Romulus grandson

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Paul Heyse on a painting by Adolph Menzel from 1853

Romulusenkel is a novella by the German Nobel Prize winner for literature Paul Heyse , written in 1879 and published in Berlin in 1881 .

title

Captain Achille Cornacchia, a hater of the united Italy that was baptized in 1861, pronounced the plural Romulus grandson twice. The first time - during a séance - he means all genuine Romans and then he relativizes the term secondly - in a concluding word, so to speak: Children who emerge from the connection between Romans and non-Romans can also be counted among them. For example, the mixture of the noble Roman with the Piedmontese barbarian blood is not bad either.

content

Around 1864 in the old town of Rome : The 40-year-old bachelor Signor Muzio Orazio de 'Cesari lives in the spacious house on Spanish Square , inherited from his father, the late lawyer Terenzio de' Cesari . Signor Muzio, who studied law, has not yet received his doctorate. He spends the day in idleness. His old housekeeper Menica shields him from injustice and any more serious demands, but treats him like a small child. The calm is gone when Signor Muzio happens to meet the widowed painter Signor Romolo, an old friend of his blessed father. The painter takes the lawyer to his house in Via Margutta . Signor Romolo's 18-year-old daughter Caterina welcomes the guest in a friendly manner. Caterina's friend Vittorio, a minor officer in the war ministry, was talked out of her by her father, but the girl is in good spirits: "I'll get him again."

Signor Muzio knows the painter as a characterful portrayal of patriotic events from the Quattrocento . Ojemine - in the studio there is a large, eerie ghost scene on the easel. The blurry, flickering shapes and colors irritate the viewer. Signor Muzio is used to calming compositions from the old man. Signor Romolo replies that since his wife's death he no longer paints the visible world, but the invisible one; work hard on the "upswing in the upper regions". The painter believes that Signor Muzio is also capable of “hearing the spirit breath”. He would like to take him to the next séance - the “dialogue with higher beings” - in the house of his old friend Virginia.

Both gentlemen visit Virginia in her apartment on one of the streets on Pantheon Square. The gentlemen present sit around a round table and shake hands with their two neighbors - the magnetic chain is closed and Signor Muzio Orazio de 'Cesari, as a new guest, can choose the spirit to be called. Of course he calls Julius Caesar . After all, Signor Muzio has seen a parchment from the 10th century, according to which Caesar is said to have founded a family with a lover before his marriage to Cornelia , from which Muzio also descends. Although Caesar's blood was thinned in this way for 1,800 years - illegally to make matters worse - Muzio thinks that his nose was from Caesar. Muzio takes the genealogical Caesarean madness seriously and, through knocking signals that a knowledgeable translates nimbly into Italian, learns of some new Caesarian thoughts and then also details about the life of his blessed father Terenzio de 'Cesari. What Signor Muzio does not know, however - Signora Virginia, this pale Pythia , is a deceiver who Menica, Muzio's housekeeper, uses to enrich herself with "Mr. Caesar's grandson" Muzio. Before that comes to light, the following must be mentioned: Muzio has a duty. He must not let the illustrious sex of the great Julius go out. So he proposes to Caterina. The girl laughs and asks for a month to think about it.

The month goes by. Spring arrives in Rome. One day before Caterina wants to decide for or against Muzio, Signor Romolo makes a cardinal mistake during an evening séance - he doubts the authenticity of the spirit that is currently called up - we are talking about San Luca . The disrespect is punished immediately. Luca gave the old painter a knocking sign by return of post, which was translated by an Irishman who was taking notes : his daughter Caterina was away from home, had run away with the young war secretary Vittorio. That's true.

The young couple are getting married. The ghost haunt is over. The police arrested Signora Virginia as a fraudster and forger. The housekeeper Menica does not get a penalty. Surprising - after all, she had torpedoed her master's marriage plans so that she could continue to rule and rule in the spacious house on Spanischer Platz.

The deceived lover, Signor Muzio, is talking to Mrs. Caterina: What next?

literature

expenditure

Output used:
  • Romulusenkel p. 311–397 in: Paul Heyse: The girl from Treppi. Italian love stories. With an afterword by Gotthard Erler . Illustrations: Wolfgang Würfel . 512 pages. Book publisher der Morgen, Berlin 1965

Secondary literature

  • Werner Martin (Ed.): Paul Heyse. A bibliography of his works. With an introduction by Norbert Miller . 187 pages. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1978 (typewriter font), ISBN 3-487-06573-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin, p. 42, entry 3