Mrs. Regel Amrain and her youngest child

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Ms. Regel Amrain and her youngest is a short story from the cycle of novels The People of Seldwyla by Gottfried Keller , which was published in Braunschweig in 1856. Franz Duncker had preprinted the text in the Berliner Volks-Zeitung in 1855 .

prehistory

Mr. Amrain, a former button maker, had mingled with the Seldwyler speculators and had acquired a quarry outside the town gates. But he never let stones break, but had merely speculated about the new property. When a conservative financier saw through the liberal Mr. Amrain, he had withdrawn the capital from the quarry. Thereupon Mr. Amrain left his wife Regula with the three children in Seldwyla and fled headlong to North America .

action

Ms. Regula Amrain, the new owner of the quarry, hires the capable foreman Florian from outside and really lets stones break. Production gets going. Over time, Ms. Regula can also pay all debts that have arisen further back.

Florian urges Regula to divorce, with the intention of marrying the 29-year-old woman afterwards and thus becoming master of the flourishing company. One evening, when Florian visits his boss at home and becomes more and more intrusive, his son Fritzchen, who is about five years old, drives him away. Outwardly, Fritzchen resembles his fugitive father, but his personality looks like her. Regula can hardly get enough of the child and decides to bring up a Fritz Amrain of a special kind. From then on, the mother only allows her son to have good character traits. Three pedagogical examples are demonstrated.

As a 14-year-old boy, Fritz was already working in his mother's quarry; at the age of 18, he was already leading the company's workers. The first example of upbringing concerns the choice of a suitable woman for the young lad. Regula prevents Fritz from messing with certain Seldwyler women whose reputation is not the best. Fritz understands. He no longer looks for his treasure within the walls of Seldwyla, but outside - in his mother's home. The second example of upbringing concerns an armed move by the Seldwyler men, in which Fritz participates. Residents in the neighborhood of Seldwyla should be brought to their senses. Regula lets the son go without a reply; is even secretly a little proud of the handsome defensive fellow. The company is canceled without result. The next day, Fritz goes to his work in the quarry without a word. On the night expedition he ruined his fine coat and his wallet is empty. When the next armed exodus into enemy territory - Fritz is back with the party - he is disarmed, imprisoned as a riot and can only be released for a ransom . The mother, who has been forced to pay by the imprisoned person, takes time until Fritz is amnestied. Again, the son understands the mother's educational intentions. Barely 20 years old, Fritz became a serious man. Regula allows the son to marry. A year later, his wife gave Fritz a pretty little son. The upbringing of the young family man is not over yet. The third and final example concerns the choice of “administrative and judicial authorities” in Seldwyla. Fritz doesn't want to go. Regula becomes active and convinces her boy.

When the father returned from America, Fritz was brought up. Fritz, the new managing director of the prosperous Amrain company with a solid character, appears as the good-natured educator of the unwanted father.

reception

Statements from the 19th century

  • In a review of April 17, 1856, Berthold Auerbach praised the “depth and delicacy of psychological knowledge”.
  • Robert Prutz emphasizes the drawing of the protagonist in a meeting on August 14, 1856.
  • In 1860 Heinrich von Treitschke was impressed “by the simple simplicity of this story”.

Recent comments

  • In 1960, Hans Richter sees the “Erziehungsnovelle” as a parody of an impeccable upbringing.
  • The upside-down world - the son treats the father as a child - is the novellist element according to Böning. In contrast, Breitenbruch, referring to Gottfried Keller, describes the text as a little novel.
  • Selbmann quotes Ermatinger , Muschg and Kaiser . According to them, Gottfried Keller wrote autobiographical things from his soul.
  • According to Hannelore Schlaffer, the text is more of a manageable educational novel than a novella, because Ms. Regel Amrain anticipates unheard of events by bringing up her youngest. In addition, education is detrimental to any poetry and only yields prose.

literature

First edition

  • Mrs. Regel Amrain and her youngest in: The people of Seldwyla. Stories by Gottfried Keller. Friedrich Vieweg , Braunschweig 1856. 523 pages

Used edition

  • Mrs. Regel Amrain and her youngest child. Pp. 145–194 in: Thomas Böning (Ed.): Gottfried Keller. The people of Seldwyla. German classic publisher in paperback. Volume 10, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-618-68010-4 (corresponds to "Gottfried Keller, all works in seven volumes" (at the same place of publication by the same editor))

Secondary literature

  • Bernd Breitenbruch: Gottfried Keller. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1968 (1998 edition), ISBN 3-499-50136-8
  • Hannelore Schlaffer : Poetics of the Novella. Metzler, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-476-00957-2
  • The rules of education. Mrs. Regel Amrain and her youngest child. P. 65–69 in: Rolf Selbmann: Gottfried Keller. Novels and short stories. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2001 (Klassiker-Lektüren Vol. 6), ISBN 3-503-06109-6

Web links

annotation

  1. ↑ There are the two older Fritzchen brothers. Outwardly they resemble the mother. Regula gives the two sons an apprenticeship outside. Even as men, they do not return to Seldwyla and lead a respectable professional life in their new place of residence. Selbmann humorously comments on this deportation of the two boys, i.e. Gottfried Keller's construction, with the "literary uselessness of such children" (Selbmann, p. 68, 3rd Zvu).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, textual delivery, p. 665 below, Sigel A
  2. ^ Böning in the edition used, p. 616, 1. Zvo
  3. ↑ From the " Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung" quoted in the edition used, p. 638, 5. Zvo, by the publisher Böning
  4. ↑ Quoted from the " Deutsches Museum " in the edition used, p. 637 middle, by the publisher Böning
  5. ↑ From the " Prussian Year Books ", Vol. 5, pp. 70-87, quoted in the edition used, pp. 639, 10. Zvu, by the editor Böning
  6. ↑ Hans Richter, quoted in Selbmann, p. 68, 21. Zvo
  7. ^ Böning in the edition used, p. 645, 9. Zvo
  8. ↑ Breitenbruch, p. 84, 12. Zvo
  9. ↑ Selbmann, p. 65 below
  10. ↑ Hannelore Schlaffer, p. 264