Ghosts (Turgenew)

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Ivan Turgenev in 1859

Ghosts , also apparitions , phantoms or visions ( Russian Призраки , Prisraki ), is a fantastic novella by the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev , which was completed in the summer of 1863 and appeared in the March issue of the St. Petersburg magazine Epocha in 1864 . Friedrich von Bodenstedt 's translation into German was published in 1865 under the title Apparitions in the Rieger University Bookstore in Munich. In 1866, Mérimée 's translation into French under the title Apparitions was published in the Paris Revue des Deux Mondes .

overview

In the evening, the first-person narrator, a Russian nobleman and landowner, always goes to the edge of the forest to the old oak tree, where Ellis, the transparent spirit of a woman, embraces both arms and carries him through certain European places in air travel over the centuries .

The ghost Ellis keeps coming to the Russian because it supposedly loves him. After some flight experience, the landowner wants to break up with Ellis, because during the flight "his heart beats so special" and he feels like "someone is sucking on it". What if Ellis drinks his blood on the fly? No matter - the nobleman keeps going to the oak, flies at night and returns to his estate in the morning. Over time, the signs speak for themselves: after all, Ellis is no longer really transparent, but takes on color. There is soon no more talk of love for the nobleman. Indifferently, Ellis flies the landowner on from place to place. When he sees a horrific image of death in flight, it happens. Ellis rolls over in the air and crashes with the landlord. The failed commented on her fall: In vain did she want to store new life.

Now the first-person narrator is certain: Ellis is no longer a ghost. Because a young woman lies on the ground next to him with her thick hair loosened. After the two bodies hug, Ellis says goodbye and leaves forever. The narrator is on his way home. From then on his chest hurts, he coughs, cannot sleep and is sick with self-disgust. The doctor diagnoses anemia .

Aviation

In Ellis' "not at all Russian face", the narrator notes "a sweet, secretive smile". From the second day of the flight on, he is no longer afraid of her and wants to know who she is. Ellis is silent in the night flight. Other ghosts occasionally appear:

chapter Destinations) other ghosts
4th Isle of Wight
11, 13 Rome Julius Caesar
15, 16 Volga Stepan Razin
18, 19 Boulevard des Italiens , St. Roch Prince Kulmametov and his friend Serge Waraksin
20th Schwetzinger Park , Black Forest
22nd Peter and Paul Fortress , Alexander Column , Neva , Schlossplatz

reception

Toporov takes the allegory as a piece of Turgenev's autobiography with Pauline Viardot as the protagonist.

German-language editions

Output used:

  • Ghosts. Eine Phantasie , pp. 223–262 in: Iwan Turgenew: Gesammelte Werke. Vol. 5. Novellas. Edited and translated from the Russian by Johannes von Guenther. 365 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1952

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Russian edition history
  2. ↑ Russian Эллис
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 232, 6th Zvu
  4. ↑ Russian князь Кульмаметов
  5. ↑ Russian Серж Вараксин
  6. ↑ Russian Дворцовая площадь
  7. ↑ Russian evaluation and criticism