The Return of the Prodigal Son (narration)

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The return of the prodigal son ( French Le Retour de l'enfant prodigue ) is a short story by André Gide that appeared in 1907.

The prodigal son, who failed in a foreign country because of his weakness, suddenly sees - having returned home as a repentant sinner - still a path to freedom on which it could continue.

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The prodigal son , ragged, half starved, returns home hesitant, is entertained by the father and given a precious ring.

The father's reprimand . The son once left because he felt locked in his father's house. The father who built the house for his sons cannot understand his son.

The elder brother's reprimand . The older brother makes more serious reproaches to those who have returned than does the mildly inclined father. What would happen if he, the older brother, also left the house? It would be looted! The outlier replies that at the time he had other goods in mind than real estate.

The mother , who had hoped and prayed for the return of the prodigal son every day, wants - like the father - to know what the son was looking for outside. The answer is, “I was looking for ... who I was.” The mother worries about her younger son. He could follow in the footsteps of the returnee. So the mother asks the returned son for help.

The conversation with the younger brother . The boy defiantly receives the man who has returned in his room because the father covered the refugee with fame on his return and gave him a ring. The returnee, mindful of the worried mother's request, portrays his escape as a sin. When the boy asked why he was returning, he had to admit that he would not have been free outside. In his weakness, he then sought connection abroad, but did not find it.

Then the boy confesses to him that he wants to go the next morning. The returnee encourages the younger brother in his intention and tells him on the way: "Forget us, forget me."

Self-testimony

Diary of March 16, 1907: “A few days ago L'Enfant prodigue finished. When the composition of the poem suddenly occurred to me in Berlin, I immediately got down to work ... So that it took me ... barely a fortnight ... "

reception

Klaus Mann characterizes the story as “… gracefully playful and movingly serious, clear with all the wealth of relationships.” Renée Lang goes into the five-part structure of the story. In each part of "this pure, compact five-part fugue" a family member has their say. "The weight of each voice" seems to "keep that of the other in the balance." The prodigal son could "neither really decide to flee nor really to stay." Claude Martin also refers to the weakness of the returned and the strength of the younger, a son who is about to leave. Raimund Theis notes in his afterword in the source that the little work is a formally closed, perfect poem. Thanks to Gide's empathy with young people, the writing has become “a confession book of the youth movement”. In particular, the last two parts (mother, younger brother) were artistically successful in this regard.

German editions

source

Raimund Theis (ed.), Peter Schnyder (ed.): André Gide: The return of the prodigal son . Translated from the French by Rainer Maria Rilke . Pp. 483-506. The basis of the translation was an edition from 1912. With an afterword by Raimund Theis: “To The Return of the Prodigal Son ”. Pp. 575-580. Collected works in twelve volumes. Volume VII / 1, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1991. 587 pages, ISBN 3-421-06467-9

German-language first edition

André Gide: The return of the prodigal son. Transferred by Rainer Maria Rilke. Insel Verlag Leipzig 1914. Insel-Bücherei No. 143. 37 pages. Original cardboard tape

Secondary literature
  • Renée Lang: André Gide and the German spirit (French: André Gide et la Pensée Allemande ). Translation: Friedrich Hagen . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1953. 266 pages
  • Claude Martin: André Gide . Translated from the French by Ingeborg Esterer. Rowohlt 1963 (July 1987 edition). 176 pages, ISBN 3-499-50089-2
  • Hans Hinterhäuser (Ed.), Peter Schnyder (Ed.), Raimund Theis (Ed.): André Gide: Diary 1903 - 1922 . Translated from the French by Maria Schäfer-Rümelin. Collected works in twelve volumes. Volume II / 2. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1990. 813 pages, ISBN 3-421-06462-8

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source, p. 6
  2. ↑ Source, p. 497, 4th Zvu
  3. ↑ Source, p. 506, 5th Zvu
  4. ↑ Hinterhäuser, p. 148, 4th Zvu to p. 149, 7th Zvo
  5. ↑ Klaus Mann in his Gide biography, quoted in a DVA publishing supplement in the translated book by Renée Lang [two writings on Gide were published by Klaus Mann: 1.) André Gide and the Crisis of Modern Thought. Creative Age, New York 1943, (German: Andre Gide and the crisis of modern thought). New edition Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-15378-5 and 2.) André Gide: The story of a European. Steinberg Verlag, Zurich 1948]
  6. ↑ Lang, p. 197, 17. Zvo
  7. ^ Lang, p. 198, 16. Zvo
  8. ↑ Martin, p. 84, 14. Zvo
  9. ↑ Source, p. 580, 12. Zvo
  10. ↑ Source, p. 579, 18. Zvo
  11. ↑ Source, p. 6