Princesses

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Lovis Corinth :
Eduard Graf von Keyserling
* 1855 † 1918

Fürstinnen is a novel by Eduard von Keyserling , which was published in Velhagen & Klasing's monthly magazine in 1916 and in book form in 1917 by Fischer, Berlin. Princess Adelheid and her daughter Princess Marie want, each in their own way, to break through the barriers of class . But neither can find their happiness.

Four princesses

After the death of her husband, the ruling Prince of Neustatt-Birkenstein, Princess Adelheid and her three daughters, the princesses Roxane, Eleonore and Marie, moved to the "east of the empire under the rule of Gutheiden". The widow wants to marry off the three daughters appropriately. That works with her two oldest.

Roxane marries the Grand Duke Dimitri and goes to Petersburg with him . The firstborn dies. The marriage of the “easily vulnerable” Eleanor with her cousin, the “sickly” Hereditary Prince Joachim von Neustatt-Birkenstein, is not a happy one. The prince climbs up after ladies-in-waiting.

Adelheid stays behind with Marie at Gutheiden Castle. Noble neighbors live in the Schlochtin and Tirnow castles.

characters

Gutheiden

  • Princess Adelheid von Neustatt-Birkenstein and her daughters
    • Princess Roxane
    • Princess Eleonore (also: Lore)
    • Princess Marie
  • Count Donald von Streith
  • Mrs. von Syrman, b. Arci
    • Britta , their daughter

Schlochtin

  • Baron von Üchtlitz
    • Hilda , his daughter

Tirnow

  • Count von Dühnen
    • Felix , his son

Princess Marie

A swarm of lynx-eyed educators want to watch every step of 16-year-old Marie. So the girl with her “fluctuating health” has to make forbidden excursions - for example into the neighboring forest - together with the neighboring boys Coco, Bruno and Felix von Dühnen.

Felix and Marie then meet repeatedly. Marie's affection grows, but the guilty conscience remains. She is doing something forbidden. In this respect, Marie admires another child in the neighborhood - the "clever" Hilda von Üchtlitz. Hilda, "pretty and full of life, with cool pink cheeks and bright, keenly attentive eyes", lets her cousin Egon Barnitz rock her in the Schlochtiner Park. Marie has to let Hilda explain to her about the men, those strange creatures who play the “royal lion who shakes his mane”. Marie begins "to love Hilda strongly". But Hilda only "smiles" "pityingly" at the "little princess".

Felix is ​​on summer vacation. Before he has to go back to the “damn school”, he gets serious. "Suddenly" he grabs "Mary's head from behind", "bends it back and" presses "his hot lips very firmly on her mouth" as he parted. Marie cries because Felix has insulted her and because she now misses the big, wild boy so badly. Poor Marie remains alone in Gutheiden Castle, her golden cage. Again it is Hilda, the girl with the “beautiful, lively face” that gives Marie courage: “We hang around in the dark park, there you experience a lot. We just don't have to think about what the others will say about it later. We do what we want ”. Marie would like to obey this basic rule of conduct, but it is so difficult. Both girls decide they want to be friends. The love lesson continues. Hilda lectures: "If we fall in love with a man, and that cannot be avoided, then we act too". Marie groans: "I will never be able to". Nevertheless, she holds on to her love for Felix. At the next meeting in Gutheiden Castle Park, he confesses to her how he adores her. Marie risks a lot. Without permission, she and Felix leave their castle grounds. Outside, the couple descend into the gravel pit and he kisses them. Exactly according to Hilda's detailed instructions, she wraps "her arms around his neck" and really - she gets "warm around the heart". "Sweet Highness" says Felix.

Meanwhile in the military on an officer career, Felix has high gambling debts. The father pays this one time, but at the same time gives the son an unmistakable understanding that he should settle such debts independently in the future. When Felix later - again heavily burdened with new debts - meets with Marie in Gutheiden Castle Park, Marie feels wonderful security in the embrace from a dark, threatening world and from the restlessness of her own heart, but her worries gain the upper hand. Marie whines all the time. Felix runs away and consoles himself with someone else for the evening. When Felix later goes into debt again, Marie learns that his father wants to cast him out. Marie, in her need, has no other way out than to consult with Hilda. Hilda announces, smiling pityingly at the "poor chicken", that she has become engaged to Felix and is leaving with him. When Felix appears unexpectedly, Marie passes out. After she has come to, he wishes her a speedy recovery. Hilda commented with a quiet laugh that Marie would "peacefully unwind her princess life" without Felix.

Princess Adelheid

The princess does not take an energetic step against the old routine on Gutheiden. The “terrible brick factory” is not profitable. Count Donald von Streith, adviser to the princess, neither worries about the brickworks nor does he find other sources of income. Rather, like the princess, he finds pleasure in the tranquil country life. Once “Hofmarschall in Birkenstein”, he “owns a forest estate near Gutheiden and” lives “there alone in his hunting lodge”. The princess was delighted when Streith, who “had passed forty, gave up court service” and withdrew very close to her. Even then, in the Birkenstein times, when her spouse the prince, “a merry gentleman”, caused her grief, she had felt an inclination to become a court marshal. This stops in Gutheiden and is unobtrusively replied by Streith. Alternating visits over time reveal more than mutual benevolence. Streith doesn't make advances to the princess, but he doesn't stay away from her either. On the joint morning ride, the princess breathes deep forest air and comments: "This is the best way to drink all the beauty in". Streith comments: "The forest as a morning pint". The princess lives in the presence of the count. This is also noticed by the married daughters who visit Gutheiden without their husbands and who wistfully reflect on memories. The princess’s shy relationship does not remain hidden from the rest of the family either. The latter insists on maintaining etiquette.

But there is no scandal. The 18-year-old Britta von Syrman, who lives with her mother in the Streith neighborhood, raves about the count. Streith doesn't do anything about it, but rather, waiting and at first rather amused, responds to the young girl's very direct approaches. Over time he becomes downright addicted to Britta. "The admiration for this girl", this youth, Streith shoots "hot in the blood". During a ride, the princess catches the unequal couple red-handed in the forest. With "cruel clarity" she sees the girl and the young, cheerfully laughing Streith. Her beautiful dream is over.

People's talk about their daughter's relationship leads Ms. von Syrman to debate. On the latter Streith asks for Britta's hand. Mother and daughter are delighted. The engagement is celebrated in secret in the Syrman house. Streith is out of luck. He gets sick. The princess suppresses her thirst for revenge and pays a visit to the sick bed. Streith dies. Britta and wife von Syrman mourn.

Quotes

  • "We have to make our present so strong that it displaces the past."
  • "Only those who want to experience something experience something."

time

  • The novel can be read as a controlled farewell to aristocratic times. As in other works by the author, there is at least one nobleman who insists on the old order. In “Fürstinnen” it is Count von Dühnen, who casts his unwanted son Felix out: “This is the only way we can uphold the nobility in these difficult democratic times. The strictest selection without sentimentalism. Carelessness, I have absolutely no idea how carelessness comes into my family ”.
  • In vain is Princess Marie encouraged by her aristocratic relatives to do everyday work: “Charity is still the best thing, not this so-called going to the huts of the poor, there you only get diseases and fleas, but a cooking school, a sewing school, that kind of thing . There isn't much going on with charity either, nobody is grateful to us for it, but we don't have much other choice ”.

humor

Although the novelist never gets tired of painting this magnificent picture of the old days - with the palace gardens, abundance of flowers and secluded lilac corners, he can certainly distance himself from his peers. When, for example, the fine party party "strengthens their hearts with a patriotic song" audibly too far, "over in the castle the dogs begin to bark".

And another example: The nobility go to the Mühlensee. Pure enjoyment of nature is staged on the bank. Unfortunately, the deer don't obey during this open-air performance.

shape

  • The language is pure.
  • Imagery : Emotions are evoked with simple sentences. For example, when Marie picks daffodils, “the flowers are as warm as human lips”.
  • Tell distance : The teller holds the right measure its distance to a narrative. In a few places he gives up his appropriate - and also welcome to the reader - attitude, for example when he lets Eleonore and Marie think very quickly one after the other.
  • Subject : In the second half of the novel, the love affair between the serene Count von Streith and the very young Britta von Syrman is pushed too far into the foreground. The figure of the princess, who, according to the title of the novel, is the main focus, almost atrophies as an extra when she is allowed to take note of the relationship soberly - on horseback.

literature

source
  • Eduard Graf von Keyserling: Princesses. Novel . 200 pages. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-423-13312-0
expenditure
  • Princesses The text of the novel on the Internet (PDF file; 448 kB)
Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steffen Brondke: Journal and book prints of the literary texts Keyserling . In: Christoph Juergensen, Michael Scheffel (eds.): Eduard von Keyserling and the classical modern (=  treatises on literary studies ). JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2020, ISBN 978-3-476-04892-9 , pp. 287-290 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-476-04892-9_19 .
  2. ↑ Source p. 58
  3. ↑ Source p. 78
  4. ↑ Source p. 104
  5. ↑ Source p. 144
  6. ↑ Source p. 48
  7. ↑ Source p. 49
  8. ↑ Source p. 57
  9. ↑ Source p. 119
  10. ↑ Source p. 60

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