Regine (Gottfried Keller)
Regine is a story by Gottfried Keller . It appeared as part of the series of novellas Das Sinngedicht 1881.
content
The framework narration begins with the natural scientist Reinhart deciding in his laboratory due to signs of fatigue to ride into the open country and try out an epigram of Friedrich von Logau - The epitome - in reality:
“How are you going to turn white lilies into red roses?
Kiss a white gala tea: she will laugh and blush. "
The Pygmalion- Galatea complex is thus created as a basic theme, but is then resolved in the eighth chapter (of a total of 13) with Regine . Lucie involves her interlocutor Reinhart in a narrative contest about problems of partner choice and the understanding of gender roles. In the context of the narrative contest, Reinhart tells the story of Regine , among other things : The legation attaché Erwin Altenauer, a wealthy and art-loving American of German origin, falls in love with the maid Regine. Erwin successfully promotes Regine's catch-up education when he is suddenly called back to America. However, he does not want to take Regine with him and introduce him to his demanding parents until she knows how to behave appropriately in every respect. She is subjected to an educational program to overcome class boundaries, he leaves Regine for her further education to the society of three women who are zealous in the art and cultural scene, but of whom Keller paints a rather negative image. After Erwin's return, the experiment fails due to distrust and alienation, which for the time being have nothing to do with the educational experiment itself, but above all - as Keller emphasizes - are determined by fate: Regine's shame because of her brother's murder and Erwin's suspicion that Regine was Unfaithful to him, as well as the inability to speak about both, lead to tragedy. In her perplexity, the beautiful climber gives herself to death.
backgrounds
Keller's Regine in the novel of the same name is considered a poetic monument to Elise Egloff in literary research . Keller had met Jacob Henle and his wife Elise Henle (née Egloff) in Zurich in 1846 and made a rather bizarre impression on the Henle couple. Two years later, Keller attended Henle's anthropological college in Heidelberg, which he described in Der Grüne Heinrich :
"From the first hour I felt that I forgot the purpose that brought me here and everything, and was just looking forward to the approaching experience."
As early as 1851 in Berlin, Keller began drafting a cycle of Galatea novellas, which turned against Berthold Auerbach's story Die Frau Professorin - which was also inspired by the historical figure Elise Egloff - and also referred generally polemically to Auerbach, the one in later literary criticism "Enthusiasm for nature", "clichéd-trivial basic constellations" in the plot and a characteristic "shielding against the problems of the time" ( Fritz Martini ) were accused. Above all, Keller originally turned against the irreconcilability of culture and nature or town and village propagated in The Professor . However, Keller held back the story for 30 years, perhaps because he met Berthold Auerbach in 1856 , made friends with him and received literary support from Auerbach, who was still better known at the time. At the urging of his publisher, he did not begin to work on it until 1880, resulting in the cycle of novels, Das Sinngedicht : Keller countered the art professor Reinhard - the central figure in Auerbach's Die Frau Professorin - the natural scientist Reinhart, and Frau Professor Lorle with his artistic creations Lucie and Regine .
interpretation
"Educate Hinteraltensberg Auer attempt a woman in her own way of noble womanhood, one in will epigram multicolored dazzling mythical figure visible: Galatea, the system established by ancient sculptor Pygmalion and busy at his request, by the love goddess statue - the woman of Man's grace exists. With Galatea-Regine's death, the myth is torn apart, and in the breaks of the narrative duel between Reinhart and Lucie it is passed as out of date. As a model of a relationship between man and woman, it has had its day, because the role instructions corresponding to it can no longer be reproduced for both genders. Take its place in the epigram new, enlightened and egalitarian notions of eroticism and conjugal love as they are unique in the literature of this period. "
filming
Erich Waschneck filmed the novel with Luise Ullrich in 1935 under the same title . Directed by Harald Braun, a free film adaptation of the work was made in 1955/1956 with Johanna Matz and Erik Schumann in the leading roles, see Regine (1956) .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Logau, Friedrich von: Deutscher Sinn-Getichte Drey thousand. Wroclaw. 1654. In: deutschestextarchiv.de. Retrieved November 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Logau, Friedrich von: Deutscher Sinn-Getichte Drey thousand. Wroclaw. 1654. p. 175 (Image: 0705: 175). In: deutschestextarchiv.de. Retrieved November 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Gottfried Keller: The epitome. Stuttgart 1966 (Reclam). Pp. 46–115 and in the afterword by Louis Wiesmann, pp. 344 ff.; Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, Volume VI, Zurich 1984, p. 8749; Gunhild Kübler (Ed.): “My dear bad darling!” The anatomist and the sewing girl. A story in letters. Zurich 2004. p. 13 f.
- ↑ Gottfried Keller: The Green Heinrich. Düsseldorf 2006. p. 579 ff. (Fourth part, chapter 1 “The Borghesian fencer”). Quote p. 580.
- ↑ cf. z. B. Kindler's Literature Lexicon, Volume VI, Zurich 1984, pp. 8541 f.
- ^ Herbert A. and Elisabeth Frenzel : Dates of German poetry. Chronological outline of German literary history. Volume II. Munich 1977 (14th edition), p. 422 and 448 f.
- ↑ Gunhild Kübler (Ed.): “My dear bad darling!” The anatomist and the sewing girl. A story in letters. Zurich 2004. p. 14 f.
- ↑ My dear, bad treasure: The anatomist and the sewing girl. A story in letters. In: amazon.de. Retrieved November 28, 2016 .
Web links
Original text at Zeno.org: The epitome .