Lesser Quarter Stories
Lesser Quarter Tales (Czech Povídky malostranské ) is a collection of stories by the Czech writer Jan Neruda , which was first published in 1878.
Characteristic
Neruda's stories, which were published individually in various Prague magazines between 1867 and 1877 and were published in book form in 1878, are among the most outstanding and internationally best-known works of Czech literature . In it, the author describes the petty bourgeois residents of Prague's Lesser Town , a district to the left of the Vltava , as he experienced them himself in his childhood and youth in the 1840s. Russian realism was the model for describing real people in this area . As early as 1859, Neruda demanded:
“Above all it is necessary that we learn to understand people, that we study their needs, joys and sorrows; so we need z. B. mainly true stories from life, pictures of people of all walks of life, collections of true examples of an unimagined and real experience. "
As in the Arabesques Collection , which appeared in 1864, Neruda turned away from the romantic novella tradition that seemed outdated to him and turned to a psychologically realistic genre sketch. His milieu sketch turns the idyll into a mild form of the grotesque, the narrative style is subjectivist-ironic. Depending on the message of the individual stories, the style is sometimes satirical and smug, sometimes humorous or sentimental. In this way, the author develops a proper typology of the social lower class of the Lesser Town, in which the contrast between below and above plays a major role. The book set trendsetting stylistic standards for Czech literature. Authors like Jaroslav Hašek and Karel Čapek took them as role models. The writer Eliška Krásnohorská said of the naturalness of Neruda's language that he had found the magic trick
“How to build a beautiful, lively style without a syntactic framework. What is this magic about? He succeeded in pouring the simple vernacular into a literary form. "
The Lesser Town of Prague
The setting for Neruda's stories is the Lesser Town, a district of Prague that was an independent city until 1784. It lies below the Prague Castle with its steep alleys that extend at the foot of the Laurenziberg , and is clearly different in character from the Prague old town on the other side of the Vltava. Neruda was born in the former Spornergasse today Nerudova 47, where his mother a small Greißlerladen had, came to the shopping in the little people around. The people and experiences of his childhood and youth were later incorporated into the creation of Neruda's stories. Later writers also made this picturesque district the setting for their works, describing and singing about the Lesser Town.
content
The collection consists of thirteen stories.
A week in a quiet home
( Týden v tichém domě ), 1867
The author describes episodes in a house on Prague's Lesser Town. Little by little, the reader gets to know the residents of the house and their worries and needs. Right at the beginning, the residents discover the death of old Žanýnka, whose dog keeps barking desperately. The Bavorová lives on the first floor and runs a small grocery store and reads the numbers for the lottery from dreams. Her son Václav is an intern in office, but tries his hand at literature. The head of the house is Mr. Eber, who works in an office; he lives on the first floor with his wife and two daughters. The daughter Matylda is looking for a bridegroom; Lieutenant Kořinek is snatched from her by a friend. Doctor Loukot sublet lives with Mr. Lakmus and his wife, who is looking for a husband for her daughter Klara. The doctor, however, languishes at poor Fraulein Josefinka from the second floor and, despite his old age, has serious hopes for her. We also get to know the literary attempts of Václav, who writes extremely disrespectfully about his everyday life in office and leaves the lines to the doctor to read. When he learns that Josefinka is about to get married, the doctor gives in to Ms. Lakmusova's intensive advances for her daughter Klara, who is in love with him. The noble host family is financially at the end. When the Bavorová wins a significant lottery, Václav marries their daughter Matylda, whom he had been keeping an eye on for a long time but had no prospects so far.
Mr. Ryšánek and Mr. Schlegl
( Pan Ryšánek a pan Schlegl ), 1875
The author reports on the restaurant "Zum Steinitz", the leading inn on the Lesser Town, in which only respected "greats" of the district frequented. When he himself had made a career enough to be able to stop by, he observed two regulars who sat at the same table every day but did not speak to each other for 10 years. They completely ignored each other because they once loved the same woman. Although she was long dead, the lords' hostility remained. Nobody wanted to give in. One day, however, Mr. Ryšánek became seriously ill and was unable to come to Steinitz for three months. When he came back for the first time, weak and emaciated, he was warmly welcomed by all the guests and he was touched too. Only in relation to his table companion had nothing changed. Then he noticed that he had forgotten his tobacco pouch at home and sent a boy to fetch it. Suddenly, without looking, Mr. Schlegl pushed his bag across the table and offered it to Mr. Ryšánek. This did not react for a long time, but then he thanked. After their eyes had gradually met, from that moment on they spoke again - after eleven years of silence.
That ruined the beggar
(Přivedla žebráka na mizinu), 1875
The author remembers a beggar from his youth who was known all over the Lesser Town. He made a good impression and was always given a little something from everyone - be it money or donations in kind. He was even recognized by the local police officer and was always approached by you. The ways of Mr. Vojtíšek, as he was called, were always the same and his daily routine was regulated. But once another beggar approached him and wooed him; because she wanted to move in with him. But Vojtíšek didn't want to know anything about it. From that time on, inexplicable rumors had spread across the Lesser Town that he was not really poor and that he had two houses elsewhere. People felt cheated and resented him. From then on nobody wanted to give him anything anymore, he was mocked and asked for a loan that they needed and so on. Vojtíšek not only suffered from want, he was deeply honored on a human level. He came down more and more, was seen less and less and could not succeed in other parts of the city either, because he was not known there. Finally one day he was found frozen to death because he no longer even had a shirt.
Mrs. Ruska's soft heart
( O měkkém srdci paní Rusky ), 1875
The well-loved merchant Josef Velš had died and was laid out over his shop. Although he had no close relatives, many people who had known him came to pay their final respects. Frau Ruska, a widow who had not known the deceased, also came. She was known to go to all funerals, and it was there that she shed her tears. It was the same here with Mr. Velš. She went to the coffin, looked at the deceased and wept. Then she began to make some disrespectful remarks to the women standing next to her, who were also unknown to her, about the deceased and his wife, who had long since died. Outraged, she was expelled from the room, and since there was also a police superintendent among the people, a police officer accompanied her back to her apartment so that she could no longer disturb her. Then she had to go to the police station and was given a very strict warning not to appear at any funeral in the future. She had to stick to that. After a while, however, she changed her apartment. She now moved into a house that all funeral trains had to pass by. Then she went to the gate and wept bitterly.
Evening chats
( Večerní šplechty ), 1875
Some students met in the dark on the roofs of two houses on the Lesser Town. They chatted and joked. Alternately, someone else should always dictate the subject of their chats. This time it was Jäkl's turn and suggested that they share the earliest memories each of them had. But then he told his friends that he was in love. The woman in question was Lízinka, with whom he had been in love since childhood. After many years he met her again and the two got closer. But when Lízinka left for a while, she came back with a child.
Doctor spoil everything
( Doctor Kazisvět ), 1876
Dr. Heribert was a strange person. Although he studied medicine, he never worked as a doctor. He also spoke to no one and avoided any contact with people as much as possible. But one day something strange happened. A funeral procession went to the Aujezder gate. The state accountant Schepeler was to be buried and all participants in this funeral procession had a strangely satisfied face. For a variety of reasons, all of them, including the widow, were evidently very satisfied that the man had died. Only his best friend Kejřík showed real grief. As they tried to lift the coffin from the wagon, it fell to the floor, the lid jumped open and the deceased's hand protruded from the coffin. At that moment, Dr. Heribert at the point where the coffin fell to the ground. Involuntarily the doctor took the corpse's hand, felt it, and examined the corpse closely. Then he said the man was not dead at all. Against the protest of the doctor who had declared Schepeler dead, but with the support of his friend Kejřík, the body was taken to a house and examined and treated in detail. And indeed, Dr. To bring Heribert Schepeler back to life. After two months he was able to go back to office. Everyone on the Lesser Quarter spoke of this unheard-of case, and it was even written about in the newspaper. Dr. Heribert, however, was given the name “Doktor Allesverderber” because he had thoroughly spoiled all participants in the funeral procession, all heirs, their expectations with the miraculous healing of the billing council. After this incident, Dr. Again, not a single person Heribert as before.
The Waterman
( Hastrman ), 1876
Mr. Rybář was an old man who was still walking around in a braid and knee breeches with stockings. Since he had the habit of following strangers to the Lesser Town and always said at a lookout point: “The sea! Why don't we live by the sea! ”, But also because of his green coat and his name, which means fisherman, he was called the Aquarius. He lived with relatives, and everyone knew that there he kept many boxes with precious stones in them. One day, however, Mr. Rybář went to the high school professor Mühlwenzel, showed him one of his boxes and asked him what it was worth. After a detailed assessment, he took out a stone and said that it was a rare moldavite that he would buy from Rybář for three guilders for the school, while the other stones were worthless. This affected Mr. Rybář deeply, who had collected all of his stones himself and, like all of them, thought they were valuable. So he stood in his room in the evening and began to throw the stones out of the window. Then his relative came over and comforted him, how precious he was, Mr. Rybář, and that he should pick up the stones and look at them with the children. When Mr. Rybář looked out of the window, he saw the sea before his eyes for the first time.
How Herr Vorel smoked his meerschaum pipe
( Jak si pan Vorel nakouřil pěnovku ), 1876
An unheard-of event occurred on the Lesser Town - a stranger, Herr Vorel, opened a new grocery store where there had been none before. He waited optimistically for customers on the first day, but hour after hour passed and no one came. Meanwhile he picked up his meerschaum pipe and smoked. At nine o'clock a woman finally came to test the new business. But at once she noticed the smoky air in the shop, and when they ate what they had bought at home, it was immediately said that one could taste the smoke. So the fate of the “smuggled grocer” was already decided. Hardly any customers came into the new shop, and the fewer people came, the more Mr Vorel smoked. When the shop was closed one day months later, Mr. Vorel was found hanged. His meerschaum pipe in his pocket was splendidly smoked.
To the three lilies
( U tří lilií ), 1876
During a thunderstorm night, the author sat in the pub "To the three lilies" and constantly looked into the hall where there was dancing. There he had noticed a girl who had a great attraction for him and who kept looking into his eyes while she was dancing. During a break from dancing, another girl came and said something to the beautiful-eyed girl, after which she left the bar in the rain. But after a quarter of an hour she came back and he heard her say that her mother had just died. Then he pulled her close and the two retreated into the darkness of the arcades, where the bones of the people who had been exhumed from the cemetery were lying piled up.
The St. Wenceslas Mass
( Svatováclavská mše ), 1876
As a nine-year-old boy, the author had himself locked in St. Vitus Cathedral one night . He had told his classmates that at midnight St. Wenceslas get up from his sarcophagus and read mass. To see this event with his own eyes, he spent the night in the cathedral. He had told his mother that he was visiting an aunt. The long hours fired the child's imagination. He imagined the midnight mass to be extremely splendid, for all the figures and statues of the saints and the Bohemian kings and nobles would certainly take part. From the choir he looked down into the church. A few sparrows were the only living things in the cathedral besides himself. Over time he got very cold (it was November) and sleep came on. A small bird that he had taken from its nest kept him company. But then he fell asleep and didn't wake up again until early mass. To his horror he saw his mother and aunt down in the church. Now he deeply regretted that he had caused his mother such grief and after mass he ran straight to her. He had not seen the great figures from Bohemian history.
An All Souls Contemplation
( Psáno o letošních Dušičkách ), 1876
For many years, fat Miss Máry has been coming to the cemetery on All Souls Day with a five-year-old girl (always a different one) and two wreaths. There she lets the child roam free, and whichever grave it happens to run to first, she lays a wreath there first. Then she goes to her only friend, the widowed Mrs. Nocarová, and there they talk about the event that led to this custom. The speech comes from two characters from the Lesser Town, Mr. Cibulka and Mr. Calculator. Both were bad guys, but the women didn't know that. Ms. Máry had first received a letter of marriage proposal from Mr. Cibulka, a week later from Calculator. She was very happy, wondering which of the two she liked more, supported by well-meaning advice from her friend. But then new letters arrived, from which it emerged that both gentlemen had now found out about the respective other application, and out of sheer selflessness both withdrew from their application, as they did not want to stand in the way of the friend's happiness. In truth, however, the two had allowed each other a bad joke with the innocent woman and secretly laughed at her. But soon one after the other died, and Miss Máry blamed herself for it in her naivety. Since then she has laid a wreath for both of them on All Souls Day, and because she still could not decide between the two, the child had to decide which of the two would receive the first wreath. She had also bought a grave from a complete stranger, which was halfway between the tombs of Cibulkas and Rechners, so that she could remain neutral towards both of them until death.
How it came about that Austria was not destroyed on August 20, 1849 at half past one in the afternoon
( Jak to přišlo, že dne 20. srpna roku 1849, o půl jedné s poledne, Rakousko nebylo rozbořeno ), 1877
The author reports on an incident from his youth when he and three comrades founded a secret society that wanted to trigger a revolution. The boys, who had acquired all the names from Bohemian history and from the Hussite Wars, had come up with a precise plan, as they did on August 20, 1849 at noon, when the guard soldiers were only present in small numbers on the entrenchments at the Bruskator in the citadel were that would overwhelm them. They had bought a gun to do this, but they had no powder with it. So they had asked the grocer Pohorák to bring them some when he came into town with his little cart to sell chickens at the market. When the big day came, the author felt extremely uncomfortable; he was scared and the others probably had some too. But heroically they all appeared at their posts according to the plan and awaited the appointed hour. But suddenly the news reached them that Pohorák had been arrested. Everything seemed betrayed and the plan could not take place. In truth, Pohorák had just been drunk and was no longer able to clear away his stall at the market. As a result, the officer took him away so he could go to the station to recover. Thus the plan of the young rebels failed and Austria was spared the fate of being destroyed by their action.
From a student's diary
( Figurky ), 1877
The trainee Dr. Krumlofský writes a diary. On his thirtieth birthday, he decided to take his bar exam as soon as possible. To do this, he moves to the Lesser Town in Prague, which seems to be calm and contemplative, and where he will therefore certainly be able to study in peace. He moves in to sublet a young woman with a child. The first impressions are very positive, the woman is extremely friendly, and little by little he gets to know the other residents of the house. But it's not as quiet here as he thought. There is the family of a painter whose little son Pepík is beaten up quite often. Then there is the crazy Mr. Provazník, who is always malicious towards everyone. The host himself suffers from forgetfulness; over time his daughter attracted Krumlofský's attention. However, he only really begins to take an interest in her when he believes a rival is at work. When he is about to propose to her, he receives a duel from a lieutenant who is his landlady's lover. She was offended in her vanity because she had ignored Krumlofský as a woman the whole time. He succeeds in winning the duel. When he learns that the supposed rival doesn't want anything from Otýlie, Krumlofský's interest also dies. After the duel story, he can no longer stay with his landlady and moves away from the Lesser Town.
Expenses (selection)
- Povídky malostranské . Gregr, Prague 1878
- Povídky malostranské . Edition Valecka, Prague 1885
- Povídky malostranské . Mladá fronta, Prague 1954
- Povídky malostranské . Dobrovský, Prague 2014, ISBN 978-80-7390-177-6
- Povídky malostranské . Fragment, Prague 2014, ISBN 978-80-253-2287-1
Translations
- Lesser Quarter Stories . Translated by Franz Jurenka. Reclam, Leipzig 1885 (most recently Vitalis, Prague 2005, ISBN 3-89919-016-5 , illustrations by Karel Hruška)
- Lesser Quarter Stories . Translated by Franz Müller. Reclam, Leipzig 1954
- Lesser Quarter Stories . Translated by Günther Jarosch. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1955 (last Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin and Weimar 1989, 5th edition, ISBN 3-351-00229-7 )
- Lesser Quarter Stories . Translated by Josef Mühlberger . Winkler, Munich 1965 (most recently Artemis-Winkler, Munich 1992, 3rd edition, ISBN 3-538-06593-4 )
- Stories from the Lesser Town of Prague . Translated by Alexandra and Gerhard Baumrucker . Lentz, Munich 1974
Film adaptations
- Vzhůru nohama , directed by Jiří Slavíček (Czechoslovakia 1938)
- Týden v tichém domě , directed by Jiří Krejčík (Czechoslovakia 1947)
- Hastrman , directed by I. Paukert (Czechoslovakia 1955)
- Povídky malostranské , directed by Pavel Háša (Czechoslovakia 1984), TV series
literature
- Wilfried Schäfer: Povidký malostranské ; in: Kindlers New Literature Lexicon . Vol. 12, Kindler, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-463-43200-5 , pp. 315-316