Eva von Radecki

Eva Louise von Radecki (* 5 November ^{. Jul} / 17th November  1884 ^greg. In Riga ; † 10. July 1920 in Järvere , Estonia ) was a Baltic German writer .

Life

She was the second daughter of the elderly Kurland family lawyer in Riga and St. Petersburg Ottokar von Radecki (1854-1921) and his wife Alma Dorothea von Tideböhl (1855-1917). One of her brothers was the writer Sigismund von Radecki (1891–1970). The family had lived in St. Petersburg since 1901, where Eva began training with a sculptor, which she was unable to complete for health reasons. In spring 1905 she made a long trip to Italy (Meran, Rome, Anacapri); Soon afterwards the family moved to Dorpat, where initially both brothers began studying, which they later continued in Freiberg / Saxony. In 1912 she fell ill and soon became bedridden. Separated from her family by the war and revolution in Russia since the autumn of 1918, she lived with her aunt Josephine von Möller on Jerven, a beigut from Sõmerpalu (summer stalls ), until her death . She was buried in Dorpat (Tartu).

Her brother Sigismund wrote ( Logbook , p. 15): "The complaint about her difficult life, which she withheld from people, let her flow in her poems":

"What have I done / that I, almost a child, / should know mercilessly / what human tears are."

Literary work

An early and surprisingly wide reading and learning workload inspired her to make private attempts at writing for family and friends (e.g. 1899 knight drama Röschen von Siebeneichen ). Her broad artistic orientation and intellectual development can be seen in many details in the correspondence (1909–1920) with her brother Sigismund and her diary (The Logbook: November 1915 to September 1919).

For the first time she was able to publish a poem ( April Night ) in 1906 . A little later, around 1907, she finished working on the crib rider ; This was preceded by intensive studies for a biography of the Livonian politician Johann Reinhold von Patkul (1660–1707). From 1914 to 1916 she kept an anthology of selected poems in addition to her diary . In addition to well-known classics and biblical quotations, lines from “modern” authors stand out: most strikingly, An Gott ( Else Lasker-Schüler ), Peter Hille and several verses from Walt Whitman's blades of grass ( Leaves of grass ); It is astonishing that not a single Russian author is represented.

Crib rider 1934

Publications

• April night. (Poem.) In: Westermanns illustrated German monthly books 100 (1906), p. 250.
• Nativity Rider. (Novelle.) In: German Monthly Journal for Russia, Issue 7 (1913), pp. 626–641 , and Issue 8 (1913), pp. 734–738 . - Again as: Der Krippenreiter in: Hellmuth Krüger (Hrsg.): Die Baltic Provinzen. Vol. 2: Novellas and Dramas. Felix Lehmann, Berlin 1916, pp. 77–118. - Again as: Der Krippenreiter. Novella by Eva von Radecki . In: Grenz-Warte (German-Baltic Society, Berlin), H. 4 v. November 4, 1917 (pp. 30-32) to H. 15 v. January 20, 1918, p. 119 f. - Again as: Krippenreiter. (= “Small Baltic Library” 1.) JG Krüger, Tartu 1934 (66 pages, with color plate by Roland Walter; arranged by friends of Dorpater, including Margarethe “Kitta” Walter, the sister of the painter Roland Walter).
• The beloved. (Narration.) In: Velhagen and Klasings monthly books , year 35 (1920/21), part 1.
• On bright nights. (Miniature.) In: entertainment supplement to the “Rigaschen Rundschau” No. 24 of June 18, 1927 ( digitized in the LNB ).
• The buried donkey. (Narration.) In: Velhagen and Klasings MONTHS , Volume 36 (1921/22), Part 2, pp. 389–404. - Again in 1951 in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung (No. 1954 ff.).
• Like many a starry night. (Poem.) In: Werner Bergengruen (Hrsg.): Baltisches Dichterbrevier. Neuner, Berlin and Leipzig 1924, p. 82 (inter alia with her brother Sigismund and friends Reinhold von Walter and Hellmuth Krüger).
• The buried donkey. - The logbook. With an introduction by Sigismund von Radecki. Burges, Cologne 1959. 543 pp. (Edited presumably on the occasion of the author's 75th birthday.) - Contains the poems April Night (p. 35), An den Wind (p. 36), Im Herbst (p. 37), Nach dem Kampf (p. 38), Lied der poor Berthe (p. 39), How so many starry nights (p. 40) and the stories The buried donkey (p. 43 ff.), Die Geliebte (p. 80 ff.) , In bright nights (p. 112 ff.), Arge and Helge (p. 116 ff.), Krippenreiter (p. 155 ff.) And Das Logbuch (p. 205–540).

Lost work

• Saul. (Biblical drama in the style of Thomas Carlyles On Heroes and Hero Worship ; in the summer of 1918.)

literature

• Nativity Rider. Short review (signed E. St.) in: Rigasche Rundschau No. 292 of December 21, 1934, p. 6 ( digitized in the LNB).
• Baltic new release. Nativity Rider. Short review in: Rigasche Post No. 14 (423) of December 23, 1934, p. 4 ( digitized in the LNB).
• Sigismund von Radecki: About the author's life. In: The buried donkey (poems, novellas and stories) - The logbook (diaries). Burges, Cologne 1959.
• Sigismund von Radecki: A room with a view. Essays, sketches and translations. Hegner, Cologne 1961 (pp. 181–183: about the publishing difficulties of publishing Eva's diaries, etc.).
• Erik von Löwis: Review of the logbook. In: Baltische Hefte 3 (1959/60), p. 176.
• May Redlich: Lexicon of German Baltic Literature. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-8046-8717-2 , p. 254.
• Gero von Wilpert: German Baltic literary history. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53525-9 , p. 266 (short reference).
• Carola L. Gottzmann and Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg. de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, Vol. 3, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 1040.