Rhineland daughters

Rhineland Daughters is a novel from the early work of the German writer Clara Viebig from 1897.

The autobiographical novel depicts the lives of some young women around 1890 who, following the constraints of society, seek their fortune in an advantageous marriage. One exception is Nelda Dallmer, who wants to stand on her own two feet, but almost breaks because of her rebellious lifestyle.

action

The novel is divided into three books, which take place in different places: in Koblenz , in the village of Manderscheid in the Eifel and finally in Berlin or, towards the end, again in Manderscheid.

first book

The action begins in the somewhat bourgeois atmosphere of the middle-class Koblenz society. At a coffee party attended by Nelda's mother Lore, the ladies discuss love and marriage. It becomes clear that the young girls of that time had little else than marrying a wealthy man as possible and thus making a “good match”.

Nelda (Thusnelda) Dallmer scoffs at this practice and as far as possible withdraws from the marriage market of her time, which often takes place at dance events. It is said indignantly that in their opinion balls are “like a goose market; the mothers were all around as saleswomen, and the geese, which were the plumpest and chattering the loudest, went off first. "

Meanwhile, the young dancers actually behave according to the prevailing demands: “Blue and pink crouched, blushing ashamed [...] Blue and pink floated before their parents. Instructions from the mother are immediately followed: 'Don't be stiff, not like Nelda Dallmer, […] lean gracefully!' And blue and pink declined. "

Nelda occasionally takes part in such social events only for the sake of her parents. But it is precisely at such a ball that she gets to know and love Prime Lieutenant Ferdinand von Rahmer through her neighbors, Captain Paul Xylander and his wife Elisabeth.

Rahmer suffers the shame of a deceitful father who has taken his own life. His mother went mad at this defamation. He himself feels deprived of all honor and does not consider himself worthy to enter into a relationship with a woman. Von Ramer tells Nelda about his circumstances, but she puts her love above the social stigma of her lover. They both meet up frequently and dream of a future that will begin after his promotion to captain. Meanwhile, Nelda is bitterly disappointed when Rahmer allows himself to be transferred to Mainz after his promotion. When she visits him in his apartment and confronts him, he tries to explain that his shame forbids him to bind a woman to himself. When she doesn't understand, he says he doesn't love her. Nelda is devastated.

To make matters worse, it becomes known that Nelda has been to Framer's apartment, and the young woman gets into talk. Only her parents, the government councilor Joseph Dallmer and his wife, as well as Captain Xylander remain fond of her. Xylander, who wants to defend Nelda's honor, barely escapes a duel.

Nelda is now socially outlawed and loses her contacts with her former friends. Only Agnes Röder, whose future seems secured by a brilliant marriage to Baron Carlo von Osten, remains connected to her. Others, like the adored Anselma von Koch, have nothing but contempt for the former mocker. After Nelda was rescued from a suicide attempt by Captain Xylander, she was supposed to recover from her traumatic experiences with her uncle in the Eifel.

second book

The events of the second book show Nelda in the house of her uncle, the mayor of Manderscheid Konrad von Dallmer. Nelda has been familiar with the village of Manderscheid since childhood. You meet Heinrich Hommes again, the former playmate who has grown into a young man and has taken over his father's inn.

Uncle Konrad, single since the death of his beloved wife, has taken Vefa, a young orphan, into the house as a housekeeper. Vefa embodies the kind of cheerful person who always has a loved one and who sees their committed “sins” as settled after confession in the church. Inspired by this carefree way of life, Nelda tries to regain her balance in her piety, but the young woman, who is partly Protestant and sober, partly Catholic, only partially succeeds. She begins to suspect that she has missed a lot in her love for Rahner.

Nelda's recovery is making progress in the beautiful landscape, according to the saying of her uncle “If you just lie firmly on the breast of nature, then you get other eyes. They become brighter ”. Her suffering is still put into perspective by a tragic event in the neighboring village of Meerfeld.

Mayor Dallmer ensured that the maar there could be partially drained in order to gain more arable land for the population. Typhus breaks out in the village; this is associated with the innovations in drainage. The residents turn against their mayor, but he manages to calm the crowd. During a visit to Meerfeld, Nelda is confronted with severe illness and poverty, which also leads to the fact that she perceives her own situation from a different perspective.

The former playmate Heinrich Hommes is loyal to Nelda. If there is a storm during a walk, they both come closer. The delicate relationship is put to an end by Nelda's hasty departure to Koblenz. Your father is terminally ill. He dies shortly after their arrival. Nelda's consolation is a letter in which her father tells her that she has been a great delight in his life.

Third book

The setting of the third book is the city of Berlin. Many of the protagonists have moved there for various reasons. The plot is preceded by the diary entries of Agnes von Osten, who now lives completely disaffected in an unhappy marriage. Her unsteady husband Carlo has started a love affair with Anselma von Koch, who in turn is dissatisfied with her much older, but very rich husband Leo Arnheim.

Nelda, who never felt comfortable in the narrow conventions of Koblenz society, persuaded her mother to move to Berlin too. She promises social freedom in the big city and, through studying music, a professional opportunity. Your training fails. In order to supplement the small cash register, Nelda gives piano lessons, and mother and daughter run a pension. The subtenant Moritz Schmolke, a cozy but simple reindeer, will later marry Nelda's mother.

Two other tenants enter into a relationship that ends tragically: Vera Berg evades pregnancy by going into the water, and Doctor Müller then changes apartment.

The sad incidents, which demonstrate the transience of happiness, enable Nelda to be liberated. She helps her loyal friend Agnes, who holds on to the desolate marriage out of a sense of duty to her daughter, by convincing Anselma to end the relationship with the east.

Nelda learns news from Rahmer through contact with the Xylander family, who have meanwhile also moved to Berlin and live together in a solid but ultimately heartless marriage. After the death of his mother, he gave up military service and works in a gun factory in Cologne. He too has learned something new and now knows that external honor is not the essential thing. Now he would like to win Nelda as a wife.

After her mother's wedding with Schmolke, Nelda feels superfluous and she visits her uncle in Manderscheid again. Xylander wants to help his two friends and arranges a meeting between Rahmer and Nelda on the trip. Nelda, hurt in her pride, rejects her beloved man.

However, the end of the book gives hope that she will be ready to set up a life together with Rahmer if he only comes to the Eifel and asks her for her hand: “'[...] here I stand and wait. And he fights his way through, and comes up here and fetch me, then, yes then ... '[...] She laughed freely into the wind - a happy laugh - the echo echoed back. "

Topics and interpretations

The novel, which is one of the author's major debut works, is initially widely praised for the “brilliant characteristics” of the heroine Nelda.

Nevertheless, typical deficits of a first work are also noted. Ludwig Schröder speaks of a 'hasty and broken presentation', of overly pronounced subjectivity with the harrowing sound of personal confessions.

Clara Viebig herself expresses herself as follows: “'Rhineland daughters' [...] teeming with mistakes, with violations of art. I stuffed everything I had on my mind into there, and the material was beyond the scope. ”Nevertheless, she was delighted to see the book in the hands of young girls even more than 30 years after its creation:“ That only proves me that in my heroine [...] I have undoubtedly well drawn the type of girl from a good family. "

The novel is also classified as a social satire, as there is a tendency to caricature in numerous places.

In terms of literary history, the novel is classified as the successor to Theodor Fontane , as this follows on from his last novel " The Poggenpuhls ". Both novels are descriptions of the milieu of families whose breadwinners, as members of lower military ranks, are low-paid and limited in class. The challenge to the duel is also reminiscent of the corresponding scenes in “ Effi Briest ”. While the duel there is fought with a fatal outcome for Crampas, the conflict - which is only based on mockery - is resolved amicably at Viebig.

In the uncompromising drawing of the figure of Nelda, there are emancipatory traits in the novel. Clara Viebig, however, draws quite different husband models, which can be justified next to each other:

There is the externally intact but internally rather dry marriage of the Xylanders, the tolerant indulgence of the betrayed Agnes von Osten, who clings to her unfaithful husband because of their daughter, the awakening love in the school principal Aurora Planke, who is initially completely distant from marriage, her Latin student marries, the fun-loving behavior of the orphan Vefa or the love affair of Nelda's very different parents as well as the second marriage of the mother to Schmolke, which is more like an alliance of convenience. Ultimately, Clara Viebig sees a meaningful way of life in a world in which women and their husbands make their happiness.

Biographical and historical references

The descriptions of Nelda's life are more or less experiences of the writer herself: “As with all beginners, my first novels had more or less an autobiographical appearance. I could not avoid a certain emotion when I look at my first work today: 'Rhineland Daughters'. ”The father figure in particular bears the traits of his own father, who died early, as described by Viebig.

With regard to the drainage of the Meerfelder Maar, Clara Viebig refers to historical events from the years 1877–1880: In those years, at the time of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the water level of the maar was lowered by 2 meters at the expense of the state drain the surrounding meadows.

By locating the beginning of action in Koblenz society around 1900, Clara Viebig set an informative monument to the city of Koblenz .

Editions and translations

Due to its subject matter and style, the date of origin of the "Rhineland Daughters " can be assumed to be before the novellas of the " Children of the Eifel ", both of which were first published in book form in 1897.

In 1897, the “Rhineland Daughters” first saw a preprint in sequels in Die Romanwelt , a “magazine for the literature of all peoples”. In the same year he was in publishing Fontane & Co. published. The novel had a total circulation of 37,000 by 1930 and was included in Clara Viebig's “Collection of Selected Works” in 1911, 1922 and 1930. In 1904 it was translated into Swedish (“Rhenlandsdöttrar”, translated by Andrea Hedberg, Stockholm: Fritze, 412 pp.).

The saying “If you just lie firmly against nature's breast once, then you get other eyes. They become brighter ”Clara Viebig used more often as a motto. In the local museum Manderscheid a corresponding portrait card writer is issued with this award.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Clara Viebig: Rhineland Daughters. Berlin: Fontane 1897, p. 6.
2. ^ Clara Viebig: Rhineland Daughters. Berlin: Fontane 1897, pp. 34–35.
3. ^ Clara Viebig: Rhineland Daughters. Berlin: Fontane 1897, p. 276.
4. ^ Clara Viebig: Rhineland Daughters. Berlin: Fontane 1897, pp. 562-563.
5. ^ Heinrich Hart: Review of "Rhineland Daughters". In: Velhagen and Klasings monthly books. Vol. 1, p. 237, cf. also Gottlieb Scheuffler: Clara Viebig. Time and century. Erfurt 1927 (29-36).
6. ↑ See: Ludwig Schröder: Clara Viebig. (Introduction) In: Clara Viebig: Simson and Delila. Max Hesse, Leipzig around 1907, p. 6.
7. ↑ Clara Viebig: Clara Viebig about herself. In: Christel Aretz (Hrsg.): Clara Viebig - My life. Hontheim, Mosel-Eifel-Verlag 2002 (85–100), here: p. 86.
8. ↑ Clara Viebig: Clara Viebig about herself. In: Christel Aretz (Hrsg.): Clara Viebig - My life. Hontheim, Mosel-Eifel-Verlag 2002 (85-100).
9. ↑ See Heinrich Hart: Review of "Rhineland Daughters". In: Velhagen and Klasings monthly books. Jg. 1897/98, Vol. 1, p. 237, also Scheuffler, p. 36.
10. ↑ Volker Neuhaus: Zolaide and Fontane student. Unpublished lecture manuscript, Clara Viebig Archive Bad Bertrich
11. ↑ Clara Viebig: Clara Viebig about herself. In: Christel Aretz (Hrsg.): Clara Viebig - My life. Hontheim, Mosel-Eifel-Verlag 2002 (85–100), here: p. 86.
12. ↑ See Heinrich Hart: Review of "Rhineland Daughters". In: Velhagen and Klasings monthly books. Vol. 1, p. 237.