Dumala
Dumala is a novel by Eduard von Keyserling that was published by S. Fischer in Berlin in 1908. The text was preprinted in the Neue Rundschau in autumn 1907 .
In this manageable winter story, Pastor Erwin Werner von Dumala in the Baltic States pretends to be fulfilling his “strict and wise duty”, but - wonderingly - is walking “an unclean path”.
action
Lord of Dumala Castle is the old, invalid Baron Werland, the last of the Dumala line. The mice gnaw behind the paneling in the heavily in need of renovation rooms of the historic walls. A Werland previously fell near Zorndorf .
The baron can no longer walk and is cared for by his wife, the very slim young Baroness Karola Werland, with great devotion. If Pastor Erwin Werner stays away longer, the lord of the castle can be angry. The confessor and pastor Pastor Werner, however, has other "mercy sport" to do in his parish. For example, he has to speak to the conscience of sinners around him. Some news is confessed to him. The forest ranger Erman, a notorious drinker, tells him about an incredible observation. Baron Behrent von Rast was said to be heading for the rear gate of Dumala Castle on a straight path with the bell ringing on hidden paths in a horse-drawn sleigh at night - passing an abyss over the narrow, dilapidated gallows bridge. The pastor is amazed. His pastorate is "a kind of sound catcher for the rumors". After some reflection, Werner finds no other explanation: He, the pastor, is apparently not the only one who is in love with Karola, the baroness with the narrow gray eyes. Old Werland had already confessed to him that his secretary Karl Pichwit, a young poet, was madly in love with his wife, but Werner had taken it as a joke. The pastor's flirtatious rasts with the lady of the house was more worrying. Rast likes to visit Dumala Castle. At home he gets "loneliness fever". Rast and Karola had once removed from the watchful and silent evening party - consisting of Werland, Pichwit and Werner - under a pretext. Karola wanted to show von Rast the tower room in the sins wing of the Werlands from that stormy 18th century. In connection with this, the talk was of a "bed with the faded green damask curtains". Secretary Pichwit never misses the opportunity to overhear the togetherness of the life-thirsty couple.
In any case, the confession of the forest ranger Erman robs Pastor Werner of sleep. So he checks these out; leaves the house at night, hides next to the Devil's Bridge over the snow-covered, dark chasm and finds confirmation of what was hardly believed. Observations on several cold winter nights in a row show that von Rast spends small hours with Baroness Karola in the tower room of the castle.
Actually, Pastor Werner - a stately figure - could be satisfied with himself. He is married to Lene, a nice little woman. Lene is fond of him. But he sins: sets a trap for his rival; removes a few loose boards over the post of the gallows bridge and lets the rotten wood fall deep into the frozen water. The catastrophe does not take place the next night of love. Werner informs the baron of the impassability of the bridge in good time and admits that he was responsible. Von Rast mocks the pastor and has the decaying structure torn down. Karola runs off to Florence with her lover. Baron Werland forgives her. He will not disinherit her. Karola should only return to his sick bed.
While waiting for Karola, old Werland dies in his castle. The numerous aristocratic lively relatives want to inherit and travel to the funeral. Pastor Werner is questioned by the Excellency - that is the head of the family - about the change of the will regarding Karola's adultery. Finally the great Baroness von Dumala went through with rest. Werner must be sorry. He does not know that a notary or lawyer would have been there after Karola's departure. The disappointed relatives go away empty-handed. Karola, who appears just in time towards the end of the funeral, inherits and wants to stay. The widow had been abandoned by the Baron von Rast. The "pretty, sly smile" is gone.
Quote
- "Strange! thought Werner, one believes that one is painfully and firmly bonded to another, that one is very close to him, and then everyone goes his own way and doesn't know what has gone on in the other. At most one greets the other out of his loneliness! "
Form and interpretation
In the text Keyserling explores the psyche of Pastor Erwin Werner. Formally, this claim is supported by two facts. The narrator only allows the pastor to think. Werner is usually present at the respective location. Thirdly, Keyserling tells about a pastor who was unhappy in his childless marriage with Lene Werner. The reader can accept the spreading of Werner's feelings because the lecture - unobtrusively motivated - progresses steadily. However, there is a horror-like climax. When the pastor, this “foolish, incomprehensible man” - hidden next to the gallows bridge - waits for the horse-drawn sleigh to return, a comment that goes with Werner’s thoughts comes from close by. Pichwit provides assistance in locating the adultery: "This is the tower room in which the old, golden bed is." The reader gets goose bumps at this passage because he thinks he is alone with the pastor wide hallway. Keyserling offers another surprise - listed above - in connection with the gallows bridge. After removing those bridge boards, the reader of the otherwise predictable story lurks in vain for the catastrophe. Pichwit expects an act from the pastor on the grounds that Werner is tall, strong and beautiful. Keyserling does not offer such heroism either. When the pastor goes to Rast and something like a duel is about to begin, the cleric is slowed down by the nobleman, who always keeps his sense of humor: For Rast, Werner is and remains the pastor who is allowed to read him the riot act, but nothing more.
One of the pillars of this psychological study, packaged as a novel, is that each person stands for himself and knows next to nothing about the other. After Pichwit and Werner are sure about what is going on in the tower room, the pastor wants to find out at the next appearance as confessor at Baron Werland whether Karola is giving himself away. On the one hand, he succeeds - a movement of the upper body, it seems, betrays the adulteress. On the other hand, it does not succeed, because Karola's "features had their clear purity as always" and "the eyes their dreamy, mysterious light".
Nothing is decided at the end of the novel either. Werner stays away from his wife Lene as ever. Karola is lonely and abandoned, but does not encourage the pastor. You could read the ending like this: Pastor Werner has no more rivals. Rast has given Karola the pass, the young Pichwit is leaving and Werland has died.
filming
Hans Werner filmed the story for television at the beginning of 1989 under the title “Die Galgenbrücke” (with Marek Barbasiewicz as Pastor Werner, Zora Jandová as Baroness Karola, Arno Wyzniewski as Baron von Werland, Thomas Bading as Secretary Pichwit and Arianne Borbach as Lene Werner ).
radio play
In 2011 Westdeutsche Rundfunk produced a radio play in two parts (54 minutes each) with Peter Steinbach's adaptation, starring Rüdiger Vogler , Chris Pichler , Matthias Bundschuh , Natalie Spinell Reiner Schöne and Christa Strobel . Directed by Claudia Johanna Leist .
literature
- Used edition
- Eduard von Keyserling: Dumala. Novel . dtv, Munich 1998 (2009 edition), ISBN 978-3-423-13821-5
- Secondary literature
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . Stuttgart 2004. ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 331, right column, 8. Zvo
Web links
- Dumala in the Gutenberg-DE project
- The film in the IMDb