Paulinchen was at home alone

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Paulinchen was at home alone is a novel by Gabriele Wohmann that was published by Luchterhand in 1974 . The film adaptation of Anne Voss was broadcast by ZDF in 1981.

Brita Edfelt translated the novel into Swedish in 1978 : Lilla Paula ensam var . This was followed by translations in 1979 by Ljudmila Borissowna Tschornaja into Russian , 1980 by Oľga Silnická into Slovak , 1981 by Per Qvale into Norwegian and 1982 by Elly Schippers into Dutch .

Heinrich Hoffmann : The Struwwelpeter (Edition 1858)

overview

Gabriele Wohmann admits the origin of her title .

The eight-year-old schoolgirl Paula, an orphan who usually prefers to be alone, and from the old grandparents can no longer be cared for, is, from the ambitious Christa and the good-natured Kurt, a childless couple adopted . Although the two adoptive parents, who are involved in their daily work as a writer and journalist, have no time at all - they have been used to a childless married life for sixteen years, they do their best with the "quiet" Paula. Nevertheless, the Christian raised child lacks the " warmth of the nest " that is familiar from the grandparents' environment . The "problem child" feels abandoned and rebelled. The couple, who do not feel they belong to any denomination, bought a pig in a poke, so to speak. One of the climaxes of the child's rebellion: Paula steals large sums of cash and - when questioned - does not reveal her hiding place. Since Kurt and Christa - in accordance with their child psychological and educational principle - neither prohibit nor punish, Paula - as always - gets away with good advice. When the girl later bought the adoptive parents small gifts with some of the money that had been set aside, the adults did not ask about the payment method.

Kurt remains calm on other occasions as well. Christa's hand only slips once. Paula can be a little beast. Once, when things weren't going to go to her head on the way, she “bites the adoptive mother's hand” hard. Paula scolds her surrogate mother as a “bastard”, viciously destroys food that is still edible - at home alone - wants to scratch Christa's records and wants to abuse the disabled little neighbor boy Udo.

Ms. Ehrstein, a minor character in the novel, speaks to the rebellious Paula: "... your Christa and your Kurt, they do what is good for you, which is done everywhere by people who are willing to make sacrifices and who are thinking."

In the struggle between the “ benevolent ” adoptive parents and the “exceptional child”, ultimately indulgent adults are defeated. Paula is allowed to go to boarding school .

content

Kurt and Christa's modern house has no interior doors. Paula sleeps in a barn-like studio behind a pretty and badly separated shed. Thus the girl overhears the evening-night conversations of the adults.

Paula sometimes feels strong because she survived the accident in which her parents and sister Margarete, two years older, died. Her adoptive mother Christa thinks the girl is obstinate. Christa has to do something about Paula's bed-wetting . Is she going to see an internist , a urologist or a psychotherapist right away ?

Christa wants to be loved by Paula. She observes her adopted child “eager to learn”. Kurt holds his wife back: "You're welcome Have is tentatively enough." It stands for the "partnership peace treaties" with the child, leaving the wife largely the education of the precocious , a little whimsical girl. Christa, who worked as a tapestry weaver before her marriage , writes as a journalist about Paula and stages her appearances in front of visitors in minute detail. To the chagrin of her active teacher, the withdrawn Paula doesn't really play along. Christa observes the child closely: if he is already singing - there are notes in the minor key; sings Christmas carols in midsummer.

All's well that ends well: Paula suffers a "new kind of reconciliation surge". The next time she snaps fresh air, she ostentatiously extends both hands to the stepparents. In return, Christa and Kurt cut back a few of their atheism . The girl is to be confirmed later.

Christa continues her education until the end of the novel. Just one example: What is sex between a man and a woman? Christa explains to Paula: To be very, very close; it doesn't get any closer. The couple struts around naked in front of the girl. Christa incites Kurt, but he does n't want to show the erection .

shape

At Häntzschel, under reception, are the four narrative points of view. The reader, who does not like when the narrator keeps talking about the "child" in a strange tone, would have wished for Paula as the first-person narrator, especially since the narrator often approaches Paula's perspective. In addition, Paula is the only one from the dominant triumvirate of Christa-Kurt-Paul that the author allows thinking. But Gabriele Wohmann wanted more with her satire (see below under reception ). The reader cannot make friends with either the adoptive mother Christa or the child Paula. Because Christa wants to educate too much and Paula protests too clearly against it.

Gabriele Wohmann plays with inheritance with a passion that cannot be overlooked: keywords Goethe , ETA Hoffmann .

The reader asks: Has the manuscript got his hands on an editor? The sentence collides with the sustained raised tone: "Shortly after the resolution with the records, however, the child's vigor died out."

reception

First, the adoptive parents talk to the child.
Second, the adoptive parents talk to guests in the home about the child.
Third, the child who pretended to be asleep makes diary entries through the conversations under Second .
Fourth, the adoptive parents read the diary and talk to each other about it.
It should be noted that the child is an artificial character in a satire about modern upbringing. In addition, the narrative space in the construct is hardly spanned beyond the house of the adoptive parents. So the child's school attendance doesn't matter in the novel.
  • According to Schultz-Gerstein, the aforementioned change of perspective takes place smoothly and the narrator can only be identified with difficulty. The child does not get along with its anti-authoritarian upbringing in the house of the adoptive parents.

literature

expenditure

Used edition

  • Paulinchen was at home alone. Novel. Luchterhand literature publisher (Luchterhand collection, vol. 219), Hamburg 1976, 252 pages, ISBN 3-630-61219-9

Secondary literature

  • Christian Schultz-Gerstein: Education studio . Pp. 83–84 in: Gabriele Wohmann. Materials book. Introduction by Karl Krolow . Bibliography by Reiner Wohmann. Edited by Thomas Scheuffelen. Luchterhand, Darmstadt and Neuwied 1977, 150 pages, ISBN 3-472-61184-7
  • Günter Häntzschel , Jürgen Michael Benz, Rüdiger Bolz, Dagmar Ulbricht: Gabriele Wohmann . Verlag CH Beck, Verlag edition text + kritik, Munich 1982, authors' books vol. 30, 166 pages, ISBN 3-406-08691-8

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Paula is disgusted with deliberately urinating in bed, but she forces herself to piggy for almost three weeks out of defiance (edition used, p. 206 below), because she hopes for more attention (edition used, p. 207, 11. Zvo ).
  2. ↑ quibbling: Christa denies anti-authoritarian education and insists on unauthoritarian education (edition used, p. 103 middle).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ingrid Scheffler on the television film , p. 6
  2. ↑ Swedish Brita Edfelt
  3. ↑ Russian Чёрная, Людмила Борисовна: Паулинхен была дома одна ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.libex.ru archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Paulinchen byla doma odna)
  4. ↑ slovak. Oľga Silnická  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at nocka.sk@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nocka.sk  
  5. ↑ slovak. Pavlínka bola sama doma
  6. ↑ norw. Per Qvale
  7. ↑ Dutch Elly Schippers
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 85, 10th Zvu
  9. ↑ Edition used, p. 67, 11. Zvo
  10. ↑ Edition used, p. 211, 10. Zvo
  11. ↑ Edition used, p. 39, 3. Zvo
  12. ↑ Edition used, p. 218, below
  13. ↑ Edition used, pp. 85, 10th Zvu and p. 121 middle
  14. ↑ Edition used, p. 177, 8. Zvo
  15. ↑ Häntzschel, p. 39 middle - p. 41, 13. Zvu
  16. ↑ Schultz-Gerstein, p. 84 below