Legends of Artemis

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Sagen von Artemis is a short story by Anna Seghers that was written in 1937 and published in 1938 in the September issue of the magazine " Internationale Literatur " published by Johannes R. Becher in Moscow. Although Artemis met five hunters predominantly with cold severity, none of the passionate hunters can escape the seductive charm of the beautiful, forever young goddess . To see Artemis for a single time, these enthusiasts put up with anything, even death.

content

In the middle of the dark forest at night in a tavern in front of an open fire, the old hunter, the little hunter with the rust-stained hair, the youngest hunter and the one-eyed man tell of their encounter with the goddess. The fifth - that is a handsome, self-assured hunter about forty years old - makes no contribution of his own, apart from a few objections.

In addition to the landlord and landlady, the new maid, a young girl, is also present. Towards the end of the story, the landlord sends the young maid out to fetch the water. She does not return from the well. The real new maid, an older woman, appears in her place with the full water bucket and hangs it over the fire as the first “official act”. The goddess had only made herself comfortable to carry water after she had been ruled by the host.

The old hunter tells

"On straight shoulders the narrow, delicate neck, on her face the calm of perfect, invulnerable security." That was how the old man had seen the goddess after decades of unsuccessful search. He can't believe that a boy with him was allowed to make the acquaintance of Artemis straight away. On top of that, the goddess had spoken to the boy; encourages him to reply with questions. On the same day the boy, for whose safety the old man had been responsible, had followed Artemis, stepped into the wild, and was accidentally shot by the old hunter. The dead man's father, who stayed at home, had accepted the misfortune as a fortune. The shooter had fallen silent.

The little hunter tells

At a festival among farmers from different villages, the little hunter had been asked by a girl he did not know to race to the edge of the forest. He had noticed immediately that the runner was different from the local peasant girls he knew, but he had followed her anyway; in vain of course. The goddess had escaped the runner into the forest.

The youngest hunter tells

The guardian of a walled old city criminally neglects his service. After years of unsuccessful courtship for the love of a young laundress - that is Artemis - he becomes old and gray.

The one-eyed hunter tells

After many years of lost life, the one-eyed man breaks out and, driven by homesickness, searches the valley of his childhood. Once there, he can hardly recognize his homeland and falls asleep in the evenings on the way. When he wakes up, a girl is standing in front of him. After a short greeting and contemplation, the one-eyed man realizes that this cannot be a girl from his homeland, but a being who is close to the gods. Indeed, Artemis reveals himself as a goddess and asks him why he is crying. He confides his life story to her. Artemis, with a hard expression on his face, refuses to accept larmoyance. When he meekly closes his eyes to reflect on the draconian divine rebuke that followed, the goddess disappears.

Quote

  • They [the gods] come when you forget them.

Interpretation and reception

From the context and the pointed conclusion it is clear that Artemis was in the tavern throughout the evening, but apparently none of the five hunters recognized her. Neugebauer points out an exception. The youngest hunter feels that the situation is unique: Artemis is sitting within reach in the middle of the group. That is why - to hold the goddess - he invents his story.

Neugebauer summarizes essentials from the encounters between the hunters and the goddess. Silence and forgetting dominate the old hunter after the encounter. He internalized the unique experience so deeply that he thinks he was the only one who met Artemis at the time. The other hunters were present. The little hunter follows the goddess and renounces his possessions, property and bride. The handsome, confident hunter does not allow himself to be enchanted by a deity. As a result, the miracle of Artemis' continued presence in the tavern passes him by. The one-eyed hunter is taught by the goddess: Nature - in this case the forest - is indestructible. Forest does not perish, even through clear cutting.

Hilzinger sees the problem of exile reflected in the rather detailed last story, told by the one-eyed man. The émigré Anna Seghers tries to come to terms with the events in Germany inwardly.

Schrade rejects the idea of ​​interpreting into the text, which is about a utopia, an ideal, that Anna Segher's usually openly “socio-historical” writing intention.

The narrow text is about the unexpected brief experience of the extraordinary, the wonderful. Anna Seghers incorporates the goddess Artemis into her narrative image of man without great distance, irony, rationality or psychologization.

Media adaptation

In 1971 Uta Feustel-Paech created a ballet opera.

literature

Text output

expenditure

Secondary literature

  • Heinz Neugebauer: Anna Seghers. Life and work. With illustrations (research assistant: Irmgard Neugebauer, editorial deadline September 20, 1977). 238 pages. Series “Writers of the Present” (Ed. Kurt Böttcher). People and Knowledge, Berlin 1980, without ISBN
  • Kurt Batt : Anna Seghers. Trial over development and works. With illustrations. 283 pages. Reclam, Leipzig 1973 (2nd edition 1980). Licensor: Röderberg, Frankfurt am Main ( Röderberg-Taschenbuch Vol. 15), ISBN 3-87682-470-2
  • Andreas Schrade: Anna Seghers . Metzler, Stuttgart 1993 (Metzler Collection, Vol. 275 (Authors)), ISBN 3-476-10275-0
  • Sonja Hilzinger: Anna Seghers. With 12 illustrations. Series of Literature Studies. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, RUB 17623, ISBN 3-15-017623-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 365, entry "Sagen von Artemis" .
  2. ^ Schrade, p. 58, 13. Zvo
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 236, 16. Zvo
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 253, 10th Zvu
  5. ↑ Edition used, p. 256, 3. Zvo
  6. ↑ Neugebauer, p. 72, 20. Zvo
  7. ↑ Neugebauer, p. 72, 11. Zvo
  8. ↑ Hilzinger, p. 113, 13. Zvo
  9. ^ Schrade, p. 58
  10. ^ Batt, p. 118, 17th Zvu
  11. ↑ Hilzinger, p. 113