Virginity (Bergengruen)
Virginity is a novella by Werner Bergengruen that appeared in Olten in 1947 . The young patrician Margarethe Kampehl from Reval atone for the killing of a young man of her class.
content
During the carnival, a drunk tried to approach 19-year-old Margarethe immorally. She snatches the knife from him and lets him run into it. The court acquitted Margarethe, but the girl found herself guilty: she went to the Marien-Magdalenen monastery. After Margarethe spent seven years in the monastery, the opportunity for atonement arises in the middle of deep winter. A Russian army invades the country. The German population is fleeing westward, and the abbess, like her nuns, is at a loss. Hurry. Only a few sisters will be able to escape on the few horse-drawn sleighs . The abbess wants to enable the old and sick sisters to escape. According to Margaret's suggestion, the abbess should flee with the young sisters. That's how it happens.
Margarethe stays behind with old women, especially since she is the only one who speaks Russian. When a small advance division of the Russians reached the monastery through the deep snow, Margarethe opened the gate for her and entertained the warriors. When the young, strong, but a little naive leader is satisfied, he withdraws with Margarethe, locks himself up with her and wants to take her virginity away. Margarethe poses as a sorceress and encourages the leader to put her magic to the test. She says he should try to cut off her head with his sword. It will fail, precisely because Margarethe can do magic. She kneels down and bares the white neck. The leader pulls out his gun and strikes back.
shape
The form of the master story is flawless. While reading the narrow volume, the reader asks himself how Margarethe will atone for the killing of her young comrade, and is gently guided by the author to the answer: Margarethe sacrifices her virginity to the Russian. But it just doesn't! She sacrifices her life with cunning, also so that the nuns can survive.
Bergengruen's language demands sensitivity from the reader, e.g. B. when he writes that Margarethe had not been touched by a man for seven years, he means it literally. So it is not the sexual intercourse that is meant, but the tactile - such as grasping the hand.
reception
The conclusion of the novella is unexpected only for readers who are not familiar with Bergengruen's oeuvre .
literature
- source
- Werner Bergengruen: virginity. Novelle (= The Little Books of the Ark. 138/139, ZDB -ID 251917-3 ). Peter Schifferli Verlags AG "Die Arche", Zurich 1952.
- Secondary literature
- Frank-Lothar Kroll (ed.): Word and poetry as a place of refuge in difficult times. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7861-1816-7 .
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. Biographical and bibliographical concise dictionary based on authors and anonymous works. German authors. A – Z. 4th, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 50.