi with Klumpf, she wants the opposite. She achieves this effortlessly. Mietzi rejects the marriage proposal that has been brought forward, because she has never spoken a word to Klumpf in her life. The very young Mietzi has sunk deeply, has - to put it bluntly - become the whore of the old, real count from the first rank box.
24
Miss Clementine has recovered and succeeds in getting the old notary Dr. Backrath renewed his previous marriage proposal. Because the orphaned Clementine has become a good match and comes straight to the point after the notary's yes. The groom "has to cancel all parties". Because “There is a lot of baggage on this staircase. The Zweigelds are moving away. ”Clementine wants to enjoy herself. So she lets her groom drive her to the district court and there she sees Dr. Benze how he defends the Poldl. The delinquent is sentenced to "one year of heavy dungeon".
25th
Klumpf and Brückmann are expelled from Vienna by the police. Brückmann can hardly believe it, his quarters on the third floor and the editorial office on the fourth were provided by the police through intermediaries. He used everything "for the police's fun". Brückmann put one of his protégés, the robbery murderer Chawar, “into the hands of the examining magistrate”. Klumpf, just as much a dream dancer as Brückmann, speaks again at a meeting. The workers present whistle him. The police ended the meeting. Dr. Klumpf is insulted and spat on. "Life is different from what we thought", Brückmann sums up to Klumpf. "Maybe there is still a corner where you can learn it."
The “third stair” apartment building in Vienna
| floor | Residents | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4th | Clerk Poldl barley Gresser | Editorial future | |
| 3. | Statistin Mietzi Hempel | Lothar von Brückmann, member of the editorial team | Piano teacher Amalie Remder |
| 2. | Attorney Dr. Zweigeld , daughter Gisela | ||
| 1. | House owner Mrs. Würbl , stepdaughter Clementine | ||
| ground floor | Caretaker Mrs. Tuma , daughter Tini | ||
facsimile
As early as 1892, the printing error devil haunted Ph. Kühner's printing works in Eisenach. B.
- S. 18, 9. Zvu: Quotation marks are missing.
- P. 43, 16. Zvo: Adv a kat .
- P. 122, 4th Zvu: Episterne instead of episteme .
- P. 134, 4th Zvu: Do t tor .
- P. 230, 13. Zvu: Quotation marks are missing.
- P. 240, 2nd Zvu: first character is empty.
- P. 260 ff .: Incorrect chapter numbering.
- P. 267, 8. Zvo: not today.
- P. 269 ff .: Notary Dr. Backrath from p. 44 ff. Is suddenly called notary Dr. Beckrath
literature
- source
- Eduard Graf von Keyserling: The third staircase. Novel . Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, Leipzig 1892. pp. 1–294 as a facsimile edition in: Helmut Kreuzer (Ed.): Series Siegen: Editions, Vol. 4. With an afterword by Fritz Martini . Heidelberg 1985, ISBN 3-533-03636-7
- expenditure
- Eduard Graf von Keyserling: The third staircase. Novel . 304 pages. Steidl, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-88243-653-2
- Secondary literature
- Afterword by Fritz Martini. In the source (see above), pp. 295–336.
- Peter Sprengel : History of German-Language Literature 1870–1900. From the founding of the empire to the turn of the century . Pp. 382-384. Munich 1998. ISBN 3-406-44104-1
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A-Z . S. 331. Stuttgart 2004. 697 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8