Harmony (Keyserling)
Harmonie is a novella by Eduard von Keyserling that appeared in S. Fischer's Neuer Rundschau in 1905 .
Summary: Anyone who avoids difficulties will later be presented with the invoice for their evasion.
action
The Balte Felix von Bassenow returns from a long trip to Italy. The marriage to his young wife Annemarie - started only two years earlier - had been blessed with a child. Annemarie hadn't been able to get over infant death; had been taken to a nervous sanatorium. Around the time of that briefing, Felix had fled to the south - allegedly because he couldn't defend himself against pity.
At home, Felix wants to pick up the book again. He succeeds effortlessly as a landlord with his old estate inspector Pitke and also with the servants, but Annemarie has since made friends with Uncle Thilo, who is already around 45 years old. In the conversation, Felix is no match for the unmarried Thilo - at least a member of the Reichstag . The rapprochement with his wife and her circle fails. It is as if cool glass walls separated him from these people. Not only Annemarie and Thilo reject him. Annemary's friend, Mrs. von Malten, who is always concerned about the health of the landlady, gives Felix an indirect way of indicating that he has done something wrong with his trip to Italy. Felix keeps an eye on the wife of Maltens foster daughter Mila. Keyserling writes that Mila's full limbs stirred impatiently in the dress. In short - Mila lets herself be seduced by the master of the house and wants more. Annemarie - sensitively - notices the relationship and lets Annemarie feel something of her knowledge.
Felix can no longer bear Thilo's behavior around Annemary. The host confronts the guest. Thilo evades, however. He is leaving. Before that, the MP confesses his love to Annemarie and kisses her on the mouth. By saying goodbye, Thilo tied the woman tightly to himself. This invisible bond does not remain hidden from Felix. Annemarie goes into the water. Felix, who loves his wife, wants to save her from drowning. His help comes too late.
reception
According to Sprengel, von Keyserling draws the von Bassenow house, a world of aristocracy dying away.
Used edition
- Harmony. Novella. Insel Verlag (Insel Taschenbuch 2410), Frankfurt am Main 2001 (1st edition), ISBN 3-458-34110-2
Secondary literature
- Peter Sprengel : History of German-Language Literature 1900–1918. Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-52178-9 , pp. 360–361