Intoxication of transformation
Intoxication of Metamorphosis is a fragment of a novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig , written in the 1930s and published in 1982 from the estate. The editor Knut Beck added notes from Zweig and undertook various editorial revisions.
action
The novel is set in the summer of 1926. The main character is Christine Hoflehner, a young postal assistant in a Lower Austrian village near St. Pölten and Vienna . One day, relatives invited her to a feudal hotel in Pontresina by telegram , where she pretended to be the rich niece Christiane van Boolen and enjoyed social life. Her true identity is finally revealed through an intrigue, whereupon she is sent back to her village. She can no longer cope with life there and falls into a depressed and aggressive state. She travels regularly to Vienna, where she finally meets Ferdinand through her brother-in-law, who lost his youth in the war . The two plan to commit suicide together , but it never happens. Ferdinand suggests that they commit a mail robbery and then go on living together. The novel ends with Christine's acceptance.
Origin and edition history
Zweig wrote the first time on the novel in 1931, but interrupted the work because he was unable to make progress due to difficulties with the content. He originally planned a novella . In 1940 he worked with Berthold Viertel from the 120-page manuscript into a film draft. The film was released in 1950 under the title The Stolen Year . Not much is known about Zweig's further work on the novel. It is believed that he wrote it during his time in London between 1934 and 1938; various text fragments were inserted by him and then discarded again. During this time, Zweig's work was strongly influenced by the political events in Austria and his beginning relationship with Lotte Altmann, whose influence, according to the editor, Knut Beck, can also be found in the fragment of the novel. Exactly why he did not complete work on this text is unknown. The novel, published in 1982, consists of a practically unedited first half and a second, which the editor edited by adapting tenses and name variations to the first part and correcting logical errors. The title " Rausch der Metamorphosis" was chosen by the editor; Stefan Zweig himself described the text as a post-missile story .
reception
The work is perceived as rather unusual for Zweig because of its pronounced socially critical undertones. Since the two parts are stylistically quite different due to the history of their creation, a uniform assessment was rarely made. Various critics pointed to the fairytale-like features of the first half, which plays with stereotypes such as the poor girl, the old sick mother, the rich relatives, and social advancement. The second part is mainly interpreted psychologically, sometimes even autobiographically. Political aspects come to the fore. The planned mail robbery was seen as a sign of freedom and a moral uprising against a society that was corrupt after the First World War . For David Turner, the fact that this is ultimately not portrayed is due to Zweig's aversion to political activism. It is important to him that in the event of a mail robbery, only the state, i.e. not people, but an abstract authority is damaged. The editor Knut Beck sees parallels in Christine and Ferdinand's relationship with Zweig's own relationship with his former secretary Lotte Altmann; Zweig also described the Grand Hotel in Pontresina in a letter to his wife, which suits biographical interpretations.
Film adaptations
There are two film versions. The stolen year of 1950 is based on the text and has the subtitle after a novella by Stefan Zweig and Berthold Viertel . Although the film was made after Zweig and Viertel's own editing of the material, the script was not written by them. In 1988, a two-part television film with Évelyne Bouix in the leading role was made under the title Rausch der Verwaltung .
The film Grand Budapest Hotel also uses the intoxication of metamorphosis as a model.
output
- Stefan Zweig Intoxication of Metamorphosis: A novel from the estate . S. Fischer, Frankfurt 1982, ISBN 3-10-097054-3
literature
- David Turner: Intoxication, disenchantment and the flight into private life: On Stefan Zweig's novel from the estate , in: Mark H. Gelber (Ed.): Stefan Zweig today . New York: Peter Lang, 1987
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Knut Beck: Follow-up remarks by the editor, in Stefan Zweig: Rausch der Metamorphosis. Novel from the estate , Frankfurt: S. Fischer (1982), p. 313 ff.
- ^ Thomas Haenel: Stefan Zweig. Passionate psychologist , Droste: Düsseldorf (1995), p. 298 ff.
- ↑ David Turner: Intoxication, disenchantment and the flight into the private: On Stefan Zweig's novel from the estate , in: Mark H. Gelber (Ed.): Stefan Zweig today , Peter Lang: New York (1987), pp. 202/216
- ↑ telegraph.co.uk: 'I stole from Stefan Zweig': Wes Anderson on the author who inspired his latest movie