Don Juan in purgatory

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Don Juan in Purgatory (French Les Âmes du purgatoire ) is a novella by the French writer Prosper Mérimée , which appeared on August 15, 1834 in the magazine Revue des Deux Mondes .

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The story is not about Don Juan Tenorio , who was punished by the stone guest, but about Count Don Juan de Maraña from Seville . His father, Count Don Carlos de Maraña, once fought against the Moriscos and taught his only son the craft of war at an early age. The mother, Countess de Maraña, on the other hand, wants to turn the boy into a pious Christian. In the house chapel, the child often looks at a painting depicting the torments in purgatory .

The father sends the son to the University of Salamanca . Don Juan does not take his studies seriously, but wins the favor of beautiful girls together with fellow student Don Garcia: Don Juan falls in love with Doña Teresa de Ojeda and his friend in her older sister Doña Fausta. Her father, Don Alonso, has a seat on the High Council of Castile . Don Juan stabs a rival - Don Cristoval - in the street under the ladies' window with his sword. Thanks to Don Garcia's resourcefulness and Doña Teresa's help in recovering the murder weapon, the murderer gets away. Don Juan seduces Teresa. Out of sheer lust , Don Garcia and Don Juan decide to swap women. Doña Fausta resists; screams the house. Fausta's father aims the hook box at Don Juan, but kills the daughter. Don Alonso attacks don Juan with his sword and is killed by the latter.

Again Don Garcia knows what to do. The escape leads both from Salamanca via Saragossa , Barcelona , Civitavecchia and Germany to Brussels . One wants to kill heretics. In the company of Captain Gomara, "these nefarious libertines" soon make it to ensign . When the captain fell, he installed don Juan as his heir to his death. Don Garcia gambled away the inherited approximately sixty gold pieces. For some of the money don Juan would have a couple of masses read, at the deceased's will. An old rifleman from the company gives a thaler to the capuchin who is burying the miserably perished captain.

A young recruit joins the company. The soldiers nicknamed him Modesto. After the campaign with the ensuing siege of Bergen op Zoom , Don Garcia was shot dead by an unknown hand from within his own ranks. Modesto disappeared on it.

Don Juan's parents are dying. Don Juan has now been pardoned at home for the murder of Don Alonso de Ojeda. So he returns home to Seville via Madrid. The seducer makes a list of the seduced. A nun is still missing from the collection. Sister Agathe is desirable. Don Juan recognizes Doña Teresa in the nun. With her consent, the seducer prepares her kidnapping from the nunnery. But some gruesome experiences and visions force the sinner to retreat shortly before the new outrage. The "penitent seducer" takes the vow as brother Ambrosius. Before that, Teresa exclaims after his written renunciation oaths of love: "He never loved me!" And dies. Brother Ambrose repents. Once Modesto - it is Don Pedro de Ojeda, Teresa's brother - penetrates into Don Juan's monastery with two long swords under his coat. In the Netherlands he missed don Juan and accidentally shot Don Garcia. Don Juan is reluctant to challenge the duel. In the fight, don Juan kills the challenger. After the recent crime, don Juan lived in the monastery for ten years. After his death, the repentant seducer is "worshiped like a saint". On his tombstone he had the inscription “Here rests the worst sinner in the world”.

German editions

Used edition

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see also Alexandre Dumas the Elder Spanish Don Juan de Maraña
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 382, ​​2nd Zvu