The Carpathian Castle
The Karpatenschloss (also Das Karpatenschloß or Das Karpatenschloß ) is a novel by the French author Jules Verne , which was first published in 1892 by the Pierre-Jules Hetzel publishing house under the French title Le Château des Carpathes . The German-language edition appeared in 1893 under the title Das Karpatenschloß . The English title of the novel is Carpathian Castle .
action
In the mountains of Retezat , in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania , the shepherd Frik watches the abandoned castle of the Baron von Gortz. He meets a traveling dealer who sells him a telescope . With it he sees a column of smoke above the tower of the castle. He reports about it to the residents of Werst, such as the local judge Biró Koltz, his daughter Miriota, the forester Nick Deck and the doctor Patak. They are discussing what is going on at the castle in the König Mathias inn in Werst, and Nick Deck decides to see that everything is going well with Doctor Patak. Then a mysterious voice rings out in the inn, the origin of which is unknown and which Nick Deck predicts disaster when he visits the castle. Nevertheless, he and Patak leave the next day. Because of the long ascent, they have to spend the night in the forest and are haunted by strange light phenomena. Nick Deck is not impressed and the next morning tries to break into the lock using the chains of the closed drawbridge . He gets a blow and crashes. The residents of the village, especially Miriota, who Nick wants to marry, are worried about the two of them, who have already expected them back the previous evening. So three villagers set off in the direction of the castle and soon afterwards bring Patak and Nick Deck, who is carried on a stretcher, back to the village. A short time later two tourists appear, who are Count Franz von Telek and his soldiers Rotzko. Count von Telek receives reports on what has happened around the castle and is shocked to learn that the castle belongs to the Baron von Gortz. He had last met this five years earlier in an opera in Naples . Both enthusiastically attended the performances of the opera diva La Stilla and adored the woman. The Count of Telek asked for her hand, which La Stilla finally accepted out of fear of Baron von Gortz. La Stilla died on stage at their farewell concert. Von Gortz then threatened von Telek, whom he held responsible for the death of La Stilla, and disappeared, Count von Telek returned to his castle. After he promised the residents of Werst that he would call the police in the next larger town , von Telek and Rotzko left the village. As Telek had heard La Stilla's voice shortly before in the inn, he chose a path that led past the castle. When they reach it, they see La Stilla on the bastion . Von Telek is now certain that Baron von Gortz has returned to the castle and is holding La Stilla prisoner. He only knows one thought: to save her. So he climbs up to the castle and sends Rotzko away to get help if necessary. When he arrives at the castle gate, he finds it open, but it closes behind him and he is trapped in the Carpathian Castle. He wanders through a labyrinth of corridors and finally comes to a room where food and a bed are available for him. Here he is locked up, but can later escape from his dungeon . In the chapel of the castle he overhears the Baron von Gortz and his companion, the inventor Orfanik. The two plan to flee and blow up the lock in order to escape the police that Rotzko has informed. The Baron and Orfanik have been living undiscovered in the castle for several years. Orfanik put a telephone line between the castle and the Werst inn, through which they could listen to what was being discussed there, and the mysterious voices in the inn can also be traced back to it. In addition, Orfanik took care of the "ghost apparitions" on the castle with the help of various physical and chemical effects, thus keeping the superstitious villagers away. Now they plan to leave the castle and blow it up. After Graf von Telek overheard this conversation, he strolls through the castle and meets the Baron von Gortz as he listens to La Stilla's voice from a sound recording and looks at a projection of her image. Contrary to Telek's belief, La Stilla has actually been dead in the theater since that evening. The baron escapes, but meets Rotzko, who shoots at him and hits the projector with the recording of La Stilla's performance. The baron goes insane and sets off the explosion that destroys the castle. The baron is killed, Count von Telek survives in a cavity where he is found by Rotzko and Nick Deck. Shortly afterwards, the escaped orfanik is arrested and interrogated by the police. Graf von Telek is in a coma and is brought to his own castle by Rotzko. Rotzko receives the remaining phonographic recordings of La Stilla's performances from Orfanik and plays them to the Count, who is then healed after a long time. Nick Deck and Miriota are getting married as planned. Despite the natural origin of the apparitions on the Carpathian Castle, most of the villagers are still convinced that it is haunted.
filming
The novel was filmed in the ČSSR in 1981 under the film title The Secret of the Castle in the Carpathian Mountains (Czech: Tajemství hradu v Karpatech ). The director was the Czech director Oldřich Lipský . In the film , some people in the novel were renamed. The Graf von Telek portrayed by actor Michal Dočolomanský is called Count Felix Teleke von Tölökö in the film , Evelyna Steimarová plays the opera singer Salsa Verde (La Stilla), Vlastimil Brodský plays Ignaz, the servant Telekes (Rotzko), Miloš Kopecký plays Baron Gorc (Baron von Gortz), Rudolf Hrušínský the inventor who serves the baron (Orfanik), August Kubán the servant and agent of the baron and Jan Hartl the forester Vilja Dézi.
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart / Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs , Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-538-07208-6 .
Web links
- Scanned book ( DjVu , Wikimedia Commons )
- The Carpathian Castle on zeno.org
- The Carpathian Castle in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection