Jakob von Gunten

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Robert Walser

Jakob von Gunten is a novel by Robert Walser , written in Berlin in 1908 and published there in the spring of 1909 by Bruno Cassirer .

In the form of a fictional-poetic diary, the youthful titular hero reports as the author's alter ego about his stay in a servants' school. The book is Walser's third novel after the Tanner siblings and Der Gehülfe . Walser himself had attended a servants' school in 1905, the special atmosphere of which is reflected in the novel.

genre

As the subtitle suggests, the book is a diary, written by the first-person narrator Jakob von Gunten. Gero von Wilpert categorized the work as a novel, the Swiss writer Robert Mächler as a diary novel . Martin Walser names Jakob von Gunten on the back cover of the new edition a development novel of a prevented development and an educational novel .

shape

The first-person narrator does not limit himself in his erratic diary entries to factual reports from the boys' boarding school, but also writes down his fantasies and dreams. Truth and dreams and fantasies mix and are not always easy to separate for the reader. In contrast to what is usually the case in diaries, there is no continuous dating of the entries. A chronology of the events cannot be derived from the text even indirectly.

content

Jakob von Gunten comes from a wealthy family, the father has a carriage and horses, the mother has her own theater box. His brother Johann is a recognized, well-known artist who cultivates a bourgeois lifestyle and is in high society. Jakob runs away from home to escape the overwhelming shadow of his father. He enters a servants' school, which is on one floor of a Berlin annex. The head of the institute is Mr Benjamenta, and - there is a shortage of teaching staff in the institute - the students are taught by the head's sister, Lisa Benjamenta. There are other teachers who are either absent or deeply asleep. The students should be trained as servants with the aim of obtaining a position . The lessons mainly consist of memorizing a brochure from the institute with the title What is the purpose of Benjamenta's boys school? and the so-called "regulations". The students willingly allow themselves to be patronized, drilled and “onions”. A principle of the institute: "Little but thorough". Dealing with people is taught in theory and practice.

Jakob is tested as a new student by the headmaster, initially revolted and received blows, which he put away without complaint. If Jacob is involved in a dispute, he receives a blow to the head from the headmaster - without finding the culprit . Jakob does not feel inferior. On the contrary - he has enough self-confidence and thinks he is the brightest among schoolmates. Jakob considers himself vain and haughty . He feels slightly offended . Jakob suspects he is being dumbfounded in the institute. In any case, he knows he's going to be made small.
The headmaster confesses to Jakob that he has a preference for him that can no longer be controlled . There is something important about Jacob . The headmaster has no explanation for this. Jakob is also surprised, but knows how to deal with superiors. He is wisely silent about it - even when the headmaster confesses his love to him. When Jacob is to become the headmaster's friend and little confidante, the student behaves hesitantly. Jakob is unlucky. He does not get a job from the headmaster, because the superior, already over forty , loves someone for the first time . But then Jacob gets hare-like fear . The master wants to strangle him . Later, however, the chief would even like to kiss Jacob. The splendid fellow indignantly refuses.

Kraus

Jacob wants to incite people to that they him reveal . Kraus is right for that. This friend of Jacob, the most honest and able among the students, is a righteous, tender, firm soul . Kraus, who has to spend a considerable amount of time training himself in the subject matter, despises his friend's idleness . Jakob has an easy grasp of things and in his free time strolls alone through the big city, if the headmaster allows it. For ten marks Jakob enters a restaurant with ladies service and is pampered by a young girl. Finally both play say hello to me . From the context it can be concluded that this is sexual intercourse. In any case, Jakob is broke when he leaves the restaurant. At the boys' school, Jakob is greeted by Kraus with a contemptuous smile.
Jakob likes to quarrel for his life and has so much to do with Kraus because the latter is angry with him at every opportunity if he irritates, annoys or apes him. Kraus has something Joseph-in-Egypt- like about it , is nothing, a servant .

Miss teacher

Miss Lisa Benjamenta smiles over Jacob's naughtiness. In the evening she appears in the white, flowing robe with the students to say goodnight. When the revered girl disappears into the inner chambers , Jakob imagines a palace-like wonder world made up of sumptuous rooms behind the door. One of his dreams also leads him there, together with the honored teacher. The reality is ultimately sobering. Behind the door there are two shabby rooms - so poverty and deprivation . All expectations are disappointed and yet exceedingly strangely exceeded.
The young lady plays the audience when the pupils put on small plays. Modest service is symbolized in the pieces.
The young lady is suffering, but Jacob doesn't know why. Finally, the teacher Jakob announces her impending death in private and demands silence. The notable cause of death will be: The young lady has not been loved by any man in her life. Jakob receives the news in a controlled manner. He knows he's mean, but he thinks about his lack of money. When the young lady died, only Jakob and the headmaster remained with the corpse. The boss, this villain, gave all the students jobs on the day his sister died. Jakob also wants to stay. The headmaster is overcome with an unheard-of lust for life and laughter. He wants to go into the world with Jacob. That's how it happens.

dreams

Jakob dreams that he slaps his mom, love and distance , in the face and pulls her hair. At the beginning of the 16th century, Jakob fought as a war colonel in the Milan campaigns and was of course raised to the rank of count for this . As a soldier pulls Jakob, from Napoleon to made body clumps , always eastward through the snow to Moscow to . After the headmaster and Jakob stayed at the institute alone, both of them leave the boys' school, turn away from culture and ride camels into the desert.

Quote

  • God goes with the mindless .

Self-testimony

Robert Walser on Jakob von Gunten : For the most part he is a poetic fantasy .

Stage and film versions

Peter Lilienthal filmed the novel in 1971 for ZDF . Sebastian Bleisch played the title role, Hanna Schygulla played Lisa and Alexander May played Mr. Benjamenta. In 2003, a stage version of the novel by Jarg Pataki was performed in Lucerne . On October 9, 2000, Benjamin Schweitzer 's chamber opera of the same name was premiered in Meissen . The British-American directors Stephen and Timothy Quay filmed the book under the title "Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life" (German "Institut Benjamenta or This dream, which one calls human life.") The film was released in August 1995 shown for the first time at the Locarno Film Festival. In the series "Theatermonologe" of the Dresden theater, Jakob von Grunten was played as a monologue on stage in the version by Matthias Bundschuh and the arrangement by Felicitas Zürcher .

reception

  • The most striking feature of the novel is the catchy, unobtrusive language. They also make everyday life something special. Hesse writes that Walser treats the language respectfully in the novel , as with a highly respected but trusted friend .
  • In the last quarter of 1905 Walser worked as a servant at Dambrau Castle in Upper Silesia . Before that, he attended a servant course. Walser owes the servant idea in the boys' school to this.
  • Mächler compares Walser's novel with Kafka's prose and highlights a difference. Walser's escapist [sleight of hand] cosmopolitanism is lacking in Kafka .
  • Sprengel addresses the analogy of the Benjamenta Institute to the Tower Society in Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship years .
  • Greven points to the typical fairytale fable .
  • Christopher Middleton suspects that Jakob von Gunten is a parody of the classic German educational novel .

literature

expenditure

  • Jakob von Gunten. A diary . Berlin: Cassirer 1909. [first edition]. [2]
  • Jakob von Gunten. A diary . Published by Carl Seelig . Steinberg-Verlag, Zurich 1950.
  • Jakob von Gunten. A diary . With an afterword by the editor Jochen Greven . Zurich 1985. ISBN 3-518-37611-X
  • Jakob von Gunten. A diary . Critical edition of the first print. Edited by Hans-Joachim Heerde. Frankfurt a. M., Basel 2013. (= KWA I 4) ISBN 978-3-86600-154-1

Secondary literature

  • George C. Avery: Inquiry and Testament. A Study of the Novels and Short Prose of Robert Walser. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1968.
  • Rüdiger Campe: "Robert Walser's institutional novel Jakob von Gunten", in: Rudolf Behrens, Die Macht und das Imaginäre , Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2005, pp. 235–250
  • JM Coetzee : "The Genius of Robert Walser" The New York Review of Books Vol.47, No.17 (November 2, 2000).
  • Jörg Gallus: Labyrinths of prose. Interpretations of Robert Walser's Jakob von Gunten, Franz Kafka's Der Bau and texts from Walter Benjamin's childhood in Berlin around nineteen hundred. Frankfurt / Main u. a .: Lang 2006. (= literature as language. 15.) ISBN 3-631-54259-3 .
  • Andreas Gößling : evening star and magic wand. Studies and interpretations of Robert Walser's novels Der Gehülfe and Jakob von Gunten. With an appendix to unpublished manuscripts of the assistant novel. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 1992. (= Comments and studies on Robert Walser's novels. 2.) ISBN 3-88479-617-8 .
  • Dagmar Grenz : The novels of Robert Walser. World reference and representation of reality . Munich: Fink 1974.
  • Karl Joachim Wilhelm [= Jochen] Greven: Existence, world and pure being in the work of Robert Walser. Attempt to determine basic structures . Dissertation, Cologne 1960.
  • Kil-Pyo Hong: Self-reflection on modernity in Robert Walser's novels “Geschwister Tanner”, “Der Gehülfe” and “Jakob von Gunten” . Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2002. (Epistemata. Lit.wiss. 394.) ISBN 3-8260-2301-3 .
  • Christoph Jakob: Robert Walser's hermeneutics of life. Dissertation, Düsseldorf 1997, ISBN 3-8265-3854-4 .
  • Klaus Johann: Limit and stop: The individual in the "House of Rules". To German-language boarding school literature. Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2003, (= contributions to recent literary history. 201.), ISBN 3-8253-1599-1 . review
  • Dorothee Kimmich u. Tobias Wilke: Introduction to the literature of the turn of the century . Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2006. (= Introductory German studies.) ISBN 3-534-17583-2 .
  • Kindler's New Literature Lexicon. Edited by Walter Jens . Vol. 17. Munich 1998. pp. 391-392.
  • Robert Mächler: The life of Robert Walser. A documentary biography . Frankfurt / Main: Suhrkamp 1976. ISBN 3-518-06821-0
  • Bernhard Malkmus: Jakob von Gunten (1909) . In: Lucas Marco Gisi (ed.): Robert Walser manual. Life - work - effect , JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02418-3 , pp. 116–129.
  • Peter von Matt : How wise is Robert Walser's wisdom? In: Tages-Anzeiger , December 22, 2006.
  • Volker Michels (Ed.): Hermann Hesse: A literary history in reviews and essays. Frankfurt / Main: Suhrkamp 1975. ISBN 3-518-36752-8 .
  • Nagi Naguib: Studies on the novels of Robert Walser. [= Robert Walser. Draft of a structure of consciousness.] Munich: Fink 1969 [resp. 1970.]
  • Susanne Sethe: Robert Walser's "Jakob von Gunten" as religious poetry . Dissertation, Cologne 1976.
  • Peter Sprengel: History of German-Language Literature 1900-1918: From the turn of the century to the end of the First World War . Munich: Beck 2004. (= History of German literature from the beginnings to the present. 9.2.) ISBN 3-406-52178-9 .
  • Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . P.647. Stuttgart: Kröner 2004. ISBN 3-520-83704-8
  • Hans Dieter Zimmermann : The Babylonian interpreter. To Franz Kafka and Robert Walser . Frankfurt / Main: Suhrkamp 1985. (= es. NF 316.) ISBN 3-518-11316-X .
  • Petra Moser: "Close to taboo. Experimental self-awareness and erotic obstinacy in Robert Walser's" Jakob von Gunten "". Bielefeld: transcript 2013. ISBN 978-3-8376-2341-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pages 89 and 63
  2. ↑ All quotations are from the edition mentioned
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 164
  4. ↑ Edition used, epilogue, p. 170
  5. ^ Schott music
  6. ↑ [1]
  7. ↑ Staatsschauspiel Dresden ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de
  8. ↑ Michels, p. 460
  9. ↑ Mächler, p. 215
  10. ↑ Mächler, p. 82
  11. ↑ Mächler, p. 83
  12. ^ Greven, afterword, p. 172
  13. ↑ Edition used, epilogue, p. 174