Reeds in the wind
Schilf im Wind (Originally Canne al vento ) is a novel by the Italian writer Grazia Deledda from 1913 . a. for this work in 1926 received the Nobel Prize for Literature .
people
The Pintor ladies : three sisters Ruth, Noëmi and Esther (Lia died earlier) who live in what was once a large but dilapidated estate. Efix : you servant who manages part of the estate without any payment. Don Giacinto : son of Lia who fled the estate a long time ago and moved to the mainland. Don Predu : cousin of the three sisters who is out for his own gain and that of his cousins.
content
Chapter 1: The servant Efix learns from the boy Zuannanto that his mistresses have received a yellow letter from their nephew Don Giacinto. Efix fears that this letter and its contents could have a negative effect on him. He remembers his mistresses and their hot-blooded father Don Zame: how he subjugated his daughters and wanted to keep them for a good marriage, how Lia ran away, married a merchant on the mainland and gave birth to Don Giacinto and how Don Zame died while looking for Lia . Efix is supposed to come to his mistresses the following day.
Chapter 2: Efix descends to the dilapidated yard of his mistresses. Don Giacinto's news announces his arrival. In contrast to Efix, the three sisters are not unanimously pleased. Efix visits the fair with Donna Esther and has the vision of an "ideal world" in his small universe. He then visits the moneylender Kallina, with whom he owes several outstanding annual wages to his mistresses. He borrows money from her and uses it to buy a hat.
Chapter 3: Don Giacinto does not appear. While everyone is passing the time at a village festival, Noëmi dreams of a "fuller" life and the flight of Lias until she reaches for her farewell letter. At this moment Giacinto arrives, whom she is forced to entertain. He is brisk and says that he wants to take up a job in Nuoro . Noëmi noticed that her sister Esther Giacinto had written a letter and knew of his arrival.
Chapter 4: The village festival is boring until Giacinto arrives with Efix. Giacinto makes an impression on women, especially Grixenda. She is bothered by the maid Natòlia, who in turn throws herself at Giacinto; the jealous women quarrel while dancing. Giacinto tells Efix of the wealth on the mainland, in the midst of which he no longer felt comfortable. Completely exhausted, the two return to Efix's hut.
Chapter 5: Giacinto and Grixenda get closer in the still ongoing festival. Everyone is enthusiastic about Giacinto and praised him. He is generous, everyone thinks he is rich. The mood of the festival changes again and again between joyful and exultant and melancholy. In the end, Giacinto confesses to Efix that he wants to marry Grixenda.
Chapter 6: A few weeks after the party, the mood has cooled: old Pottoi wants to know whether Giacinto will marry her granddaughter Grixenda. Efix is worried because Giacinto doesn't work and spends the money with full hands. Giacinto is also sobered: he has a fever, does not feel wanted. He tells Efix about his fate on the mainland, about his betrayal of a shipowner and how he forgave him, helped him and made the trip to Sardinia possible. When Efix entrusts Don Predu with an errand for the ladies Pintor, they consider Giacinto to be the client and are very angry with him.
Chapter 7: The sisters tell Efix that they want to get rid of Giacinto: He's playing, start making love and he got his money from the moneylender Kallina. Efix seeks out Kallina and threatens her, who also tells him about possibly forged signatures. He therefore confronts Giacinto and implores him to rethink his path in life. Giacinto admits the fakes.
Chapter 8: Giacinto goes to Kallina again to borrow money for his departure to Nuoro. Kallina gives him the money. On the way home he stops by Don Predu, where he gambled away the money.
Chapter 9: Noëmi is dreaming of her youth when the Pottoi visits her and asks her to influence Giacinto. Noëmi promises to talk to him about Grixenda. Shortly afterwards, the bailiff delivered a letter in which Kallina asked Giacinto for a large sum of money within a short period of time. There is only the option of selling and paying for everything or sending Giacinto to jail because he received the sum with fake bills of exchange. Don Predu appears, who has had mercy on the sisters for some time and is willing to help them. Ruth dies.
Chapter 10: Giacinto is now on the road again. The old Pottoi wants to know how the fate of her granddaughter Grixenda will continue. The two remaining sisters hold Efix responsible for everything. He visits Giacinto in Oliena, where he has a job to do. Giacinto has found out that Efix once killed Don Zame, the father of the Pintor sisters, and holds this against him.
Chapter 11: Weeks later, Giacinto found a meager position in Nuoro. In the meantime, Efix visits Don Predu in his distress and asks him to help the sisters. Both discuss different possibilities until Efix finally agrees to ask his mistresses to sell his little goodwill to Don Predu.
Chapter 12: The sisters sell Don Predu the goodness, Efix becomes free. In the coming spring, Don Predu expresses his wish to marry Noëmi. But Noëmi, who secretly loves Don Giacinto, rejects the proposal that Efix brings her down. As a result, he is crushed and sees all his hopes to save the great estate of his mistresses dwindle.
Chapter 13: Efix visits Giacinto in Nuoro, where he works happily in a mill. Efix urges him to marry Grixenda, but Giacinto refuses. Efix meets a blind beggar whose companion dies and offers to accompany him further.
Chapter 14: Efix and his companion go from festival to festival to beg. He sees this as his repentance, as they face rejection and ridicule on their march. In an argument with other beggars, Efix realizes that his self-imposed penitence has failed. Nevertheless he moves on - now with two blind beggars at his side.
Chapter 15: On his journey, Efix meets Don Predu during a procession, who gives him news of his mistresses. Efix lets his two companions move on alone and feels liberated and at the end of his penitence. He therefore returns to his home village, where he learns of the impending marriage of Giacinto and Grixenda.
Chapter 16: Efix returns to his two former mistresses Esther and Noëmi and tells of his alleged trip to America. When the language of Don Predu comes up, Noëmi initially reacts angry; but that night she agrees to marry as soon as possible.
Chapter 17: Efix becomes weaker and dies on the wedding day of Noëmi and Don Predu.
Motifs
The novel plays with the central motifs of the barren landscape of Sardinia , poverty, the deep superstition of the Sardinians and honor . The motif of persistence can be found in the title, which alludes to the Bible passages Isaiah 42 : 3 and Matthew 12:20: "He will not break the kinked reed, and he will not extinguish the smoldering wick." Efix (Efisio) is one of the saints of the city of Cagliari .
output
- Grazia Deledda, reeds in the wind. Roman , with an afterword by Federico Hindermann. From the Italian by Bruno Goetz. Manesse, 1951, ISBN 978-3-7175-1814-3