The Green Mile (novel)

The Green Mile is a six-part serial novel by the US writer Stephen King from 1996, which was first published as a full novel in 1997. Frank Darabont adapted the novel for his film adaptation of the same name, The Green Mile , which appeared in 1999.

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The sequel story is supported by a framework story in which the protagonist Paul Edgecomb, looking back, tells the events of 1932 while working in Cold Mountain State Prison. Paul Edgecomb was the head of Death Row, known as "The Green Mile" because of its pale green linoleum flooring.

Mysterious things have happened since the arrival of Black John Coffey - a pitiful man over six feet tall - convicted of the murder and rape of two nine-year-old girls. Coffey cures Paul Edgecomb's cystitis and eventually brings a death row mouse back to life when its spine was crushed by warden Percy Wetmore.

Over time, Paul and John developed a friendly relationship. Paul is beginning to realize that John Coffey has a supernatural gift. His gentle nature emerges in prison, and Paul suspects that Coffey could not be the killer of the two girls, even though he was arrested on the scene.

The execution of the prisoner Eduard Delacroix leads to a disaster. Paul leaves Percy Wetmore, whom he wants to motivate to change jobs, to oversee Delacroix's execution on the electric chair . As part of the preparations, Percy, who hates Delacroix, deliberately does not soak a sponge with water, which is supposed to increase electrical conductivity and conduct electricity directly through the brain. Delacroix dies a horrific death.

Melinda, the wife of prison director Hal Moores, is seriously ill with a brain tumor and the doctors have already given up on her. Some of the guards meet in an attempt to save their lives by smuggling John Coffey out of prison into the prison director's house at night. Coffey heals the sick woman, but is deeply affected afterwards. With the last of his strength, he breathes into Wetmore what he took from Melinda's body.

Percy goes mad and kills prisoner Will Wharton, who is unknown to be the actual killer of the girls. Percy, who fell into catatonia after the crime, ends up in a mental hospital. As a result, John Coffey is executed in the electric chair after showing Paul through a vision the actual events of the murder of the two girls.

For Paul Edgecomb this is the last execution he was involved in and he is being transferred to another post. Knowing that a miracle of God killed him makes him feel guilty. In 1996, Paul wrote the story down in a nursing home. It is his particular pleasure to visit the mouse, who was revived by Coffey in a hiding place. The miracle of Coffeys gave the animal a disproportionately long life span. Paul himself was 104 years old in 1996. He, who sees his long life as a punishment for the execution of Coffey, wonders how long he will live.

About the serialized novel

From March to August 1996, Stephen King published the six episodes of the story titled The Death of the Young Girls , The Mouse in the Death Block , Coffey's Hands , The Tortured Death , Journey into the Night, and Coffey's Legacy . The parts of the sequel were released worldwide on the same day. In Germany they appeared with a circulation of 700,000 copies. The original work was published by NAL / Signet-Verlag in New York. The German translation by Joachim Honnef was published by Bastei-Verlag .

In the year of publication, Stephen King received the Bram Stoker Award and the 9th Annual Collectors Award for authors and single editions worth collecting .

King values ​​the works of the writer Charles Dickens , who published many of his novels as serial stories in newspapers or so-called popular books . From him, King adopted the idea of ​​a serialized novel: “With a story that is published in sequels, the writer gains a superiority over the reader that he otherwise cannot enjoy: simply put, they cannot scroll ahead and see how things turn out . "

Before The Green Mile , Schwarz appeared as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1978 to 1981 .

German translation

The German first edition contains sentences that do not appear in the English original. The German edition was to appear parallel to the American edition, with the author's original version being used for translation. Changes to the American editors were only adopted in serious cases. The German version is thus closer to King's original intention. An example: Original text: “ Smoke puffed from the open V of his shirt. "German version:" Smoke billowed out of the open V of his shirt, and that too caught fire. "

However, the German translator made several mistakes. For example: “The story he told me is by and large the same as the one I told in the first volume.” That is inappropriate: Paul Edgecombe writes a diary, not volumes (Originally: “ earlier in this account ”, ie“ elsewhere ”). Likewise, "tin cup" was incorrectly translated as "tin cup". In this context, however, “tin” means sheet metal.

Delacroix says in a heavy accent: “ Don't let that bad'un hurt my mouse. ”(“ Don't let the bad guy do anything to my mouse. ”)“ Bad'un ”became“ the bad Indian ”, confusing because the storyline actually featured an Indian.

There was also uncertainty in the translation of Coffey's sentence: “ I tried to take it back, but it was too late. “Only later does the reader learn that this is not a confession, but Coffey says that he could not undo the murder. The translator, who also did not know the complete works, could not have known that at first, and so he translated the same expression three times in the course of the story: "I wanted to hold back", "I wanted to hold it back" and finally in volume four: "Me wanted to undo it ”.

These errors were only revised in the complete revision of 2011.

References to Jesus Christ

The character John Coffey has strong parallels with Jesus Christ , which were intended by Stephen King and which give the character a deeper meaning. The initials of Coffeys, J. C., already indicate Jesus Christ. Both perform miracles, heal and raise from the dead, they recognize the nature and suffering of people.

Not only the character of John Coffey, but also his suffering and death and the symbolism used refer to Christ. Like this John Coffey is ready to take on his fate and face his death without resistance, which becomes clear when he sings the song I'm in Heaven . He is tired of sympathizing and enduring the suffering that people cause one another.

The circumstances of the execution also correspond in some ways to those of Christ's crucifixion . Thus Christ was executed, mocked and mocked between two criminals. John Coffey is treated with hateful cries from the witnesses present; his execution is the third in a series of those shown in the film.

additional

As one of King's few novels, the episodes of the six-part sequel novel The Green Mile have no cross-references to any of King's other works.

With the story of what happened in the prison wing, Stephen King expresses criticism of the death penalty and the electric chair .

The way it was published has been criticized among Stephen King fans. One volume was published for the price of 5  DM . The entire novel thus cost 30 DM. Paperback editions of other King works, on the other hand, were available for around 6 to 15 DM at the time, so that the author was accused of wanting to earn more money with the publication in part. Under pressure from the public - also because of Frank Darabont's extremely successful and sensitive film adaptation - King later published The Green Mile as a complete novel in one volume.

literature

• Stephen King: The Green Mile , Orion, Second Impression 2000, ISBN 0-7528-3422-3 .
• Stephen King: The Green Mile , Lübbe, September 2003, ISBN 3-404-13958-5 .
• Marcel Feige: The large encyclopedia about Stephen King , Imprint Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-89602-228-8 .

Web links

• Detailed table of contents in KingWiki