Decay and decline

Verfall und Untergang (English original title: Decline and Fall ) is a satirical novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh , which is based in part on personal experience as a student and teacher in private schools and was first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first novel to hit bookshops. An earlier draft called The Temple at Thatch had been destroyed as a manuscript by Waugh. The novel appeared in German for the first time in 1953 in the translation by Hermen von Kleeborn under the title On the inclined plane . The second translation by Ulrike Simon, published in 1984, had the same title. The translation by Andrea Ott , which came onto the German-speaking book market in 2014, is based on the title Verfall und Untergang more closely on the English original title.

Like several of Waugh's novels, Decay and Fall is a classic of 20th century British literature. The British newspaper The Guardian included the satire in its 2009 list of 1000 must-read novels, and in 2015 82 international literary critics and scholars voted the novel one of the UK's greatest novels .

background

Decay and demise is based in part on Waugh's experiences as a boarder at Lancing College , his student days at Hertford College , Oxford, and his experience as a teacher at a boarding school in North Wales. With the typical Waugh black humor, various features of British society in the 1920s are ironically illuminated. The novel is an allusion to Edward Gibbons' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Oswald Spengler's cultural-philosophical work Der Untergang des Abendlandes , published in Great Britain in 1926. Waugh had read both works while working on his novel. Waugh's satire is hostile to anything that was en vogue in the late 1920s , and motives such as cultural confusion, moral disorientation, and social upheaval not only drive the novel's plot but are also the source of the novel's humor. The novel proves Waugh's lexicon of world literature as a cynic and cultural pessimist who “reveals the curiosities of modern life in cool, artful prose with wit and often over-explicit, farce-like satire. Waugh would like to point out to modern man the futility of what he does, the questionability of an absurd, fantastic and chaotic existence. "

action

First part

The humble and reserved theology student Paul Pennyfeather falls victim to the pranks of the Bollinger Club student union. Because his tie is very similar to that of the student union, he is forced to run through the courtyard of the fictional Oxford Scone College without pants. He is then expelled from his college for immorality. The vice-dean and chaplain of the college say goodbye without pity; the last person to exchange a few words with him at the gate is the doorman, who suspects that Paul will now be a teacher - like most gentlemen who have to leave because of immorality.

The prank of his fellow students not only costs Paul Pennyfeather a place at university. His father left him five thousand pounds, the interest should pay for his studies. However, the conditions of the will also stipulate that if Pennyfeather's guardian breaks off his studies prematurely, the interest can be withheld. His guardian not only makes use of this provision of the will, but also states that it is impossible for him to give shelter to a young man who has had to leave the university because of immoral behavior - after all, the reputation of the guardian's young daughter must be preserved. Forced to look for work, he becomes a teacher at the obscure Llanabba boarding school in Wales, run by Dr. Fagan is headed. Experience and sports skills are described as essential in the job advertisement, but Dr. However, Fagan is happy to find a reasonably suitable teacher at all. The expulsion from the university is for Dr. Fagan's only excuse to cut Pennyfeather's salary from £ 120 a year to £ 90 a year. Otherwise he states that no one takes up this profession who does not have something to hide.

Upon arrival at Llanabba, Pennyfeather will be the fifth grade teacher. He is also entrusted with overseeing the sport as well as the carpentry and fire-fighting exercises. In addition, Pennyfeather has to give the student Beste-Chetwynde organ lessons twice a week, although he lacks any qualifications. His colleagues at the boarding school are all obscure: Captain Grimes has not held out at any school until the end of the semester for two years. A dark secret also weighs on him: an unspecified incident during the last war led to his dishonorable discharge; only his status as a former student of the posh private boarding school Harrow School saved him from court-martial and a far worse fate. The butler Philbrick tells everyone a different story about why he works as a servant at the boarding school. Diana Fagan, the daughter of Dr. Fagan operates with a strict hand, counts the sugar pieces from the teachers and burns the school's sports equipment in the chimneys. Pennyfeather's colleague Prendergast, on the other hand, has been at the school for 10 years - he was an Anglican clergyman until his mother's indignation raised his doubts about his calling.

The highlight of the school year is a sports festival, which is scheduled because Countess Circumference has agreed to award the prizes and the mother of the student Beste-Chetwynde will also be there. There have been six sports festivals and two concerts in the fourteen-year history of the school, and every single event has so far developed into a disaster. Dr. Fagan hopes this year's Sports Festival is finally the opportunity to get positive press coverage. Whiskey for the journalists should ensure this. Since the students avoid the selection competitions the day before, in which they do not return from the long-distance run, the winners are determined by the faculty. The next day there are no weights, throwing hammer, spear, long and high jump facilities and the hurdles for the obstacle course are the wrong height. Dr. Fagan almost stoically points out that the fights have all taken place and the winners have already been determined. The band that has been ordered has only a limited repertoire and prefers to play sacred songs. When the starting shot is fired with a real pistol for lack of other options, the young Tangent Circumference receives a graze on the heel, which his mother accepts with stoic composure. Tangente will ultimately die of blood poisoning as a result.

At the sports festival, Pennyfeather meets Mrs. Beste-Cherwynde and is hired as her son's tutor for the school holidays. The opportunity to meet Dr. Pennyfeather refuses to marry Fagan's eldest daughter Flossie and thus participate in the boarding school. Because of this, Captain Grimes and Flossie marry. However, the marriage did not last long - three days later, Grimes disappeared, and clothes found on the seashore indicate that he drowned himself.

Second part

Mrs Beste-Cherwynde's country estate, where Paul Pennyfeather is now working as a private tutor for her son, has turned out to be a newly completed building - she had the previous castle, which had remained unchanged since the Tudor period, in favor of a reinforced concrete-aluminum project inspired by Le Corbusier tear down by Otto Silenus. Pennyfeather fell in love with the handsome Margot Beste-Cherwynde and his love resonated. The two decide to get married. The naive Paul Pennyfeather, however, does not know that the source of his fiancée's wealth is a chain of luxury brothels in South America, for which she is recruiting new employees in Great Britain. Even before the wedding, Margot Beste-Cherwynde asks him to travel to Marseille to deal with the emigration problems of some women recruited in Great Britain. When he returned to London, he was arrested for trafficking in girls on his wedding day. He is sentenced to seven years in prison.

The prison in which Paul Pennyfeather is taken turns out to be a reform prison. Despite his assurance that he attended private boarding school, he is classified as illiterate and given an English grammar from 1872. He is greeted by the prison chaplain, who turns out to be his former colleague Prendergast, then his regular four weeks of solitary confinement begin:

“The four weeks of solitary confinement were among the happiest in Paul's life. He had to forego comfort, but his stay at the Ritz had taught him how inadequate any mere material comfort is. He found it such a relief never to make any decision, not worry about time, meals, or clothes, and most importantly, not having to make a good impression all the time. Here in his cell he felt free for the first time. "

However, the murder of the prison chaplain Prendergast by a fellow prisoner puts an end to reform efforts, and a little later Pennyfeather is sent to a penal colony. Out of loyalty to him, Margot Beste-Cherwynde marries a member of the government and the latter arranges that Paul can simulate his death and escape imprisonment. In the end, he returns to his old Oxford College. He has convinced the college administration that he is just a distant relative of Paul Pennyfeather, who has been expelled from college for immorality. The novel ends as it began - Paul sits in his room and hears the distant shouts and screams of the members of the Bollinger Club.

Narrative technique

The style in Waugh's first novel shows the influence of Ronald Firbank , the sharply pointed dialogues are reminiscent of PG Wodehouse . The parodic use of accents, dialect, slang and the inflated style of public speaking (which is in contrast to Waugh's own economic style) characterize the "strange characters" that appear in the course of the action. Waugh's style was repeatedly imitated by other authors.

Trivia

The Bollinger Club, whose members put an abrupt end to Paul Pennyfeather's university studies, is a reference to the Bullingdon Club , an elite British student association of which Boris Johnson and David Cameron belong , among others . Because of the financial obligations a club member makes, only wealthy students are allowed to be members. The club members are known for their excessive drinking.

expenditure

• 1928 Decline and Fall
  • On the inclined plane , German by Hermen von Kleeborn. Die Arche, Zurich 1953
  • New translation: On the inclined plane , German by Ulrike Simon. Diogenes, Zurich 1984. ISBN 3-257-21173-2
  • second new translation: Decay and Fall , German by Andrea Ott . Diogenes, Zurich 2014. ISBN 978-3-257-06895-5

literature

• Frederick L. Beaty: The Ironic World of Evelyn Waugh: A Study of Eight Novels . Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb 1992, ISBN 0-87580-171-4 .

Single receipts

1. ↑ 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read: The Definitive List , accessed July 4, 2016.
2. ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed July 4, 2016
3. ^ Frank Kermode: Decline and Fall (Introduction) . Everyman's Library, London 1993, ISBN 1857151569 , p. X.
4. ↑ David Bradshaw, Introduction p. Xviii Penguin 2001, Decline and Fall ISBN 978-0-14-118090-8 .
5. ↑ David Bradshaw, Introduction SXXXV / XXVII Penguin 2001 Decline and Fall ISBN 978-0-14-118090-8 .
6. ^ Gero von Wilpert (Ed.): Lexicon of world literature . Volume 2. dtv, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-59050-5 , p. 1608.
7. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 12.
8. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 14.
9. ↑ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 21.
10. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 28.
11. ↑ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 21.
12. ↑ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 39.
13. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 70.
14. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 58.
15. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 73.
16. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 81.
17. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 131.
18. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 161.
19. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 184.
20. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 193.
21. ^ Waugh: On the inclined plane , Diogenes Verlag 1984, p. 199. Translation by Ulrike Simon.
22. ↑ J. v. Ge .: Evelyn Waugh: Decline and Fall. In: Kindlers New Literature Lexicon. Vol. 17. Munich 1996, p. 439.