Goldelse (Marlitt)

The Gazebo (1866)

Goldelse is a novel (family novel, romance novel) that E. Marlitt published from January to June 1866 in 19 parts in the family magazine Die Gartenlaube . The illustrations for the later book editions are by Paul Thumann .

According to the story The Twelve Apostles was Goldelse Marlitt's debut novel. The action-packed work proved to be a bestseller, the edition of the operating gazebo strong in the air and established Marlitt as a star author of the publisher.

Goldelse tells the story of the young Elisabeth Ferber, who discovered by chance that she is a descendant of the noble knights von Gnadewitz not only through her mother, but also through her father - in direct line. The inheritance associated with this discovery almost makes her the prey of the vicious Emil von Hollfeld, who also tries to snatch her away from Rudolph von Walde: the man Elisabeth loves.

action

Chapter 1–2. The time is initially the year 1848. The Gnadewitz Castle stands lonely on a mountain in Thuringia. Its resident, Chamberlain Wolf von Gnadewitz, a widower, is the last of his line after the murder of his son. He leaves Thuringia bitter and goes to Silesia, where he falls in love with Marie von Gnadewitz, a young relative who unfortunately does not reciprocate his feelings. Marie marries the forester's son, Adolph Ferber. Ferber is a promising officer. However , his career came to an abrupt end due to his partisanship during the German Revolution ; he goes with his family to the capital B., where he does better than good as an accountant.

Just when the need is greatest, Wolf von Gnadewitz dies, and Marie inherits Gnadewitz Castle, which has been uninhabited for 50 years and largely fell into ruins. Only the "intermediate building" can still be inhabited. Ferbers, who have no choice, move in together with their two children: the six-year-old Ernst and the 18-year-old Elisabeth, who is called "Goldelse" because of her beautiful blonde hair. Thanks to the intervention of his brother Karl, the princely forester, Adolph Ferber obtained a position as forest clerk.

Chapters 3–8. Elisabeth gets to know her new environment, which is mysterious and strange in various ways. There is, for example, the exaggerated, borderline insane and allegedly mute Bertha, whom Elisabeth will soon encounter with particular hostility. The young orphan, a relative of Karl Ferber's deceased wife, lives in the forester's house as a foster daughter and is kept hidden by Karl. And there is old Sabine, Karl's housekeeper, a whispering storyteller that Elisabeth hears about through Jost von Gnadewitz, a wild hunter in a gray past who is said to have loved a beautiful girl. From another source, Elisabeth soon hears the story of her own ancestor Ferber, who is said to have raised a foundling, a boy who later married the ancestor's biological daughter.

In contrast, Lindhof Castle in the valley, where Baroness Amalie Lessen rules, a pious Protestant under whose influence charity and humanity experience a decline and hypocrisy moves into the area, is completely unmystery. The baroness, a widow, has a grown son from her first marriage, the characterless Emil von Hollfeld, and an eight-year-old daughter from her second marriage, Bella, spoiled through and through. Lindhof Palace does not belong to the baroness at all, but to her cousin, Rudolph von Walde. Although Rudolph is already 37 years old, he is still unmarried. The Princess von L. had once wanted to bring him a bride; Rudolph, who was not very willing to marry, had refused this with the declaration that her ancestry was not flawless enough for him. This had seriously damaged his reputation and earned him a reputation for arrogance. Later he went on extensive journeys with his secretary Ernst Reinhard.

Meanwhile, Rudolph's sister Helene stayed behind in Lindhof Palace, whose severe deformation of her hips and spine forced her to live a seated life. Because Helene loves music and word gets around that Elisabeth is an excellent pianist, the latter is regularly called to the castle as a piano teacher. Elisabeth becomes friends there with Bella's English governess, Miss Mertens, who is severely bullied by the baroness, and also with Helene. Helene loves Emil von Hollfeld, a man she will never be able to marry because of her disability.

Chapters 9-12. Rudolph von Walde and his secretary return. Like everyone else, Elisabeth initially said that Rudolph was haughty and callous. But she soon corrects her judgment. Rudolph begins to curb the pious mischief that the baroness introduced in his absence. The Protestant private tutor and preacher was sent away and attended mass in the village church again. Linke, the pious and violent administrator of the castle, is dismissed and replaced by a humane man. Pampered Bella is given a lesson. When the Baroness threatens to throw Miss Mertens out of the house, Rudolph's secretary gets in the way, who makes the governess his bride.

Emil von Hollfeld, who is an outright lecher, harassed Elisabeth against her will with his attention. Elisabeth confides in Rudolph and assures that she hate Hollfeld deeply. Rudolph now loves her and she loves him. As luck would have it that Rudolph discovered Elisabeth again and again in involuntary intimacy with Hollfeld, but he does not believe her. Conversely, Elisabeth also misinterprets Rudolph's frequent thunderstorm moods as an expression of an aversion directed against herself. When the secretary leaves for England to bring his future mother-in-law to Thuringia, Rudolph joins him. Elisabeth is inconsolable.

Chapters 13-15. The dismissed administrator Linke wants revenge on Rudolph for the expulsion. When Rudolph returns from England, he lies in wait for him in the woods with a pistol. Elisabeth, who happens to be on the spot, steps in boldly, snatches his weapon from the assassin and saves Rudolph's life. Left escapes, but then drowns himself in a pond.

On Rudolph's birthday there is a fun party at the nun tower. Elisabeth and Rudolph get closer, but are disturbed in the middle of the crucial debate, and finally Rudolph has to travel again because an old friend, Herr von Hartwig, is dying in Thalleben and is to receive one last visit.

Chapters 16-17. A strange discovery is made during construction work in Schloss Gnadewitz, where Elisabeth lives with her family. An old coffin with a woman's corpse, the clothes of a young woman, precious jewels and some papers can be found in a chamber that nobody knew about. The latter shows that the ancestor Jost von Gnadewitz fell in love with a young gypsy and held her captive. The young woman, Lila, was baptized, married to Jost and died after giving birth to a son. The motherless child, Hans von Gnadewitz, was then raised by the forest warden Ferber's wife. All the supposed fictions that Elisabeth had heard up to then thus turn out to be pure truth.

Elisabeth's unexpected wealth causes Hollberg to accelerate his efforts to win her over. He explains to Helene that he loves her - Helene - but that he cannot marry her because of her disability. In order to still be able to live with her, he wanted to marry her friend Elisabeth as camouflage and then take both women into his household. Helene, who is in heaven and hell at the same time because of this plan, agrees and even wants to help Elisabeth, about whose inheritance she knows nothing, financially.

Chapters 18-19. During another involuntary tête-à-tête by Elisabeth and Hollfeld, the insane Bertha appears outside the window. Elisabeth is half scared to death, which gives Hollfeld the opportunity to hide her in his arms and to suggest to the witnesses who have hurried - including Rudolph and Helene - that he has just become tenderly engaged to Elisabeth. Elisabeth manages to clarify the matter. Helene finally sees through the terrible game Hollberg played with her. Rudolph reacts with a taciturn thunderstorm mood, which Elisabeth again misunderstands: she now believes he is in league with Hollberg and is angry about the failure to get engaged. Desperate, she flees into the forest, where Bertha lies in wait for her and wants to live. She manages to get to safety in the nun tower. The safe haven turns out to be a trap. Hours later she is found and freed by Rudolph. The lovers speak up and become a couple.

Chapter 20. When Bertha sustains a slight head injury in a fall, a doctor is called in. During the investigation, he discovers that Bertha is no longer a girl (Marlitt leaves open whether she is pregnant or just deflowered, out of consideration for her family audience). Bertha then breaks her long silence and confesses to her foster father Karl what he had long suspected: she was Hollberg's lover. Under the condition that she should remain silent for the time being, Hollberg promised her marriage. In her exuberance and happiness, she then vowed not to speak at all until she married . Since Bertha now hates Hollberg and definitely does not want to marry anymore, but because of her shame she cannot stay in the house, it is decided that she has to emigrate to America. Fortunately for Bertha, there is a hunter's boy who has secretly loved her for a long time and who will accompany her to the New World.

Helene's suffering is graciously ended by an early death. The baroness and her spoiled daughter have to leave Lindhof Palace and be content with more modest living conditions. Hollfeld disappears forever.

reception

The circulation of the gazebo was 142,000 copies in the year Goldelse was published (1866), but thanks to Marlitt's popularity it rose to 382,000 copies by 1875.

Anton Edmund Wollheim adapted the novel as a play in 1869. Auguste Wachler, from whom u. a. versions of Jane Eyre and Cervantes ' La gitanilla are also suitable for young people, Goldelschen published a version in 1880: based on E. Marlitt's story “Goldelse” for young women .

Director Georg Victor Mendel staged a silent film version (1918) for the National Film Company based on a script by Joseph Richards, in which Edith Meller , Carl Auen and Heinrich Richter could be seen.

In Berlin , Viktoria was popularly named after the title figure and crowned the Victory Column erected between 1864 and 1873.

Expenses (selection)

• Goldelse . Ernst Keil, Leipzig 1868 (book edition by Gartenlauben-Verlag).
• Goldelse . Ernst Keil, Leipzig 1871 (splendid edition with gilt edging, with illustrations by Paul Thumann ).
• Gold Elsie . JB Lippincott, Philadelphia 1869 (translation into English by AL Wister).
• Goldelse . Zenodot, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8430-3189-9 .

literature

• Kirsten Søholm: "Goldelse". A popular novel by Marlitt . In: Journal for German Studies New Series . tape 11 , 1990, pp. 389-401 .
• Urszula Bonter: The popular novel in the successor of E. Marlitt: Wilhelmine Heimburg, Valeska Countess Bethusy-Huc, Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005, ISBN 3-8260-2979-8 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

Web links

Wikisource: Goldelse  - Sources and full texts

Commons : Goldelse (Marlitt)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Goldelse at Zeno

Reviews

• Goldelse as a book . In: The Gazebo . Issue 21, 1867, pp. 336 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Goldelse in England and Russia . In: The Gazebo . Issue 17, 1868, pp. 272 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Marlitt's Gold-Else (Gazebo 1868) . In: The Gazebo . Issue 46, 1868, pp. 736 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Marlitt's Gold-Else (Gazebo 1869) . In: The Gazebo . Issue 33, 1869, pp. 528 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Katrin Kohl: E. Marlitt's Best Selling Poetics . In: Charlotte Woodford, Benedict Schofield (Eds.): The German Bestseller in the Late Nineteenth Century . Camden House, Rochester, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-57113-487-5 , pp. 183 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
2. ^ Anton Edmund Wollheim: Gold-Else or the egoists. Drama in 5 acts . BS Berendsohn, Hamburg 1869 ( limited preview in Google book search).
3. ↑ Auguste Wachler: Goldelschen: based on E. Marlitt's story "Goldelse" for female youth . Meidinger's Jugendschriften Verlag, Berlin 1880.
4. ↑ Goldelse in the Internet Movie Database (English)