Eduard von Keyserling

Eduard Graf von Keyserling, 1900 (painting by Lovis Corinth , Munich, Neue Pinakothek )

Eduard Graf von Keyserling (born May 2 ^{. Jul} / 14. May  1855 ^greg. In Tels-Paddern at Hasenpoth , Kurland , Russian Empire ; † 28. September 1918 in Munich ) was a German writer and playwright of Impressionism .

origin

Eduard von Keyserling comes from the Baltic branch of the rural noble family Keyserlingk at Paddern Castle in what is now Latvia. His parents were Eduard von Keyserling (1809–1876), gentleman on Telsen and small drugs in Courland, and his wife Theophile von Rummel (1816–1894), a daughter of the Polish crown forester Dietrich von Rummel and Charlotte von Kleist . His sisters Henriette (1839–1908) and Elise (1842–1915) became known as writers.

Life

Eduard von Keyserling was born the tenth of twelve children. He attended the German high school in Kuldīga (German: Goldingen ) and studied from 1875 to 1877, with interruptions and without a degree, law in Dorpat (today: Tartu in Estonia). For unexplained reasons (his great-nephew Otto von Taube later spoke of "a trifle - an incorrectness") he was excluded from the Curonia student union and shunned by his family and peers. A social outsider in his home country, he went to Vienna at the age of twenty-three and studied philosophy and art history at the University of Vienna and for a year in Graz . In Vienna in 1885 he worked for the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung .

After staying in Vienna, Keyserling managed the maternal estates of Paddern and Telsen and then (after the mother's death at the end of 1894) moved to Munich with three sisters. At that time already suffering from syphilis , he contracted a severe spinal cord disease in 1897 and later went blind . From 1899 to 1900 he went on one last trip to Italy with two of his sisters. Afterwards Keyserling led a withdrawn life, marked by his physical ailments. In these years, since the outbreak of the First World War, due to the lack of income from his goods in Courland, also financially restricted, his best-known and best works were created. Since 1908 he hardly left house 19 on Ainmillerstraße in Schwabing, where he lived from 1900 until his death and where he dictated his works to the sisters who lived in his household. Since 2011, his grave in the Munich North Cemetery on Ungererstraße has been designated again (grave number 25-4-1). A memorial plaque has been remembering Keyserling's last apartment since the end of 2013.

Keyserling remained unmarried throughout his life. With a few exceptions, his written estate was destroyed at his request. A portrait of Keyserling by Lovis Corinth hangs in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. Corinth brought confirmation from friends that he had met Keyserling very well. According to publisher Korfiz Holm , Keyserling is said to have commented on the picture: "I would rather not look like that.

Artistic creation

During the early novels Miss Pink Heart. Eine Kleinstadtliebe (1887) and The Third Staircase (1892) are still under the influence of naturalism , his essays on general and cultural questions as well as the dramas Ein Frühlingsopfer (1900), Der dumme Hans (1901), Peter Hawel (1904) and Benignens Erlebnis (1906) are forgotten today, Keyserling is considered one of the few important Impressionist storytellers due to his stories , novellas and novels published from 1903 .

Set in the world of an overly refined rural nobility, shaped by Protestant ethics of duty , who, having largely become socially functionless, is only able to convey the stifling corset of traditional conventions and class boundaries as a life content to the next generation, Keyserling's narrative work unfolds from 1903 onwards in an always subjective - figure-bound - Narrative perspective , often from a female point of view and just as often, relativizing it, narrating from a multi-perspective, the individual needs of the members of an upper class, "which also includes the bourgeoisie, insofar as they are 'kept' in the castles as educators, court masters or the like and theirs Life forms have adapted ”(Brinkmann). In contrast to this is the rural, apparently uncircumcised, natural world of the villagers, the simple farmers and fishermen, who are open to the men of the upper class to satisfy their lust for life, as well as the fascination that surrounds those inwardly torn figures who like Doralice with broke the nobility ( waves ) or how Frau von Syrman are no longer socially acceptable because of her "novel with the American insurance officer" ( princesses ). None of the figures, "who tremble with the desire to be outside and cannot breathe when they come out" ( Colorful Hearts ), succeed in crossing the boundaries they longed for out of their merely decorative existence; they all fail with their attempts to break out and ultimately give up.

If the scenes are also discreetly relocated to the Mark Brandenburg , to East Prussia or - occasionally - to Bavarian , Keyserling's narrative, which earned him the label "Baltic Fontane" due to its restrained irony and his sensitive portrayal of erotic conflicts, is undoubtedly due to an intimate knowledge the world of the Baltic nobility that perished with the Russian Revolution . He lovingly paints the interiors of their castles and country houses as well as the artificial landscapes of the fields, gardens and parks with their colors, scents and the changing light. "When there is no longer a park, one will still be able to imagine with the help of Keyserling's descriptions which promises of paradise the old European palace gardens once contained." (Mosebach)

reception

The novel by Klaus Modick , Keyserling's Secret , published in 2018 , is about the genesis of the portrait painting by Eduard von Keyserling, which Lovis Corinth made in the summer of 1900 on Lake Starnberg .

Works

The classification of the title as a novel, short story or novella varies from case to case.

Novels

• Miss Rosa Herz , 1887. Steidl, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3-88243-717-1 .
• The third staircase , 1892. Steidl, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 3-88243-653-0 .
• Beate and Mareile . Eine Schloßgeschichte , 1903. btb, Munich 1998, ISBN 978-3-442-72452-9 .
• Dumala , 1907. In: Harmonie , Munich, Knaur 1998, ISBN 978-3-426-61109-8 .
• Wellen , 1911. SZ-Bibliothek, Munich 2004, ISBN 978-3-937793-53-5 .
  • Wellen , 1911. Afterword by Florian Illies, Zurich, Manesse 2011, ISBN 978-3-7175-2266-9 .
  • Wellen , 1911. Ed., Commented and provided with an afterword by Gabriele Radecke , Stuttgart, Reclam 2018, ISBN 978-3-15-011156-7 .
  • Wellen , dtv Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2019. 16th edition, ISBN 978-3-423-12550-5
• Evening houses , 1914. Steidl, Göttingen, 2004, ISBN 978-3-88243-614-3 .
• Fürstinnen , 1916. dtv, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-423-13312-0 .
  • Anniversary edition for the hundredth year of the first publication, with an afterword by Jens Malte Fischer , Manesse Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-7175-2436-6 .
• Holiday children , 1918/19. In: Harmonie , Munich, Knaur 1998, ISBN 978-3-426-61109-8 .
• Novels of twilight . Edited by Ernst Heilborn [therein:] Fürstinnen (1915) [1916]; Am Südhang (1914) [1911]; Evening Houses (1913) [1914]; In the quiet angle (1914) [1917]. Berlin, S. Fischer o. J.

Novellas and short stories

• The soldiers-Kersta , 1901 in the new Rundschau , 1906 as a book by S. Fischer , Berlin.
• Sultry days . Novelle, 1904. In: Schwüle Tage , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-7175-2062-7 , librivox
• Harmonie , 1905. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 978-3-518-01784-5
• His love experience , 1906. In: Im stillen Winkel , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7175-2098-6
• Country party. June mood , 1908. In Landpartie , Steidl, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-86521-667-0
• Colorful hearts , 1909. In: Schwüle Tage , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-7175-2062-7
• Neighbors , 1911. In: Harmonie , Knaur, Munich 1998, ISBN 978-3-426-61109-8
• On the southern slope . Novelle, 1914. In: Schwüle Tage , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-7175-2062-7
• Nicky , 1914. In: Schwüle Tage , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-7175-2062-7
• Im stillen Winkel , 1914. In: Im stillen Winkel , Manesse-Verlag, Zurich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7175-2098-6

Dramas

• A spring sacrifice , 1900 Fischer, Berlin. First performance: November 12, 1899 at the Lessing Theater in Berlin.
• The stupid Hans , 1901 Fischer, Berlin. World premiere: May 4, 1901 at the Berlin Residenztheater.
• The black bottle , premiered in 1902 on the cabaret stage of the "Elf Scharfrichter" in Munich. Friedenauer Presse, Berlin 1990, ISBN 978-3-921592-61-8
• Peter Hawel , 1904 Fischer, Berlin. First performance: October 10, 1903 at the Munich Schauspielhaus.
• Benign's experience , 1906 Fischer, Berlin. World premiere: March 8, 1905 at the Munich Schauspielhaus.
• The gap. Two dialogues , 1911 Neue Freie Presse , Vienna. Scenic premiere: April 4th, 1997 at the Brentano Theater in Bamberg.

Film adaptations

• Am Südhang , ZDF 1980, directed by Michael Verhoeven . With Andrea Jonasson , Helmut Zierl and Franz-Otto Krüger .
• Beate and Mareile , ZDF 1981, director: Hajo Gies . With Herlinde Latzko , Anne-Marie Kuster and Rüdiger Vogler .
• Wellen , ZDF 2005, directed by Vivian Naefe . With Marie Bäumer , Matthias Habich , Florian Stetter and Monica Bleibtreu .

Radio plays

• 1967: Evening Houses - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (Radio Play - BR )
• 2013: Wellen - Director: Claudia Johanna Leist (radio play - WDR)

Letters

• Gabriele Radecke : "... because we all suffer from undigested question marks". Eduard von Keyserling: Letters to his nephew Hermann von Keyserling. In: Holger Dauer, Benedikt Descourvières and Peter W. Marx (eds.): “Undigested question marks”. Literary theory and text analytical practice. St. Augustin 1998, pp. 169-184.

literature

• Ulrich von Stülpnagel: Count Eduard von Keyserling and his epic work (dissertation), Rostock 1926.
• Fritz Löffler : The epic work of Eduard von Keyserling (dissertation), Munich 1928.
• Kate Knoop: The stories of Eduard von Keyserling. A contribution to the history of German literature (= BdtLw 37), Marburg 1929 [reprint: New York / USA 1968].
• Otto von Taube : Afterword . In: Sultry days and other stories. Zurich 1954.
• Richard Brinkmann: Reality and Illusion. Studies on the content and limits of the term realism for narrative poetry of the 19th century , Tübingen 1957.
• Benno von Wiese : Eduard von Keyserling. On the southern slope , in: ders., The German novella from Goethe to Kafka. Interpretations , 2, Düsseldorf 1962, pp. 280-298.
• Hans Baumann : Eduard von Keyserling's stories. An interpretation of the novel "Evening Houses" (= ZBLG 28), Zurich 1967.
• Elisabeth Irene Knapp: Conditions and function of the excerpts in the stories of Eduard von Keyserling ; (Dissertation 1970), Bonn 1971.
• Fritz Martini:  Keyserling, Eduard Graf von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , pp. 563-565 ( digitized version ).
• Rudolf Steinhilber: Eduard von Keyserling. Language skepticism and criticism of time in his work , Darmstadt 1977.
• Richard A. Koc: The German Society Novel at the Turn of the Century. A Comparison of the Works of Theodor Fontane and Eduard von Keyserling (= EHSchr 1, 542), Bern 1982.
• May Redlich: Lexicon of German Baltic Literature. A bibliography. Published by the Georg Dehio Society. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik Berend von Nottbeck, Cologne 1989. ISBN 3-8046-8717-2 , entry pp. 170–171.
• Richard Brinkmann: Afterword . In: Eduard von Keyserling, Fürstinnen . Berlin 1989.
• Richard A. Weber: Color and light in the writings of Eduard von Keyserling (= Studies in modern German literature 39); New York 1990.
• Andreas Sturies: Intimacy and Public. An examination of the stories by Eduard von Keyserling (= EHSchr 1,1176); (Dissertation Munich), Frankfurt a. M. 1990.
• Hannelore Gutmann: The narrated world of Eduard von Keyserlings. Investigation of the ironic narrative procedure (= EHSchr 1.1518); (Dissertation), Frankfurt a. M. 1995.
• Beate Jürgens: Colorful moments. Color as an element of representation in Eduard von Keyserling's narrative work , dissertation Mainz 1992.
• Peter von Matt : Supplement to Eduard von Keyserling, Drei Romane , Stuttgart 1992.
• Irmelin Schwalb: Eduard von Keyserling. Constants and variants in his narrative work from 1903 (= EHSchr 1,1364); (Dissertation, Munich 1991), Frankfurt a. M. 1993.
• Angela Sendlinger: Lebenspathos and Décadence around 1900. Studies on the dialectics of decadence and the philosophy of life using the example of Eduard von Keyserlings and Georg Simmels (= EHSchr 1,1441) (dissertation Munich 1993), Frankfurt a. M. 1994.
• Antonie Alm-Lequeux: Eduard von Keyserling. His work and the war? With unpublished texts by Eduard von Keyserling (= LuM 51) (Dissertation Otago / New Zealand 1995), Paderborn 1996.
• Susanne Scharnowski: Perception thresholds. The crisis of seeing and the function of poetic speech in Eduard von Keyserling's novel "Waves" , in: Frank Möbus and Nicholas Saul (eds.): Thresholds - thresholds - Seuils , Würzburg 1998.
• Ulrike Peter: The image of women in Eduard von Keyserling's late narrative work. Representation on selected stories and novels (= literary studies in the Blue Owl 24), Essen 1999.
• Gabriele Radecke : The motif of the duel in Theodor Fontane and Eduard von Keyserling. In: Gabriele Radecke (Ed.): “The Decadence is here”. Theodor Fontane and the literature of the turn of the century. Würzburg 2002, pp. 61-77.
• Gerhard J. Bellinger , Brigitte Regulator-Bellinger : Schwabings Ainmillerstrasse and its most important residents. A representative example of Munich's city history from 1888 to today. Norderstedt 2003, ISBN 3-8330-0747-8 , pp. 193-198; 2nd edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-2883-6 .
• Armin von Ungern-Sternberg: “Shaping the mysterious life into a fertile reality.” Eduard von Keyserling's stories: Joke, melancholy and deeper meaning , in: Hofmannsthal-Jahrbuch zur Europäische Moderne 12 (2004), pp. 255–286.
• Martin Mosebach : Afterword . In: Eduard von Keyserling, Sultry Days . Stories. Zurich 2005.
• Tilman Krause : Afterword . In: Eduard von Keyserling, Im stillen Winkel , Erzählungen, Zurich 2006.
• Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 665-673 .
• Boris Hoge: "The broken ring". Eduard von Keyserling and Joseph von Eichendorff. In: Aurora 68 (2008/2009), pp. 79-88.
• Thomas Homscheid: Eduard von Keyserling - Life and Work , Norderstedt 2009.
• Sandra Markewitz: One last impressionist. Eduard von Keyserling and the colors , Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2010, ISBN 978-3-89528-789-3 .
• Boris Hoge: "Kreuzzeitung" and "Russian Border" - Theodor Fontane and Eduard von Keyserling's historical and geographical detail. In: Moderna språk 104 (2010) No. 2, pp. 33–44 .
• Barbara Guilliard: Different forms of enjoyment in Eduard von Keyserling's `Castle Stories´ (dissertation), Hamburg 2010.
• Gian Mario Benzing: Foreword and Endnotes . In: Eduard von Keyserling, Il padiglione cinese ( Beate and Mareile ). Novel. First Italian translation by Mario Benzi . Firenze 2011 (Italian).
• Florian Illies : Epilogue . In: Eduard von Keyserling, Wellen , Roman, Zurich 2011.
• Kristy Husz: Homesickness for the Sea - The Importance of the Sea in early Thomas Mann and Eduard von Keyserling (Master's thesis), Marburg 2012.
• Gabriele Radecke : Epilogue . In: Eduard von Keyserling, waves. Roman , Stuttgart 2018.
• Christoph Jürgensen, Michael Scheffel (ed.): Eduard von Keyserling and the classical modern . Stuttgart 2020, ISBN 978-3-476-04891-2 .

Web links

Commons : Eduard Graf von Keyserling  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Eduard von Keyserling  - Quotes

Wikisource: Eduard von Keyserling  - Sources and full texts

• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Eduard von Keyserling. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• Literature by and about Eduard von Keyserling in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Eduard von Keyserling at Zeno.org .
• Works by Eduard von Keyserling in the Gutenberg-DE project
• Tilman Krause: The Fontane in minor. A plea for the unjustly forgotten narrator Eduard von Keyserling . In: Die Welt v. January 9, 1999
• Tilman Krause: Don't read, slurp! For Eduard Graf von Keyserling, the 19th century dies in beauty - a small homage on the occasion of his 150th birthday . In: Die Welt v. May 14, 2005
• Florian Illies : The irony of the sultry days. Why in Keyserling's master tales modernity is exposed even before it begins. A declaration of love to the author this summer . In: The time v. June 25, 2009
• Eduard von Keyserling in the Bavarian literature portal (project of the Bavarian State Library )
• Album academicum of the Imperial University of Dorpat
• Data from German literature , University of Karlsruhe
• The poet of German decadence

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Modick: Keyserling's secret . 1st edition. Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 2018, ISBN 978-3-462-05156-8 , pp. 218-226 . : Modick fictitiously reveals these reasons: As the third charge and treasurer of the Curonia, he borrowed 400 rubles from the coffers entrusted to him at short notice and handed them over to the beautiful, seductive Ada von Cray to "rescue" her supposedly seriously ill brother, for which they are called Keyserling after two I persuaded love nights. Keyserling evaded the inevitable trial before the Curonia court of honor and the duel on pistols with his husband Adas, Major General Friedrich von Cray, who had called him a "miserable whore", which Keyserling had evaded by hasty flight. A twofold shame, which led to the ostracism by family and peers.
2. ↑ Review by Rose-Maria Gropp, FAZ , August 7, 2017, accessed on the same day