Aunt Frieda (Thoma)
Tante Frieda Neue Lausbubengeschichten is a humorous collection of stories by the German writer Ludwig Thoma , published in 1907. The collection continues the successful publication of Thomas Lausbubengeschichten . Olaf Gulbransson created the illustrations for a later edition.
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Aunt Frieda
Ludwig is spending the holidays with his mother and sister, Ännchen, when his picky aunt Frieda announces that he will be visiting. Since Frieda's brothers, one of Ludwig's father, were allowed to study, there was no dowry left for her and so she had to marry under her circumstances - she always holds this against the family. The magistrate Steinberger has his eye on Ludwig's sister and is paying his respects; Frieda shoots across the street with allusions to his bald head and the suspicion that he drinks too much. Ludwig avenges himself by maltreating Frieda's parrot, so that the aunt leaves indignantly.
The Indian woman
The Thomas receive a visit from Ludwig's cousin Cora, whose father runs a plantation in India. The pharmacist Seitz quickly became one of her admirers. Seitz visits the family in the hope of getting to know Cora better. Later that afternoon Aunt Theres and her daughter Rosa as well as Aunt Elis and Uncle Pepi come for coffee; the uncle flirts a little with Cora, who then learns the rejection of the entire auntie:
“Aunt Elis threw the coffee spoon on the table and asked if it might be nice for a girl to throw her eyes around at old men who never get clever, and whether it might be decent to incite a man against his Coffee that he gets at home? "
Pharmacist Seitz greets the company from the garden fence; this triggers the jealousy of Aunt Theres, who apparently wants her daughter Rosa to contact the pharmacist.
Franz and Cora
Franz Reiser, a brewery intern whom Ludwig admires, is also in love with Cora. Franz fears that Cora despises him because he is not an academic. Ludwig tries to ask his mother and cousin about their attitude towards men with little formal education, but only gets friendly platitudes in response. Under the guidance of pharmacist Seitz, the song table serenades Thomas. When Ludwig tells his friend Franz about it, he becomes bitter. Ludwig wants to help him and after his experience with his married sister Marie explains what Franz has to do:
“I asked why doesn't he go over and say it? He said it couldn't be done. I said it was okay. He must put on a black skirt and go over. At first my mother is there alone. Then Cora is brought in and he has to put his arm around her, and then Ännchen and I are brought in, and my mother cries a little, and then everyone in turn gets a kiss. "
The forest festival
The local song board invites you to the forest festival. Mother Thoma is allowed to drive the car (much to the displeasure of Aunt Elis), Cora pulls ahead as the guest of honor, while the shy Franz Reiser stays in the background. Pharmacist Seitz tries a conversation with Cora, while Franz withdraws. The song table gives a few pieces for the best, then you play on to the dance. Ludwig pushes Franz to Thomas's table and tries to make a name for himself with Franz's strength:
“I said to Cora if she couldn't see how strong Franz is, and he can throw down any boy. Franz kicked me with his foot, but I didn't stop and I said Franz can jump terribly well, and if he wants he can hit you terribly. Cora laughed and Franz kicked me on the foot and he always ran his hand through my hair. "
Cora is courted by the local dignitaries, while Ludwig's uncle Pepi (again to the displeasure of his aunt) gets very drunk. The academics show off to Cora and complain that unfortunately there are many "uneducated elements" on the song board, and that she absolutely has to come to an officers 'or students' ball. Then Franz bursts the collar and it comes to a scandal:
“Suddenly Franz was talking and he always ran through his hair first, and he said there are a lot of people who think they have an education, but they haven't, and there are a lot of people where you believe , they have none, and they have one. "
While Franz is leaving the party, the drunken uncle Pepi has a sentimental fit that he is decent, even if he is not an academic, but only a postal expedition, and that this has to be confirmed in writing and carved on his tombstone.
Cora's departure
Cora has to go back to her father. The whole family is sad long before they leave; Nevertheless, Ludwig hopes that Franz will explain himself to her in time to keep her there. He even makes a kind of marriage proposal in place of shy Franz, but she only admonishes him to be diligent and brave so as not to worry his mother. At the end Cora drives from the whole village to the train station; Franz is there and awkwardly says goodbye with a bouquet of flowers, but his happiness with Cora is denied him. She is actually leaving.
Captain Semmelmaier
Mother Thoma gives Ludwig a pension with Captain Semmelmaier in town. There is a strict regime and meager fare - allegedly to raise the pensioners to be "Spartans". Ludwig complains by letter to his mother and receives three marks from her to buy additional food. Ludwig and his roommate Max use the money to buy eggs that they throw on windows, carriages and passers-by. When they are caught, they are accused of stealing the eggs from Semmelmaiers. Ludwig wants to take revenge by igniting a firework rocket in the captain's bedroom.
background
The stories take place at the time of Thomas's childhood in Upper Bavaria. Some events are based on true experiences; so the sister of Thomas father Max was actually called Friederike and was called Frieda. Thoma portrayed his lover (and later wife) Marietta di Rigardo in the figure of the Indian cousin Cora.
The insecurity towards women that Franz Reiser shows reflects Thomas own insecurity and shyness, so that he describes himself twice - in the form of the childish observer Ludwig and in the figure of the unhappy lover Franz. Martin A. Klaus points points out that Thoma liked to name his alter ego characters Franz , not only in Aunt Frieda , but also in the novel Jagerloisl from 1920.
Language and style
The book is written in written German, there are only a few dialect elements. While most of the book is dominated by the serious and "adult" theme of love, the prose falls more into childlike than in the rascal stories . Thoma lets his Ludwig make tangible grammatical errors:
"Then the music stopped and the girls hung up on the gentlemen and went to their tables."
While the first and last chapter are based on the form of the rascal stories , Thoma (especially in the Cora chapters) uses a new stylistic device. Ludwig, the apparently unsuspecting child, reproduces the adult squabbles in a naive and honest way:
"Then my aunt said she was not at all surprised that we are all so hostile because she is used to it and because her brothers were like that and have used up all the money. She pretended to cry and she wiped her eyes. But she didn’t have any tears. I saw it clearly. "
Origin and reception
Aunt Frieda's main character is her cousin Cora. When Thoma wrote the stories in 1907, he married Marietta di Rigardo. Thomas Umgebung - including his friend Ludwig Ganghofer - advised against marrying Marietta:
"The episode Cora in the stories of 'Aunt Frieda' is a justification to those around him and gives him his mother's blessing for his unusual bride choice."
Work editions
- First edition: Aunt Frieda. New rascal stories. Albert Langen, Munich 1907.
- Rascal stories. Aunt Frieda. With illustrations by Olaf Gulbransson. Piper, Munich 1991, ISBN 9783492033183 .
- Full text at Projekt Gutenberg
The works of Ludwig Thoma are no longer protected under German copyright law. Therefore there are some inexpensive print and (free) e-book editions from Aunt Frieda .
Film adaptations
The stories of Aunt Frieda can already be found in Helmut Käutner's film Lausbubengeschichten from 1964. The cinematic sequel Tante Frieda - New Lausbubengeschichten directed by Werner Jacobs , despite the title, does not contain any content from the book of the same name.
Individual evidence
- ^ Klaus (2016).
swell
- Martin A. Klaus : Ludwig Thoma. A fictional life . dtv, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-423-28103-4 .