Selina (Jean Paul)

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Jean Paul (1763-1825)

Selina is the last book by Jean Paul , which the author began on April 27, 1823 and could not finish. His friend Christian Georg Otto published the fragment in 1827. In this continuation of the story The Campanian Valley , with which Jean Paul had been concerned since 1814, he continues to write about the immortality of the soul.

When the poet was solemnly buried in Bayreuth on November 17, 1825 , the “Selina” manuscript was lying on his coffin.

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The characters were taken over by Jean Paul from the "Kampaner Tal" in 1797. In 1822 - a quarter of a century later - the first-person narrator accepted an invitation from two good old friends to the Falkenberg manor and the neighboring castle of Wiana in Germany. Rittmeister Karlson lives on Rittergut Falkenberg with his wife, Countess Josepha and their now grown up children Nantilde and Alexander. The younger son Henrion fights in Nauplia as a volunteer on the side of the oppressed Greeks against the Turks. Selina, the daughter of Baron Wilhelmi and Henrion are a bridal couple. Both are connected by a bond of souls. Henrion believes in the immortality of souls. Selina lost her mother Gione when she was 14. The young girl lives with her father at Wiana Castle. The baron owns several villages and handed over the Falkenberg estate to Rittmeister Karlson.

Selina, an avid Jean Paul reader, limits herself mostly to listening to the seemingly endless disputes between the guest and the hosts about the immortality of the soul. Sometimes, however, she also briefly expresses her opinion on the respective subject.

Jean Paul's arguments for immortality seem far-fetched. For example, he asks: “What does ... all of creation want?” This is followed by a never-ending response from the monologizing questioner, which can overwhelm the average reader. Alexander, who has already made it to the Legation Council, contradicts Jean Paul according to the motto "With death everything is over." His father, the Rittmeister and the baron, as old friends, don't want to contradict Jean Paul. In old age they want to believe in some kind of survival after death. Countess Josepha is more reserved and weighs up more. The Rittmeister wishes that Jean Paul would strengthen Alexander's belief in the immortality of souls. The guest does not succeed.

Selina is a talented painter. At her father's request, she had portrayed the groom. For the girl, the mother did not die. Gione appears to her in a dream. Selina has magnetic powers. Thanks to this clairvoyant “self-magnetism”, she learns of the bridegroom's wound in “art slumber”. Henrion is actually lying down with a chest wound in Marseilles.

shape

“The criss-cross movements of the conversation” are intolerable. At times, Jean Paul challenges people to leaf through with his “calm, impartial investigations that are only concerned about things”. Of course, he sometimes loosens up the tough lecture - for example with reflections on the migration of souls from the wren to the eagle, the lamb and the nightingale. Jean Paul also thinks of the transmigration of souls of the adulteress, the child in the womb and the professor of history. The 21st century reader is taken aback: Love, sadness and joy did not work in the head, but in the heart.

Compared to the "Kampaner Tal", poetry was pushed back in favor of rhetoric, natural history and of course philosophy.

reception

  • The first editor Christian Otto categorized the fragment in 1827 as a "philosophical novel". De Bruyn formulates "dialogues clad in narrative" and for Ortheil it is one of the "theoretic works". Zeller speaks of a "philosophical-poetic discussion" and points to the "cosmic" text structure: the chapters are called Mercury , Venus , Earth , Mars , Vesta , Juno , Ceres , Pallas and Jupiter .
  • In 1860 Goltz was impressed by Jean Paul's humor: the earth, a large hearse that circles the sun.
  • With Henrion, Zeller is reminded of the Horion of Hesperus . Selina means moon goddess . Souls lived on the moon .
  • How can we find solace when we mourn one of our dead? In "Selina" the death of Gione is lamented. Jean Paul is not sure. Is there any consolation by looking at the Bible or space? But one thing is certain. Everyone needs a god.
  • According to Schulz, Henrion dies of his wound. In the edition used there is no mention of the young warrior's death.

literature

Text output

First edition
Used edition

Secondary literature

  • Günter de Bruyn : The life of Jean Paul Friedrich Richter. A biography. Halle (Saale) 1975, ISBN 3-596-10973-6 .
  • Peter Sprengel (ed.): Jean Paul in the judgment of his critics. Documents on the history of Jean Paul's impact in Germany. Beck. Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07297-6 .
  • Hanns-Josef Ortheil: Jean Paul. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-499-50329-8 .
  • Gerhard Schulz : The German literature between the French Revolution and the restoration. Part 2. The Age of the Napoleonic Wars and the Restoration: 1806–1830. Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-09399-X .
  • Gert Ueding : Jean Paul. Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-35055-0 .
  • Annette Debold: Traveling with Jean Paul. Studies on a subject inspired by real and genre history in the poet's theory and practice. Röhrig, St. Ingbert 1998, ISBN 3-86110-174-2 .
  • Christoph Zeller: Allegories of storytelling. Wilhelm Raabe's Jean-Paul reading. Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-45218-2 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ For example, Selina says about God: “Isn't it a comforting thought, this hidden wealth in our soul? Can we not hope that we unconsciously love God more intimately than we know ...? ”(Edition used, p. 1189, 34. Zvo) Or:“ You have sent me all my beautiful days from your heaven. ”(Used Edition, p. 1198, 29. Zvo) She also believes that the dead pray to God alone. (Edition used, p. 1203, 14. Zvo)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schulz, p. 365, 7. Zvo
  2. ↑ Edition used, pp. 1319–1320
  3. ↑ Sprengel, p. 98 below
  4. ↑ de Bruyn, p. 366, 3rd Zvu
  5. ↑ Edition used, p. 1144, 11. Zvo
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 1198, 23. Zvo
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 1126, 9. Zvo
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 1216, 32. Zvo
  9. ↑ Edition used, p. 1176, 8. Zvo
  10. ↑ de Bruyn, p. 306, 14. Zvu
  11. ↑ Debold, p. 98, 10th Zvu
  12. ↑ de Bruyn, p. 359, 7. Zvo
  13. ↑ Ortheil, p. 132, 10. Zvo
  14. ↑ Zeller, p. 189, 2. Zvo
  15. ↑ Sprengel, p. 184, 8. Zvo
  16. ↑ Zeller, p. 188, footnote 58
  17. ↑ Zeller, p. 190
  18. ↑ Ueding, p. 183
  19. ↑ Schulz, p. 365, 16. Zvu
  20. ↑ Schulz, p. 365, 17. Zvo