Our heart

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Our Heart ( Notre Cœur ) is the sixth and final novel by Guy de Maupassant . It was started in May 1889. The work first appeared in May and June 1890 in the magazine Revue des Deux Mondes and in June 1890 as a book by Paul Ollendorff . In the year of publication 66 editions were printed.

Notre Cœur. Illustrated French edition from 1902

content

André Mariolle is introduced to Michèle de Burne by a friend. She is a young widow. Treated ruthlessly by her husband, his early death was a relief for the 28-year-old. The elegant, beautiful woman uses her newfound freedom and gives receptions in her luxurious Parisian apartment, becomes a woman of the world, addicted to recognition. Well-known names are there, mainly men, musicians, writers, and soon also diplomats. Almost all of them had already succumbed to the unique charm of de Burne, were already in love with them, had suffered painful suffering. Because she never entered into a close relationship with anyone. She can no longer imagine that “I don't want to tolerate tyranny of love from a friend, a simple friend, she is the misfortune of cordial relationships.” At his first reception, André had a great conversation with her and - new to the group - aroused her interest. Although he tries to resist at first, she can arrange to see him more often, including during the day. What he wanted to avoid happens quickly: he has "lost himself in her with the sharp eye of suspicious defiance." At night he writes her passionate letters without being discussed. That amuses them.

Notre Cœur. At the top of the tower of Le Mont-Saint-Michel. Graphic by René Lelong (1871–1933)

A romantic summer excursion to Le Mont-Saint-Michel , skilfully arranged by Michèle, brings the two closer together. On the mountain top of the old abbey, which he climbed in a laborious footpath, André takes courage, wraps one arm around her and leads her along a granite path with steeply sloping walls. André is drunk with love, even in her dizziness the experience touches her. "He could have screamed, his nerves were so tense with irrepressible and futile expectation that he wondered what to do, because he could no longer bear the loneliness of this evening of unfulfilled happiness." Late in the evening she enters the inn on the island his room. She blows out the candles. André will never forget this day.

Back in Paris, André rents a beautiful pavilion in a garden in Auteuil for secret meetings . He lovingly arranges the ambience for both of you with great taste, flowers and anticipation and is always there before the agreed time. From day to day his passion for Michèle becomes more consuming, he can not wait for the hours to finally see her again, to be intimate with her, to confess to her every day how infinitely strong he loves her and that he has completely fallen for her. But he does not hear such words from her. “She didn't feel the flame within her that is talked about so much.” He feels that, realizes that he is not loved to the same extent. He reveals it to her again and again, but she claims to give him everything, everything she can give. “I also really love you.” He suffers unbearably and is heartbroken. His pain keeps getting worse. After a few weeks she no longer appears regularly, sends dispatches, and sometimes cancels without further ado. But she doesn't want a break. The relationship is quite pleasant for her. She “could no longer do without him, or rather the slavery to which she humiliated him.” The receptions at her home, at which she constantly experiences the admiration she needs, are a torture for him. She takes him among all not as true to the guests as he wants it to be, especially since the relationship must remain a secret. André thinks of nothing but her, the thoughts of her torment his brain, the annoying questions about why she doesn't love him and why she can be so elated with all the men at the receptions. Now he becomes jealous of the Austrian ambassador, who is on everyone's lips, a new torture. Will she have him next? In fact, Michèle begins a close friendship with the ambassador's wife. André realizes that “all life consists of 'almost'”, that he cannot completely own her. "Nothing is real but the illusion."

Finally, in the beginning of spring, André ends the relationship with a letter and says goodbye to her with an unknown address. In the Fontainebleau forest , he wants to gain distance and get well again. He takes long walks. During the day, nature seems to give him a little peace, but the nights are more oppressive. He can't forget Michèle, doesn't know what to do. Then he met Elisabeth, she was a waitress in a country inn, a simple, pretty, erotic girl. When she is harassed by two other guests who have come and opens up to him crying, he helps her. He takes her with him, makes her his bonne in his country home for a good wage. She senses that he is suffering, but doesn't know why, is good to him and reads novels to him while he is in bed. That distracts him. The two become intimate. Now it's Elisabeth who loves. He can't, he's still a slave to Michèle. So he telegraphs Michèle, wants to know what she thinks of him. Two days later, completely unexpectedly, she stands at his door in the country. They talk about themselves. You have to be calm and completely satisfied in this hermitage, she muses. “No, Madame!” Michèle again analyzes precisely that she cannot give him more than she already did, but that once his crisis has been overcome he could be a “very pleasant lover”. André agrees, doesn't know what else to do. They arrange to have dinner with her in Paris the next day.

Elisabeth had disappeared while Michèle's visit. She suspects the connections. André looks for her and finds her sad in a remote church that evening. "I understand. You are here because she hurt you. ”Then he takes her in his arms, seriously assures her that she was mistaken and promises to take her to Paris and look after her. She doubts. “I will love you as I do here,” he boldly assures her.

people

André Mariolle: rich citizen of Paris. Romantics. Falls in love with Michèle de Burne.

Michèle de Burne: Widowed, sought-after young Madame of Parisian society. Maitresse of Mariolle.

Mr de Pradon: father of Michèle de Burne. Taking care that she does not compromise herself.

Massival : Well-known composer, friend of Mariolle. Belongs to Michèle de Burne's company.

Gaston de Lamarthe: Well-known novelist. Belongs to Michèle de Burne's company. He analyzes “modern women” in a pejorative way.

Count Rudolf von Bernhaus: Austrian Ambassador. The diplomat wins a high reputation in the Paris scene through a duel, including in the circle of Madame de Burne.

Princess Malten: wife of Count Bernhaus, best friend of Michèle de Burne.

Mrs. de Frémine: singer in the company of Michèle de Burne.

Prédolé: elderly, corpulent sculptor; the only man Michèle de Burne does not fall for.

Elisabeth Ledru: Erotic, young girl. Falls in love with André Mariolle.

shape

The novel is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the artistic but also luxurious, over-the-top atmosphere (three-part mirror in which you can see yourself from all sides at the same time) in Madame de Brune's salon and André Mariolle's unexpected infatuation. The second part reflects the happiness and disappointment of André Mariolle with the climax of happiness on the summit of Mont St. Michel; then the bitter reality in the garden shed in Auteil. The third part includes the escape into the forest of Fontainebleau, the loneliness of Mariolle and the pure love idyll of Elisabeth. The monological and dialogical elements of the novel correspond to the process of thoughts and sensations.

worldview

Analytical novel about the constitution of the heart and about the aporias of the bourgeois world of heart and feeling in the established Parisian society of the Third Republic .

reception

An early verdict on the novel read: "The narrator's highest manifestation, probably his finest psychological study, with strange delicacies of the analysis in detail, with a word art that penetrates into the last ramifications of thought". For the first time, Maupassant presents André Mariolle, a romantic who suffers from reality. The hero wants to achieve love in a perfection that is impossible. That reveals his weakness. He fails. The novel was discovered as a means by which the poet could express himself indirectly through his own soul landscape. André does not manage to open up Michèle's love, not even to open her to his suffering. As a counterpart, Elisabeth fails to break through its shell with her true, pure feelings. In the end, the person remains - this is the author's message - alone with his or her pain and happiness.

German editions

  • Guy de Maupassant: Our heart . Translated by Georg Frhr. by Ompteda. Berlin 1910. (German first edition)
  • Guy de Maupassant: Our lonely heart . Edited and with an afterword by Dolf Oehler. With contemporary illustrations. Insel paperback 1979, ISBN 3-458-32057-1 . (Epilogue: "Liebes-Wirtschaft: Reflections on Maupassant's Last Novel", pp. 235–248.)

Individual evidence

  1. All quotations from novels from: Guy de Maupassant: Our lonely heart. Edited and with an afterword by Dolf Oehler. Insel paperback, 1979, ISBN 3-458-32057-1 .
  2. ^ Josef Halperin: Maupassant the novelist. Artemis 1961, p. 146 u. 152
  3. a b Josef Halperin: Maupassant the novelist. Artemis 1961, p. 153.