Prince Otto

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Prince Otto - Eine Romance (English original title: Prince Otto: A Romance ) is the second novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson . It was written in 1883 after his most famous novel Treasure Island and was described by Stevenson as his "hardest effort".

Emergence

At least one chapter was revised several times by Stevenson, and once by his wife Fanny Osbourne . In the foreword of the first edition in 1885, in the letter to his sister-in-law Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez , he also mentions the laborious process of creating the book.

action

Prince Otto plays in Germany of the duchies and principalities. Prince Otto is the ruler of a small principality, likes to hunt and is a social "peacock". As usual, the business of government is taken over by others. His wife, the very young Princess Seraphina, actually seems to be holding the strings in her hands. The revolution is simmering among the population, while Baron von Gondremark tries to usurp power with the help of the princess. The lady Baroness von Rosen and the prince himself, who has hidden deep in his heart the ideal of a virtuous and honorable ruler, try, however, to positively influence the destiny of the principality.

classification

Prince Otto is a satire on the milieu of the collapsing, departing aristocratic rule, which, however, is not conceived as a comedy with all its humorous traits. The author called the novel, the plot of which only lasts a few days, a romance in the title.

Stevenson illuminates with Prince Otto , as in other novels, especially in The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , a new dimension of inner turmoil in humans and the inner struggle in humans, in interplay with the perceived and actual outside world.

German translation

Since there was no German translation of the novel until 2009, the action artist Uwe Knietsch produced a first rough translation at the Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the “Forgotten Books” campaign, which he published for students of literary studies.

expenditure

  • Prince Otto: A Romance . Chatto & Windus 1912.
  • Intrigue on the throne . Translation by Klaus-Dieter Sedlacek, BOD, Norderstedt 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-0065-8 .
  • Prince Otto: A romance . Illustrated a. trans. by Uwe Knietsch . Cybertrix Verlag, Munich 2012. ISBN 978-3-9813001-2-3
  • Prince Otto or the Phoenix and freedom: a novel about intrigue and power, betrayal, deceit and true love . Edited by Vito von Eichborn , trans. by Klaus-Dieter Sedlacek. Norderstedt 2012, ISBN 978-3-8448-3661-5 .

Individual evidence