Salwáre or The Magdalena of Bozen

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Salwàre or Die Magdalena von Bozen is a novel by Carl Zuckmayer published in 1936 by Bermann-Fischer-Verlag in Vienna . The book remained the only novel published by the author during his lifetime and was to appear first in Germany: The first edition by S. Fischer Verlag was confiscated by the Nazi regime before delivery, as Zuckmayer was considered a politically undesirable author.

Creation and publication

The novel was written after Zuckmayer's trip to South Tyrol in 1934 and 1935 in his house in Henndorf am Wallersee . As Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer later stated, it is - in contrast to several other works by the author - not based on true events. In early December 1935, the Börsenblatt for the German book trade announced that it would be published by S. Fischer Verlag for December 10, but was immediately prevented by the Propaganda Ministry, even though there were over 3,000 advance orders. The president of the Reichsschrifttumskammer , Hanns Johst , stated in a letter to the publisher that Zuckmayer's book was "absolutely undesirable in the Reich because of its literary past". In August 1936 the book was finally published by the Bermann-Fischer publishing house in Vienna.

In 1937 the novel was published in Great Britain and the USA under the titles The Moon in the South and The Moons Ride over, respectively . Salwáre was also published in fascist Italy and Hungary before the Second World War.

content

The novel, which takes place around the early 1930s, is told in a retrospective: the painter and globetrotter Thomas Stolperer remembers the time when he was a guest of his friend Firmin Graf Stries dej Salwàre in a conversation with the nameless first-person narrator was. He lives with his very down-to-earth wife, two children, his blind mother and younger sister Magdalena at Salwàre Castle in South Tyrol . Firmin is a successful playwright but is currently suffering from writer's block. Stolperer is drawn to the artistic and intellectual atmosphere in the castle and promises to stay for the whole summer. You have intellectual, sometimes philosophical, conversations and deal with music. Thomas falls in love with Magdalena, but is rejected by her. Certain demonic, animal traits seem to be present in it, which are particularly visible at full moon . He is later told that an ancestor of the family was burned as a witch centuries ago .

Now Thomas begins a relationship with the Ladin waitress at a nearby mountain inn, who is also called Magdalena, but is called Mena or Menega. For him she is becoming more and more important as a contrast to Countess Magdalena. She had recently got engaged to her Italian cousin Mario, a staunch fascist . Mario also comes to visit the castle, but cannot understand Magdalena's behavior either, feels rejected by her and has doubts about the engagement. During a trip to Lake Kaltern , the two start a heated argument and break up their engagement, Mario leaves. The Count and his sister then go on a mountain tour up the Latemar with Stolperer . Firmin and Magdalena have a fatal accident after Thomas had separated from them shortly before in an argument. Mena, involved in a smuggling affair through her brother, disappears; only later does Thomas find out that she was expecting a child from him. Once again he looks for Mena in Bolzano , but can no longer find her and leaves South Tyrol.

reception

Contemporary reviews praised the convincing descriptions of nature in the South Tyrolean mountain landscape; nevertheless, the lack of concrete action and the lack of a clear statement were criticized. In his analysis of the female characters in the novel, Dieter Kafitz pointed out that, in Zuckmayer's vitalistic view, the feminine was identified with nature, the two archetypes of the delicate, weak woman and the femme fatale were merged. The lexicon of world literature particularly emphasizes the impressive description of nature, but criticizes the “given typification” of the characters. Luise Rinser attempted a psychoanalytic interpretation of the novel.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Carl Zuckmayer / Gottfried Bermann Fischer: Correspondence 1935-1977. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2004 ISBN 3-89244-627-X , p. 464ff.
  2. ↑ cf. Walter Killy: Literature Lexicon. Authors and works in the German language, Vol. 12. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh, 1992. ISBN 3-570-04682-6 , p. 527
  3. ↑ cf. Hans Wagener: Carl Zuckmayer Criticism. Tracing endangered fame . Camden House, Columbia 1995 ISBN 1-57113-064-0 , pp. 143ff.
  4. ↑ Gero von Wilpert (ed.): Lexicon of world literature. Vol. IV. Dtv, Munich 1997 ISBN 3-423-59050-5 , pp. 1133f.
  5. ↑ Luise Rinser: The moon and its property - to the novel Salwàre or the Magdalena of Bozen. in: Zuckmayer-Blätter, Vol. 27 - 1/83: Salwàre or the Magdalena of Bozen. Phenomenon of a fantastic novel