Studer short stories

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Stories, Volume 2 in the edition of the Limmat Verlag , 1992. Contains the Studer short story The Old Magician

Between 1931 and 1938 the Swiss author Friedrich Glauser wrote several short stories by Studer . However, only The Old Magician and Creaking Shoes have the typical traits of the investigator of the Wachtmeister Studer novels, which should make the investigator so famous. Rescue can be viewed as a preliminary study for the Studer figure, the disagreed pair of lovers as a kind of "finger exercise", while the end of the world and redevelopment are not crime stories and Studer only has a brief appearance in them.

"Rescue"

Rescue is not a Studer story, but interesting from a literary historical point of view, as Glauser allows a figure to appear in this short text (the educational advisor) who can be described as a “primary student”: He is massive, cozy, smokes Brissago and condemns the socially disadvantaged in society not, but treat them with understanding.

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The girl Eva Schmidt, whose father died four years ago, lives with her mother in poor conditions. Eva is a sensitive and dreamy child who is often criticized by the adults. There are only three things in her life that she can be happy about: the memory of the lovely Sunday excursions with her father, the dachshund she meets on the way to school, and a teacher who is good to her.

Every day after school, Eva has to go to the rich Zobel family until 8 p.m. to look after their two children. The six-year-old boy and the seven-year-old girl regularly abuse their caregivers, preferably with an iron money box in the shape of an elephant, which they laughingly rattle in front of Eva's face. When little Marie Zobel got a blue apron and a five-franc coin for her birthday, Eva also wanted such a beautiful apron. Shortly afterwards, she has to look after the children all day long, as the parents go on a trip in their car. Again Eva is tormented by the sable children; when the opportunity arises, she sneaks into the living room, opens the glass cabinet, breaks the elephant's lock and steals the coins.

The next day Eva buys an apron, chocolate and sugar cubes for the dachshund in town. She telephones Ms. Zobel and cancels herding duties by stating that she will be on vacation in the coming period. The next day Eva's mother comes to school and insults the little girl as a thief. The teacher takes care of the matter and goes to an educational advisor with Eva in the afternoon. Eva's fear disappears very quickly and she trusts the comfortable man who is sitting on the chair in front of her, smoking a cigar and not condemning and punishing the act, but wants to help her.

Emergence

Main building of the PZM with entrance. Max and Gertrud Müller lived on the third floor on the right in Glauser's time

The nine typescript pages of the short story Rescue were almost certainly made in the final months of 1931, when Glauser was interned for the fifth time in the Münsingen Psychiatric Center (PZM). In 1927 he carried out a one-year psychoanalysis with Max Müller there . He was also accepted into Müller's family, who lived in the main building of the PZM at the time, and met his wife, Gertrud Müller.

In January 1932 Glauser moved to Paris with his then girlfriend Beatrix Gutekunst until the end of May and tried to gain a foothold as a freelance journalist and writer. During this time he also got to know Georges Simenon's books and his commissioner Maigret and succumbed to the charm of the series, which was to be of crucial importance in the creation of Wachtmeister Studer. Shortly after Glauser arrived in the French capital, he wrote to Gertrud Müller and told her, among other things, of the short story Rescue : “I will write to your husband as soon as I know something for sure. Please give him my warmest regards. By the way, Schohaus [Willi Schohaus was an editor at the Schweizer Erziehungs-Rundschau ] accepted the little girl story and wants more. Funny if only everyone were like that. " In fact, rescue was published in March 1932 in Schweizer Erziehungs-Rundschau No. 12, an organ for public and private education in Switzerland.

Biographical background

The girl Marie, who violates social rules (theft and lies) and understanding instead of condemnation, is a recurring motif in Glauser's work and was elaborated in more detail in the Studer novels that were to follow. Glauser took up this pattern again in his first Studer crime thriller, Schlumpf Erwin Mord : Erwin Schlumpf is a stumbled man who is convicted by the judiciary; Sergeant Studer, however, understands the inmate and helps him. In Matto, it is Pierre Pieterlen who, despite the act of infanticide, is not convicted because he was ultimately a victim of poverty. And in the Chinese , too, there is a victim of the socially adverse circumstances, the contracting boy Ludwig Fahrni, whom Studer even appoints as his assistant.

The subject of the hasty condemnation (and the "question of guilt") by society was always autobiographical for Glauser, as he was confronted with it himself throughout his life. Because of his addiction to morphine , he kept coming into contact with the judiciary and saw himself as a victim. Hardy Ruoss wrote: «For him [Glauser] - and in all his narrative work, especially in the detective novels - guilt is never something clear. That is why man should also be careful not to become a judge of his fellow human beings (the Bible phrase 'Do not judge ...!' Appears in Glauser's work on various occasions ). "

Probably the most formative for Glauser was the repeated condemnation by his strict and aloof father . Glauser had already incapacitated him in 1918 and wrote to the Mannheim prison doctor in 1932: "For my personal safety and for the good of society, I therefore demand that FG be interned for life." When Glauser created the figure of the educational advisor in The Rescue and later expanded it to become an investigator for Wachtmeister Studer, the unconscious motive of the father figure, who Glauser had missed all his life, may have played an important role. Frank Göhre writes: “Studer does not judge. He understands the stumbled, the 'poor dogs'. It is the alternative to the powerful, strict father of Friedrich Glauser. "

«The old wizard»

For the first time, Studer appears here in a criminal case. While the first character traits of the future sergeant appeared in the short story Rescue , Glauser's well-known investigator appears in The Old Magician with all the well-known characteristics that should make the character so famous in the later novels: He is with the Bern city police (although still as Commissioner), has a wife, has a mustache, is retiring in five years and takes his time investigating, above all by listening and making respondents feel understood. Studer differs from the "finished" figure only in that he is plump instead of corpulent, smokes Toscani instead of Brissago cigars and has a son who will soon finish his training as a typesetter . What strikes the most about this story (and is missing again in the following two Studer short stories) is that Glauser is already working with the stylistic device of the atmosphere and many details, which made his upcoming Studer novels so distinctive and successful.

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«Studer trudged on, the weather brightened a little, that is, the rain stopped flowing, instead a thick white fog settled over the land. This fog was so thick that at first Studer couldn't see the houses that made up the hamlet of Waiblikon. "

The police in Bern have received an anonymous letter in which the sixty-year-old farmer Berthold Leuenberger from Waiblikon is accused of murdering his four deceased wives. Inspector Studer is supposed to investigate this rumor and is therefore on foot in the autumn rain in the remote hamlet. Around 10 a.m. he reached the village and went to the only inn. There he pretends to be a fertilizer agent and begins to ask the waitress about the farmers in the area. When she mentioned Leuenberger, it turned out that he had the reputation of a person with supernatural powers; Sometimes people came to him from afar when a doctor couldn't do anything. The strict believers in the area claimed that Leuenberger was in league with the devil. Many people were afraid of the farmer and did not believe that his wives died of intestinal catarrh , but were murdered by him.

After this questioning, Studer arrives at Leuenberger's farm and is invited to lunch by him. When the inspector enters the room, an inexplicable fear of the man creeps over him. The farmer, however, seems to have noticed that Studer is not a representative, but comes from the police and is now starting a psychological duel. Leuenberger serves up schnapps and Studer gets involved in the game by, increasingly drunk, lurking for a contradiction in the farmer's statements. Suddenly the latter fetches a new bottle for the inspector, while he does not drink any more schnapps himself. Studer confiscates the liquor bottle for the court chemist because he suspects poison in it. Now Leuenberger confesses the deeds and explains that after the death of the seventh wife he would have achieved eternal life, as this is written in an old book that he shows to Studer. This leads the farmer away and delivers him to the district prison. The next day Leuenberger hanged himself in his cell.

Emergence

The old magician was the first Studer story that Glauser had written; He confirmed this in a letter dated March 10, 1937 to his long-time patron Martha Ringier . It probably originated in 1932, when Glauser lived with Beatrix Gutekunst in Paris until June and was then interned again in the Münsingen psychiatric center. On January 27, 1933, he wrote to his guardian Walter Schiller: « The federal government has accepted a longer novella for me, which will appear in March and which will cost about 100 frs. will bring in. " In fact, The Old Magician appeared on April 23 as the first print in Der kleine Bund [Sunday supplement of the Bund ] by Hugo Marti . A year later Glauser also sent the text to Friedrich Witz from the Zürcher Illustrierte and, after accepting the story, wrote on November 9, 1934: “I am delighted that you were able to use the 'Old Magician'. But I have to confess something to you. About three years ago [correct: one and a half years] it was published in the “Small Bund”. Does that matter? " On March 1, 1935, the second print appeared in the Zürcher Illustrierte and in May Glauser wrote to Witz: “I would like to thank you once again for bringing the 'Old Magician'. I even got compliments from a couple of sides, which amazed me. By the way, I think it wasn't all bad. "

Gretler remained connected to the Studer figure until shortly before his death

When the long-awaited success for Glauser finally came with the first Studer novel, Schlumpf Erwin Mord , and a film version of the book was within reach, he even thought of having the "Magician" filmed as well; on October 10, 1936, he wrote to Martha Ringier: “A sound film studio in your lovely Basel area asked me about scenarios. I will of course "reverse scene" the Smurf and I will enjoy it. And the 'Old Wizard' too. The 'Smurf' with Gretler (have you ever seen Gretler? He plays in Zurich) as Studer, that could be something good ”. In fact, Heinrich Gretler then played the Studer character in a portrayal in Wachtmeister Studer und Matto riert , which had a formative role for decades . He also played the leading role in the theater adaptation of Die Speiche (as "Krock & Co. - Volksstück in five acts"). Two years before his death he interpreted Studer for the last time by reading a full six minutes from The Old Magician in Felice Vitale's 1975 documentary about Glauser .

Biographical background

When Studer approaches Leuenberger's court in The Old Magician , Glauser describes it as follows: “To his right there was a huge orchard, old trees, Studer noticed, but not long ago it was newly grafted . And this orchard made dark memories pop up in him. Fruit trees - pests - pest control. What did you need for pest control? Arseniate ? " This description relates to Glauser's time from 1930/1931 when he completed his training as a gardener in Oeschberg. There he came into contact with arsenic and other chemicals from the gardening profession, which he used again in detail in 1937 in the fourth Studer novel Der Chinese , since the story took place in a horticultural school.

However, when Studer ponders in the Altes Zauberer that “this orchard let dark memories emerge in him”, Glauser in particular speaks here: He himself described the Oeschberg year in letters to his friend from the Asconesian days , Bruno Goetz , as one agonizing time: “I'll be back in horticulture school afterwards. I took on martyrdom because I found it necessary. " In two further letters he wrote: “The society I was with for a year is completely disgusted. Well, only three more weeks, thank God. " And: "I count the days to the end."

"The divided lovers"

Although almost all the ingredients for the later well-known Studer novels were available in the Altes Zauberer , Glauser varied the figure of the investigator again in The Discordant Lovers and described him with a different physiognomy: Studer is short and fat, with blue eyes and a sad look, but has nevertheless the qualities of being friendly, considered, calm and not prejudicial.

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Studer encounters his first literary corpse on the Limmat near Baden

Two telephone workers discover a lifeless body floating in the Limmat on a late summer evening between Turgi and Baden . The body is a young woman. The two carry the dead woman to the nearby farmhouse, put her down in the tool shed and phone the police in Baden. The arriving doctor estimates that the corpse was in the water for about 2.5 hours, and there are scratch marks on the wrists. Half an hour later two policemen arrive; They did not find any identification papers, but found that the clothes of the dead were embroidered with two intertwined "E" s and assume a murder that must have occurred below Baden. It is agreed that the body will be left with the farmer until the next day. Then the police officers go to an inn with the two telephone workers and discuss the discovery of the body again, while a young man at the next table overhears them. One of the workers tells the story of a father who tried to resuscitate his drowned daughter for ten hours, even though the doctor had pronounced her dead, and then she actually woke up again.

The next morning, a Ms. Egger reports to the police station in Baden and wants to report a missing person about her daughter Emma. The commissioner on duty, Studer, records the personal details and listens to the woman as she reports that the girl was nothing but grief; Recently she even fell in love with the young postal worker Schütz, who would have neither a secure job nor money. Marriage is out of the question. Studer interrupts the mother and explains to her that a dead woman with the appropriate signal was found yesterday. When the two arrive at the farmhouse at 9 a.m. to identify the girl, the body has disappeared. Studer then goes back to Baden to ask the young Schütz in the post about an alibi for yesterday evening. He seems very nervous and denies a murder, although it has not yet been mentioned. It turns out that Schütz was in the restaurant yesterday and listened to the conversation between the police officers and the telephone workers.

Studer drives back to the farm with Schütz. Once there, to the surprise of everyone present, he asks the young man where he had dragged the body. Schütz leads the policemen, sobbing, into the nearby wood to the dead. Now Studer explains: From the beginning he did not believe in a murder. Emma and her lover wanted to get married. However, since the parents were against it, the couple decided to drown themselves in the Limmat together. At the last moment, however, Schütz had lost the courage and fled from the water. When he heard the story of the incredible resuscitation that evening, he went to the dead, dragged her into the forest and tried for hours to resuscitate her.

Emergence

The dating of the divided lovers cannot be clearly determined. The literary scholar Bernhard Echte and the Germanist Manfred Papst date the text based on the shape of the typescript to the year 1933. In that year Glauser stayed for the sixth time in the Münsingen Psychiatry Center (PZM). At that time he also met the nurse Berthe Bendel, with whom he stayed together until his death in 1938 .

Glauser sent The Disunite Lovers on November 9, 1934 to Friedrich Witz from the Zürcher Illustrierte in the hope of publication. Witz, however, was not particularly taken with the short thriller and wrote back three days later: "The 'disagreed L.' is somehow - forgive me the openness - a bit unsavory.". He rejected the story and pointed out to Glauser that the police sergeant in Baden was actually called Studer and that the character would have to be renamed. In the typescript, the name “Studer” was then changed to “Widmer” with pencil corrections; However, The Disagreed Lovers remained unpublished during Glauser's lifetime.

Biographical background

Glauser lived with the Raschle family in Baden for seven months before another catastrophe occurred in his life.
Schulhausplatz in Baden, in the mid-1930s

Almost without exception, Glauser used scenes, characters and experiences from his own experience for his stories. So it is not surprising that he chose a place for The Disunite Lovers that he knew from his past. After a stay in the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic , he found accommodation from October 1920 to April 1921 on Haselstrasse in Baden with the town clerk Hans Raschle and his wife, known as Maugg. During these seven months, Raschle tried to work for Glauser at Brown, Boveri & Cie. to arrange, which however did not materialize. Instead, he completed a traineeship at the Badener Neue Freie Presse and wrote articles for the Badener Tagblatt and the NZZ . Although Glauser was welcomed here and was able to bring calm to his eventful life, the whole thing ended in another catastrophe. After the relationship with Elisabeth von Ruckteschell broke up towards the end of the year, Glauser began an affair with Hans Raschle's wife "Maugg" behind the back. In a letter from 1925 to the Münsingen Psychiatry Center, Raschle described the latest events [without mentioning the marriage fraud] as follows: “Glauser began to soak his cigarettes with opium when he could not achieve morphine, forged morphine recipes, even drank large amounts of ether Quanta. This went so far that he fell into real delirium at night , in which he disturbed the people sleeping next door with his noise. It then happened that he had not only sold the books of a painter, with whom he had made friends, but also books by ourselves at a local bookseller and used the money for his specific needs, that he had pumped money from our friends and had incurred debts in several shops on our behalf. When Glauser noticed that these things had occurred to him, he increased his doses of ether and morphine to such an extent that one fine morning in the post-delirium he pounced on my wife, who happened to be home alone, so that she had to pull my orderly pistol against him, to appease him. On the evening of the same day (it was April 1921, as far as I can remember) Glauser disappeared without saying goodbye. " It is uncertain whether Glauser had direct contact with the police or with the real Studer because of his delinquencies in Baden.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Glauser's death, the journalist Urs Tremp wrote: “There are only a few contemporary witnesses, and a cultural committee or a literary society will hardly ever have thought of a memorial. The city also never had a memorial plaque put up on Friedrich Glauser's temporary home in Baden, on the house on Haselstrasse. Glauser's short stay in the city - although under a prominent roof - did not go down in Baden's history. [...] Should we be sad that the city of Baden has narrowly missed a great literary figure? Do we have to regret that for Studer - as for his spiritual father - 'Gossip City' was only a short episode? The question is idle. [...] The "Sergeant Studer" has become a great Swiss criminal figure even without our city. "

"The end of the world"

Like the short story Sanierung that followed, the story Ein Weltschluss from 1933 is not a criminal case; Studer only makes a brief appearance in it. However, two things are remarkable: Studer appears for the first time with the rank of sergeant and Glauser anticipates the mysterious opening murder from The Chinese . The end of the world says: “In the village of Steffigen, the corpse of an elderly, well-dressed gentleman was found in the village cemetery on January 25, 1932. The judicial commission, consisting of examining magistrate Jutzeler, his clerk Montandon and police sergeant Studer, ordered the body to be transported to the morgue. [...] The cause of death was determined to be a shot in the heart. Examining magistrate Jutzeler is said to have immediately stated that this was apparently a suicide, although Dr. Sieber reproached him that this was an impossibility: the clothes of the person shot were not only intact, but the shirt, gilet, skirt and coat had been buttoned by someone else's hand, because it was not to be assumed that a man who had been shot in the heart would still be able to keep his clothes to put in order. " Four years later, Glauser turns Steffigen into Pründisberg and names the corpse James Fahrni; however, compared to Ein Weltschluss , it does not solve the riddle of Fahrni's undamaged suit.

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The examining magistrate Max Jutzeler lets the vagabond Brand free again despite a proven burglary. In another case, Jutzeler claims that the body found with a shot to the heart committed suicide, even though the dead man's clothes do not have any bullet holes. Sergeant Studer, who was called in, had no choice but to arrange for the corpse to be transported to the morgue. In addition, the examining magistrate transfers a henchman popular among the population to pre-trial detention for two months without interrogation. Jutzeler's superior as well as his subordinate then contact the higher court to point out the strange behavior of their employee. Max Jutzeler's wife is also increasingly worried about her husband. When he locks himself up in his study for two days, he is admitted to a psychiatric institution.

Emergence

On August 3, 1933, the journalist Adolf Guggenbühl asked Glauser: “We would be delighted if you occasionally wanted to send in another milieu story. For example, a warden's story or a youth story, or something that comes from your personal experience. [...] Or the story of a mentally ill person who remains in office and dignity for a long time and thus causes mischief, for example as a judge or in a business. That happens often. " Glauser took up the suggestion and wrote to his friend Berthe Bendel in December: “By the way, I've been working quite a bit recently. A story for the ‹Schw. Sp ›, which I think is good, an examining magistrate who is going crazy - knows, just told in letters and files. I really think she's good. " The Swiss mirrors accepted the story and printed it in February 1935th

Biographical background

Glauser had taken over the figure and the tragic living conditions of the vagrant Brand from a fellow prisoner he had met in 1925 in the Witzwil prison; When he was working on the conception of the novel Der Chinese in 1937 , he asked Otto Kellerhals, director of Witzwil, about the precise circumstances of his former colleague. In the detailed formulation of the psychiatric report on Max Jutzeler, Glauser was able to fall back on his own internment experience in psychiatric institutions.

"Renovation"

Rehabilitation is not a criminal case and can rather be read as a romantic variation on the Glauser-Bendel relationship. Nevertheless, Sergeant Studer makes a brief appearance in it. Strangely enough, Glauser changed the look of the investigator again: he has a red face, a goatee, has a goiter attachment and is short and fat. It seems as if Glauser tried it out and then decided on the investigator version of the Old Magician for his first Studer novel . In the afterword to the renovation , Bernhard Echte and Manfred Papst write: “Although a Sergeant Studer also appears in the renovation , he has little in common with the detective character in the novel; as in The Disunited Lovers , Studer is portrayed here as short and fat, and his physiognomy also has entirely different traits. This is all the more surprising since on March 1, 1935 , the Zürcher Illustrierte published the Old Magician , the earliest Studer story, as a second print, a text in which Studer was already drawn with all those characteristics that would make the future character famous . Why Glauser deviated from this picture in the Disagreed Lovers and the present story cannot be explained in terms of the history of the work. "

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At the beginning of January, head nurse Klara, who works in the community hospital, discovers a lonely stranger in tattered clothes in the thickly falling snow, who doesn't seem to be doing well. She feels his pulse, and when it turns out that he has heart problems, she admitted him to the hospital as an emergency. After a bath, he gets a bed and the necessary care. The stranger is a Swiss abroad and calls himself Louis Armstrong, born in Ludwig Armbruster, and tells us that he has lost various castles in Scotland; he shows a photograph in which he is shown with hunting dogs and an English country house. Armstrong turns out to be an elegant, well-mannered man who regularly kisses Klara on the hand. A friend, Eugen Frutiger, who is staying in Thun in the “Grand Hotel Palace”, sends him the money he needs to care for the hospital . Armstrong tells Sister Klara that he would like to open a sanatorium with her and that she would be the director. The next day the stranger disappeared.

Sister Klara realizes that she was probably the victim of an impostor. Nevertheless, she lacks the daily kiss on the hand and the affection that Armstrong gave her and she realizes that she has always only worked for others and has basically not had a good life. Klara asks about Eugen Frutiger at the "Grand Hotel Palace"; it turns out he's just a waiter and has no idea where Armstrong is. However, he warns her against him as a woman. Undeterred, Klara goes to the canton police and receives the information from Sergeant Studer that Louis Armstrong is a dodger, impostor and, above all, a marriage swindler who is otherwise not a bad guy. Klara quits her job as head nurse, triggers her parental inheritance and changes clothes. She travels to Thun to see Frutiger, who tells her that Armstrong has meanwhile been working as a casserole in Mürren . At the end of the story, Klara and Louis got married and successfully run a sanatorium.

Emergence

The "impostor" and the nurse. Friedrich Glauser and Berthe Bendel, summer 1937

The renovation took place between autumn 1934 and spring 1935, parallel to the creation of Schlumpf Erwin Mord . At the time Glauser was interned in the Waldau Psychiatric Clinic . At the end of September 1934 he was transferred to the open colony "Anna Müller" near Münchenbuchsee (belonging to the clinic) . On May 20, 1935 he wrote to Friedrich Witz: “I'm sending you two new things. They are both first prints. Although I doubt that you remediation can bring, although it's funny. " Witz replied immediately two days later: “The renovation is undoubtedly also an excellent thing, but I fear that the readers of the Zürcher Illustrierte have too little superior sense and too little inner honesty to be able to savor the spice of your story. There is a risk of mendacious and moral rebellion on the part of the valiant readers, and unfortunately we editors have to guard against such rebellions, otherwise the publisher will raise a threatening finger. "

In September 1935, Sanierung appeared as the first print in the Basler National-Zeitung . On October 1st, Glauser wrote to Berthe Bendel: “And you, how are you? The fee didn't come either; You know, the "Nat.Ztg." took the story of the nurse who married the impostor. " In 1945 Friedrich Witz decided to publish the story, despite his reservations from 1935; however, he changed the title to Der Schlossherr aus England .

Biographical background

In Rehabilitation, Glauser unmistakably describes himself and his partner Berthe Bendel , whom he met in 1933 as a nurse at the Münsingen Psychiatric Center and who took care of him. The Glauser biographer Gerhard Saner describes this as follows: «Glauser's relationship with Berthe is unmistakable. [...] Some of the renovation and its essentials are autobiographical : the rescue, renovation, civil repair of a do-not-good by an accessible woman, mother and (sick) sister in one, despite the knowledge of the dubious past and the facilities of the man, despite miserable references - out of love. Regarding the autobiographical peculiarities: The rescuer is given the name of Glauser's mother: Klara. "

filming

In 1979, Alexander J. Seiler filmed the story under the title "The kiss on the hand - A fairy tale from Switzerland" with Peter Arens , Maurice Garrel and Regine Lutz . In the 58-minute TV production, the community hospital is located in Münsingen, in keeping with the biographical background of Glauser and Bendel.

"Creaky Shoes"

Together with the Studer Roman fragments , the story Knarrende Schuhe is one of the last stories Glauser wrote about Studer. And as with the novel fragments, it was no longer fully completed.

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«And he had to pull himself together so as not to blatantly tell his wife that she had rented this apartment, which was only separated from the five railway lines by a street where you could hear the noise of the arriving and departing trains at night and by day heard."
Bern railway station, 1860

October 1919. Inspector Studer has been with the Bern City Police for a year and a half and has to move with his wife Hedy. She found a new apartment on the 2nd floor of an apartment building. However, it is right next to the railway station tracks, which Studer doesn't like at all because of the noise. When he had to stay in bed for three weeks after moving due to a sore throat, he also noticed how hard of hearing the house was: In addition to the noise of the rolling trains, he also heard a number of noises from the stairwell. After a short time he recognizes the steps of his neighbors from above: Alfred Staub lives with his wife on the third floor; The couple has taken in the hard of hearing musician Arnold Walther, clarinetist at the Stadttheater, and his daughter Agathe as a subtenant. Walther and the child live in the attic apartment above the 3rd floor. The musician's shoes irritated Studer from the start: As soon as Walther moves in the stairwell, the soles of his shoes creak.

When Studer felt a little better after two weeks, he took a short walk through the quarter. When he came back and was sitting in the armchair in the living room, he heard Frau Staub come home, go into her apartment and shortly afterwards utter a scream. Studer rushes upstairs and sees the neighbor, crying, kneeling next to the dead Agatha. He immediately phoned the city police, whereupon Sergeant Reinhard arrived shortly afterwards with the forensic doctor, who found a broken neck. Alfred Staub also comes home and, despite the death, tells about his successful game of chess. When Agathe's father is fetched from the attic apartment and he is standing in front of his dead daughter in a state of dismay, Studer goes to Alfred Staub and asks him why he did that. Dust then explains that he pulled Agathe's braids and that she fell unhappily backwards. He also reveals that he was jealous of the musician because he had a child, during which he and his wife were granted this.

Emergence

Creaky Shoes was almost certainly made in 1938, in Glausers last year in Nervi . He edited the text in three versions, which were not fully executed. Most likely, since it was partially corrected by himself, the second version can be regarded as the most complete. Berthe Bendel tried to put creaky shoes on the Basler National-Zeitung shortly after Glauser's death . However, Feuilleton boss Kleiber declined on the following grounds: «The work is unfinished, even in the finished version. The murder of the girl is so unmotivated and implausible in the story that I have great reservations about bringing something like that. I think we owe it to Glauser's memory not to publish any formally immature work [...], as good as the entrance, of course, the observations of Studer in the stairwell. "

Comic

Nüüd Appartigs… (including the crime comic «Knarrende Schuhe») by Hannes Binder published by Limmat Verlag , 2005

After Hannes Binder had already adapted Glauser's Chinese as a comic in 1988 and Die Speiche (under the title Krock & Co. ) in 1990 , the third work on a Glauser fabric followed in 1993 with Knarrende Schuhe . While Binder was still implementing the conventional way at Der Chinese , he wanted more design freedom at Krock & Co. He said: “I quickly noticed that these images distract too much from the plot and would not find a place in the conventional grid of comics. Especially since in my case it was a pocket book format, so it had to be economically managed. In my second attempt with Glauser I was looking for a form that would allow me to deal more freely with the implementation of the text, but without shortening it. This attempt was now called “Bilder-Krimi” on the cover. And the illustrations for the short story Creaky Shoes were emancipated to the right of the original text. " The strict separation of image and text enables Binder to design the 62 panels of the graphic novel so freely that in some cases almost surrealistic images were created that alternate with unconventional close-ups and extreme angles.

Musical adaptation

The Glauser Quintet , founded in 2010 by Daniel R. Schneider and Markus Keller, interpreted Knarrende Schuhe musically and literarily in 2012. The program of readings set to music has meanwhile been expanded into the “Glauser Trilogy”, consisting of the short stories Schluep , Knarrende Schuhe and Elsi - Or she goes around .

"Studer's funeral"

“Studer himself had determined that no newspaper would say anything about his death and that no printed card should be sent. The Hedy had complied with the wish of his partner, because Jakob was never to be joked with on fundamental issues. " This is how the Studer short story begins, which the author Rainer Redies wrote around fifty years after Glauser's Creaky Shoes and in it poetically revived the figure of the constable. The homage , entitled About Wachtmeister Studer - Biographical Sketches , makes use of the Sherlock Holmes pastiches and revisits the most important stages in the life of the Bern investigator in five chapters during Studer's funeral. The episodes are enriched in Glauser's writing style with quotes and reminiscences from all Studer novels and a Studer short story.

His wife, daughter with husband and their children, work colleagues Murmann and Reinhart and their two friends Notar Münch and Commissioner Madelin, who had been telegraphed from Paris, stood at Jakob Studer's grave in the summer of 1957. The following 24 hours describe, among other things, the circumstances of Studer's death, his life as a pensioner and individual experiences from his childhood and career: How Studer met his wife Hedy, Madelin and Münch, the true background of the repeatedly mentioned bank affair or how Studer witnessed one in Stuttgart SA - Propaganda March was. In addition, several well-known characters and locations appear in this retrospective: Erwin Schlumpf from Gerzenstein, who is now married to Sonja Witschi ( Schlumpf Erwin Mord ), Colonel Caplaun and Dr. Laduner ( Matto reigns ), Ludwig Fahrni from Pfründisberg ( The Chinese ), the Ibach Anni ( The spoke ), the Algerian desert ( The fever curve ) or the farmer Leuenberger from Waiblikon ( The old magician ). Even Friedrich Glauser has his own cameo in this pastiche : In a flashback, Redies tells how Studer had to arrest the writer and morphinist one day .

literature

  • Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser. Two volumes (= Suhrkamp Taschenbuch; Suhrkamp White Program Switzerland ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main / Zurich 1981, ISBN 3-288-04130-3 (incorrect).
  • Bernhard Echte, Manfred Papst (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 .
  • Frank Göhre: Contemporary Glauser - A Portrait. Arche, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2077-X .
  • Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2. Arche, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 .
  • Hannes Binder: Creaky Shoes (Friedrich Glauser). Picture thriller. Afterword by Kurt Gloor . Arche, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-7160-2155-5 .
  • Rainer Redies: About Wachtmeister Studer - Biographical Sketches. Edition Hans Erpf , Bern 1993, ISBN 3-905517-60-4 .
  • Friedrich Glauser: The old magician. The narrative work 1930–1933. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 .
  • Friedrich Glauser: King Sugar. The narrative work 1934–1936. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-85791-206-5 .
  • Friedrich Glauser: Cracked glass. The narrative work 1937–1938. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-85791-205-7 .
  • Heiner Spiess, Peter Edwin Erismann (Ed.): Memories. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-85791-243-X .
  • Bernhard Echte (Ed.): «One can be very quiet with you» - letters to Elisabeth von Ruckteschell and the Asconeser friends 1919–1932. Nimbus, Wädenswil 2008, ISBN 978-3-907142-32-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , p. 97.
  2. Julian Schütt: Afterword. In: Friedrich Glauser: The fever curve. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-85791-240-5 , p. 228.
  3. Bernhard Echte , Manfred Papst (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 , p. 367.
  4. Hardy Ruoss: Do not scoff at detective novels - reasons and backgrounds of Friedrich Glauser's stories. In Die Horen - magazine for literature, art and criticism. Wirtschaftsverlag, Bremerhaven 1987, p. 64.
  5. ^ Bernhard Echte, Manfred Papst (ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 , p. 409.
  6. ^ Frank Göhre: contemporary Glauser. A portrait . Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2077-X , p. 114
  7. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , p. 324.
  8. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 60.
  9. Bernhard Echte, Manfred Papst (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 , p. 418.
  10. Bernhard Echte, Manfred Papst (ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 , p. 505.
  11. Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2. Arche, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 , p. 14.
  12. Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2 . Arche, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 , p. 398.
  13. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 163.
  14. ^ Documentary about Friedrich Glauser - An investigation by Felice Antonio Vitali, 1975
  15. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , p. 210.
  16. Bernhard Echte (ed.): «One can be very silent with you» - letters to Elisabeth von Ruckteschell and the Asconeser friends 1919–1932. Nimbus, Wädenswil 2008, ISBN 978-3-907142-32-5 , p. 156, 159/169.
  17. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , p. 324.
  18. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 190.
  19. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , p. 427.
  20. Bernhard Echte (ed.): «One can be very silent with you» - letters to Elisabeth von Ruckteschell and the Asconeser friends 1919–1932. Nimbus, Wädenswil 2008, ISBN 978-3-907142-32-5 , p. 140.
  21. Urs Tremp: Glauser's shadow in «Klatschstadt bei Zürich». In: Aargauer Volksblatt. December 8, 1988.
  22. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , pp. 335/341.
  23. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , pp. 335/341.
  24. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 64.
  25. ^ Bernhard Echte , Manfred Papst (ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 1. Arche Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7160-2075-3 , p. 477.
  26. ^ Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work. Volume 2: The Old Wizard. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-85791-204-9 , pp. 403/404.
  27. Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work, Volume 3: King Sugar. Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-85791-205-7 , p. 71.
  28. Friedrich Glauser: The narrative work, Volume 3: King Sugar. Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-85791-205-7 , p. 374.
  29. Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2. Arche, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 , p. 14.
  30. Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2. Arche, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 , p. 15.
  31. Bernhard Echte (Ed.): Friedrich Glauser - Briefe 2. Arche, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-7160-2076-1 , p. 44.
  32. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 44.
  33. ^ Gerhard Saner: Friedrich Glauser - A work history. Suhrkamp Verlag, Zurich 1981, p. 191.
  34. Hannes Binder: About the drawing of words - A small poetics of the graphic novel. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 6, 2012.
  35. Glauser Quintet
  36. ^ Rainer Redies: About Wachtmeister Studer. Biographical sketches. Erpf, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-9055-1760-4 , p. 7.