Saturnian dance
Saturnian Dance is a novel by Brian Moore , which was published in 1964 by Rütten and Loening in Munich under the title "A Festival of Atonement" . The original was published in 1957 under the title "The Feast of Lupercal" by Little, Brown and Company in Boston and Toronto.
action
37-year-old Diarmuid Devine, an English teacher at St. Michan's College , an Irish Catholic school for boys in Glengormley, near Belfast , has not yet got involved with women at all. However, Dev, as he is known in his circle, used to dream about sins of meat with famous film actresses. Dev now thinks he finally needs a woman. It is high time. A first opportunity arises when he addresses Miss Una Clarke at a party given by his patron and friend, fellow teacher Tim Heron. 20-year-old Una, a Protestant like her uncle Tim, comes from Dublin . The pretty young girl is supposed to become a nurse in Belfast at the request of her mother. Una, however, has a stage career in mind. That's good. Dev is a volunteer behind the scenes in the Catholic lay group Trinity . The edifying play "Mulligan's Testament" is about to be performed and one actress is out. Protestants are easy going. Dev, the Catholic, defies such common prejudice. He gives the girl drama lessons in private; study the role with her. To Dev's chagrin it turns out - Una has no talent. The girl realizes her inability. Dev loves Una dearly. Even after she has poured him pure wine - regarding her past life - he does not let go of her. Una was madly in love with a married man at home in Dublin. The mother did not know what else to do; sent the daughter to her brother Tim in Belfast.
Dev changes clothes, takes dance lessons and takes Una out. Aunt Maeve and Uncle Tim are horrified. Tim reads Dev the riot act. The lover does not want to hear and proposes to Una. The beloved makes Dev fidget at first and then confesses her love to him. Una finds herself ready to have sex. It's the first time for both of them. Dev fails. He has an erectile dysfunction . A little later, after Una fled from him into the next room, he guards her sleep. Dev feels that the potency is coming back with power. Too late. Una leaves and is caught by Aunt Maeve when she gets in through the window early in the morning. Angrily, Tim Heron confronts his colleague in the college hallway. The argument is overheard. A mockery verse can soon be admired in the student's toilet, an act of revenge by the students against the teachers who were furious with the cane. The Knittel verse contains the whole truth and more: Dev is said to have had intercourse. Pregnancy as a result of the "night of love" is also feared by Tim Heron, who was hired as a guardian in front of his sister. The girl does not want to be sent back to the mother and asks Dev for help. He is supposed to teach Uncle Tim a believable version of the nocturnal "adventure". Una has to experience desperate, Dev turns out to be a washcloth, a coward who always wants to please everyone. Una can't stay with Dev, a "pushover" who let her down when it came down to it.
The second big argument between Dev and Tim takes place, visible to all, in the middle of the college grounds. Dev wants to explain everything to Tim; presents himself as impotent. The angry Tim does not believe a word of his friend and beats him as soft as a diaper with a cane. The school director Reverend Daniel Keogh, doctor of theology, does not expel the opponents from the school, but opens a way to reconciliation. Dev, who had revolted against his superior once in his life during the discussion with the director, finally falls back into his old obedience.
Una wants to go to relatives in London. The girl and Dev part on the best of terms. One confesses mutual affection. But Dev no longer wants to deal with women in the future.
Quote
Brian Moore quotes Shakespeare: "Whatever evil people do, they survive."
title
The original title (see above) refers directly to an incident in the novel. In class, Dev discusses the Luperkalienfest , mentioned in Shakespeare's first scene by Julius Caesar , a festival of atonement, which is also indicated by the title of the first translation of the novel into German (see above). After this English lesson, Dev is caned by Tim on the boarding school premises, which the director and several colleagues observe from a window. The beaten through endures punishment as an act of atonement.
The current German title "Saturnian Dance" misses the direct text a little, because the term is not mentioned at any point. In connection with the toilet smear, the German namesake may have thought of the custom of students to repay their university teachers for all injustices once a year .
reception
- According to the review by Patrick J. Hicks: "Brian Moore's The Feast of Lupercal and the Constriction of Masculinity," the novel is a reminiscence of Brian Moore's youth.
German editions
- Brian Moore: A Feast of Atonement. Novel. From the American by Rudolf Rocholl (translator) . Rütten & Loening, Munich 1964, 256 pages, linen (German first edition)
- An unabridged edition was published by Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag under the title Die Wölfe von Belfast , Reinbek bei Hamburg 1971, ISBN 978-3-499-11431-1
- Brian Moore: Saturnian Dance. Novel. Translated from the English by Malte Krutzsch. 300 pages. Diogenes, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-257-22781-7
Secondary literature
In English
- Jo O'Donoghue: Brian Moore: A Critical Study. Pages 46-59: "3. The Making of an Ulster Catholic". McGill-Queen's University Press, Québec 1991. 266 pages, ISBN 0-7735-0850-3
Web links
In English:
- John Self: Short review, July 29, 2007
- Cover of the original in English. In the short advertising text under the cover, Dev is referred to as a tragicomic character.
Individual evidence
- ^ Brian Moore: Saturnian Dance. Novel. Translated from the English by Malte Krutzsch. 300 pages. Diogenes, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-257-22781-7 , p. 4 above
- ^ Brian Moore: Saturnian Dance. Novel. Translated from the English by Malte Krutzsch. 300 pages. Diogenes, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-257-22781-7 , p. 216, 15th line vu
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^ Antony:
fellow citizens! Friends! Romans! listen to me:
I want to bury Caesar, not praise him.
What people do bad, they survive,
The good is often buried with them.
( August Wilhelm Schlegel : Shakespeare: Julius Caesar ) - ^ William Shakespeare : Julius Caesar in the Gutenberg-DE project ( archive version )
- ^ Brian Moore: Saturnian Dance. Novel. Translated from the English by Malte Krutzsch. 300 pages. Diogenes, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-257-22781-7 , p. 263, 8. Zvu to p. 264, 15. Zvo
- ^ Brian Moore: Saturnian Dance. Novel. Translated from the English by Malte Krutzsch. 300 pages. Diogenes, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-257-22781-7 , p. 207, 14. Zvu and p. 290, 16. Zvo