Kurt von Koppigen

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Jeremias Gotthelf around 1844

Kurt von Koppigen is a historical story by Jeremias Gotthelf from 1844. An expanded version was published in 1850.

Contents of the version from 1844

After the reign of Emperor Frederick II. And during the interregnum was in the kingdom , the law of the jungle . Kurt's father, a proud nobleman, the Knight of Koppigen, was slain when he was young when he tried to take a herd of cows from a shepherd. Kurt's mother, Mrs. Grimhilde, who had been a countess before the marriage, lived with the boy in the "little castle" Koppigen on the way from Burgdorf to Solothurn and became impoverished as a widow.

Kurt, a mighty person, wild, raw and cocky, wants to become a knight and rides out into the world to make his fortune in feuds. Kurt is hospitably received by the old lord of the castle in the neighboring “Schlösslein des Edelknecht von Önz ”. The nobleman’s three beautiful daughters giggle at the unwashed, shaggy guest. The old man laughs at the young man's awkward movements. Kurt rides on to Zurich, but first finds himself in the wake of Baron von Regensperg . This is Zurich's most dangerous enemy. The Freiherr recognizes Kurt's ability to take weapons and his unshakable courage. The young fighter, however, does not want to subordinate himself, secretly runs away and “follows happiness with old Hans from Gütsch”. From then on, Kurt and Hans went on his way as a noble bush thief between Zurich and Lucerne . Anyone who appears weaker than the two highwaymen will be attacked and robbed. A reaction is inevitable. The two snap-cocks fall into the trap of the citizens of Zofingen . Hans ab Gütsch is captured and Kurt manages to escape. Kurt has a recommendation from Hans to forest brother Jost im Tobel . The monk, not averse to the weaker sex, recommends Kurt to the knight Barthli. This noble von Luthernau , a wild man, is in constant feud with the St. Urban monastery because he believes he has been shamefully robbed by the monastery lords there. The attacked fight back on one of the raids against the monastery. All robbers flee. Only Kurt holds the line; fights “with his tremendous physical strength” until he succumbs to superiority. Kurt, on the ground, is recognized by old Önz. The nobleman claims and gets the bush thief as a prisoner. After the wounded man has recovered in the old man's castle, Brigitte, the eldest daughter of the house, would like to have the muscle man as a husband. But Kurt has had an eye on Agnes, the youngest. Old Önz suggests marriage to Kurt. Kurt is initially reluctant, but then ponders. He has been hanging around for more than two years and is now only two hours away from his Koppigen castle - with no booty or fame. So the Pfaffe at Herzogenbuchsee trusts him with Agnes. Kurt rides into the shabby castle of Koppigen with his wife and entourage. The father-in-law supports the young couple as best he can. Children have children from marriage. Herr von Önz and Frau Grimhilde die. Kurt is drawn out to the common rabble. A yard is looted. There is stealing in a market. A miller is robbed. Once, on Christmas Eve, when it came against “stately spiritual masters” again, the robbers were put to flight. When Kurt rides to the Bachtelenbrunnen in the forest, it is as if the trees come to life. "Huss Huss, Hatz, Hatz," shouts the crowd of his supposed pursuers. As if chased by dogs, Kurt reaches the gate of his little castle. The next morning the wounded man is picked up by Agnes and nursed back to health. During the sick camp, Kurt finally takes on his role as a family man. He turns his three boys into hunters. “On a sunny spring day” the four set off for the Bachtelen fountain. At the enchanted place that the Bachtelen - the beautiful yellow bell flowers - gave their name, a "wonderful image of women" appears to them and commands peace. Kurt obeys. His house is then blessed with prosperity.

The end of the story: Kurt's tribe goes out in Bern. The little castle at Koppigen was destroyed in 1386.

shape

Gotthelf refers to a chronicle in two places. So the reader expects fact-based retelling. It is therefore all the more surprising that the fantastic ending of the story has to be recorded. This is Kurt's reversal, initiated by his key experience: the sudden onset of the diabolical during the wild hunt near the Bachtelen fountain on Christmas Eve.

Gotthelf is particularly successful in depicting the mother-son conflict - meaning constant friction between Grimhilde and Kurt.

reception

  • Fehr criticizes the lesser depth of the " robber baron story " of the "young Fant" Kurt, but he attests the author "lively clarity" of his text.
  • With regard to the hellish hunt at the Bachtelenbrunnen, Cimaz states that “the wonderful” is part of Gotthelf's “Christian vision of the world order”.

literature

Used edition

expenditure

  • Jeremias Gotthelf: Kurt von Koppigen. Introduction by Otto von Gruyères . With pictures and other book decorations by Rudolf Münger . Neukomm & Zimmermann, Bern 1904 (second version from 1850)
  • Jeremias Gotthelf: Kurt von Koppigen . In: German Novellenschatz . Edited by Paul Heyse and Hermann Kurz. Vol. 12, 2nd ed. Berlin, [1910], pp. 1–194. In: Weitin, Thomas (Ed.): Fully digitized corpus. The German Novellenschatz . Darmstadt / Konstanz, 2016. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
  • Jeremias Gotthelf: Kurt von Koppigen. (= Favorite books of young people. Volume 7). A tale from the thirteenth century. Edited for the more mature youth by Wilhelm Spohr . Illustrations by Hans Wildermann . Hermann & Friedrich Schaffstein, Cologne around 1910.
  • Jeremias Gotthelf: Wild, desolate stories . With an afterword by Peter von Matt . Nagel & Kimche , Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-312-00460-7 , pp. 12–89. (Original version from 1844)
  • Jeremias Gotthelf: Kurt von Koppigen . After the second edition of 1850, edited and commented by Marianne Derron and Norbert D. Wernicke. Berchtold Haller Verlag, Bern 2016, ISBN 978-3-85570-153-7 . [With previously unknown illustrations by Rudolf Münger ]

Secondary literature

  • Paul Mäder: Gotthelf's historical novels and their sources. With an appendix: Christian view of the political world changes by Albert Bitzius. (= Language and poetry. 53). Paul Haupt, Bern 1932.
  • Theodor Salfinger: Gotthelf and Romanticism . Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1945.
  • Oskar Müller: The problem of sentimentality in Gotthelf's historical novels . Paul Haupt, Bern 1969.
  • Karl Fehr : Jeremias Gotthelf. Poet and prophet - narrator and educator. On language, poetic art and the content of his writings . Francke Verlag, Bern 1986, ISBN 3-317-01611-6 .
  • Pierre Cimaz: Jeremias Gotthelf (1797-1854). The novelist and his time. From the French by Hanns Peter Holl. Francke Verlag, Tübingen / Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7720-2185-9 .
  • Géraldine Blatter: Vita Jeremias Gotthelf. (= Text + criticism. Zeitschrift für Literatur. 178/179). 2008, ISBN 978-3-88377-913-3 , pp. 25-29.
  • Marianne Derron: No ideal world for heroes. Existential 'aventiurs' with Jeremias Gotthelf. In: Jesko Reiling, Carsten Rohde (ed.): The 19th century and its heroes. Literary figurations of the (post) heroic . Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-89528-871-5 , pp. 35-64.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 536, second paragraph
  2. ↑ Blatter, p. 128, entry from 1844.
  3. ↑ see for example Hanns Peter Holl : Jeremias Gotthelfs "Pictures and Legends from Switzerland" as a reaction to the year 1798 and its consequences. P. 156 above
  4. ↑ In the version from 1850, the wild hunt is associated with the burgher lords (see also Cimaz, p. 59, 1st Zvu and p. 60, 20th Zvu)
  5. ↑ "Probably during the uncertain times the monastery lords kept this carriage a secret, but the chronicle says nothing about it." (Edition used, p. 181, 2nd Zvo) and "So there were several stately clergymen whose dignity history does not tell us has kept, prepared to ride to Fraubrunnen on the eve of the festival , ... "(Edition used, p. 217, 1. Zvo)
  6. ↑ Fehr, p. 152, 10. Zvo
  7. ↑ Cimaz, p. 60, 4. Zvo

Web links

  • Full text of the second version from 1850 in the Gutenberg.DE project