Theklas inheritance
Theklas inheritance is a short story by Wilhelm Raabe , which was written in the late autumn of 1865 and was published by Hallberger in Stuttgart in 1873 in the “ Deutscher Mondschein ” collection . As early as 1868, the novella was printed in the magazine " Über Land und Meer ".
On a hot Stuttgart afternoon in July 1865, the narrator remembers a foggy, cool December day during his student days in Berlin.
content
The student has rented a "very decent house" on the third floor. The parties in the Berlin apartment building are watching each other closely. But on that December day we are talking about, there is also a big event ahead of us. It seems so spectacular to the student that he skips all lectures and stays in the booth on the grounds that he has to study life. He doesn't have to strain himself at all. The actors all come up to him. First of all, the landlady, Madam Billig, enters the room and discusses the case in a long speech that is close to the monologue.
The great news is now, Mr. Lottery collector Felix Strinazky and his wife Thekla will probably take on a larger inheritance today and thus be free of all worries tomorrow. Thekla's uncle JJ Krellnagel, house owner and retired corset manufacturer, has stepped up to his creator, unexpectedly for everyone. The uncle had made a will. It is scheduled to open today. Madam Billig rushes off.
Next, the lottery collector goes to the dormitory and pours out his heart. The newcomer doesn't have to explain himself very much, because the student is well informed from the mouth of the landlady. Strinazky had once sold a lottery ticket to Uncle Krellnagel. That won. In this context, Strinazky had also won over his wife Thekla. The lottery collector confesses to the student that he took Thekla because of the wealthy uncle, but still doesn't understand the old miser's reaction to the niece's wedding. JJ Krellnagel threw the couple out after the wedding because he had disapproved of Thekla's choice. Thekla hadn't supported the "gray-headed barbarian and monster" at all.
It comes, as it must. Thekla returns alone from the opening of the will and asks the student to come to her. The student jumps up the stairs to the beautiful woman. The spouses each inherited a spoon.
JJ Krellnagel did not let Felix Strinazky shovel him over the spoon. Theklas heirloom is silver. The dead uncle means to the niece, who has been destroyed on the ground, as it were from the grave, that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but it was not her uncle's fault if she exchanged the silver spoon for a wooden one. Despite the lost inheritance, nothing is lost for the young couple. Felix Thekla married because of the inheritance, but the couple learned to love each other. Thekla fears that her husband will go to the Spree . The student can think. In a hasty action, the student Thekla proves that she is not about to become a widow. Felix is sitting in his lottery office and brooding.
reception
The story has autobiographical traits. Fuld describes the impressions Berlin made on the young Raabe studios in 1854. In connection with the drastic introduction of the story, Fuld accuses Raabe of schizophrenia in episodes. Fuld describes Raabe's environment during the Stuttgart years (1862-1870) and indicates coincidences with the narrative.
Meyen names three further works: Edmund Hoffer (Stuttgart 1873), Hermann Marggraf (Leipzig 1873) and Wilhelm Fehse (Braunschweig 1937)
expenditure
First edition
- German moonlight. Four stories. 261 pages. Hallberger, Stuttgart 1873 (contains: German moonlight. The march home. The crown of the empire. Thekla's inheritance or the story of a sultry day)
Used edition
- Thekla's inheritance or the story of a muggy day . Pp. 145-163. With an appendix, written by Karl Hoppe , pp. 449–454 in Karl Hoppe (arrangement), Hans Oppermann (arrangement), Constantin Bauer (arrangement), Hans Plischke (arrangement): Erzählungen. Saint Thomas . The geese from Bützow . Theklas inheritance. Gedelock . In the wreath . The march home . The kingdom's crown . German moonlight . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976. Vol. 9.2 (2nd edition, obtained by Karl Hoppe), ISBN 3-525-20120-6 in Hoppe (ed.), Jost Schillemeit (ed.), Hans Oppermann (ed.) , Kurt Schreinert (Ed.): Wilhelm Raabe. Complete Works. Braunschweig edition . 24 vols.
literature
- Hans Oppermann : Wilhelm Raabe. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1970 (1988 edition), ISBN 3-499-50165-1 (rowohlt's monographs).
- Fritz Meyen : Wilhelm Raabe. Bibliography. 438 pages. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973 (2nd edition). Supplementary volume 1, ISBN 3-525-20144-3 in Karl Hoppe (Ed.): Wilhelm Raabe. Complete Works. Braunschweig edition . 24 vols.
- Cecilia von Studnitz : Wilhelm Raabe. Writer. A biography. 346 pages. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-7700-0778-6
- Werner Fuld : Wilhelm Raabe. A biography. 383 pages. Hanser, Munich 1993 (dtv edition in July 2006), ISBN 3-423-34324-9 .