Desire (Winterson)

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Desire (original title The Passion ) is the second novel by the British writer Jeanette Winterson . It was published in Great Britain in 1987 and in German in 1988, initially by Klett-Cotta and in 1993 as a paperback by dtv-Verlag. The translation of the novel was done by Bettina Runge.

The short novel, which is only 160 pages long in the original English, takes place at the beginning of the 19th century. It tells the fate of Henri, a young French soldier in Napoleon's army, and Villanelle, who came from Venice and whose paths crossed during the Russian campaign in 1812 . The plot of the novel has elements of magical realism .

Demand was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1987 . It was Winterson's second prestigious literary prize, having received the Whitbread First Novel Award in 1985 for her autobiographical debut novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit . Both novels are now considered classics of 20th century British literature. In 2015, 82 international literary critics and scholars chose both of Winterson's novels on the shortlist of the hundred most important British novels .

action

Young Henri, who comes from the country, is a fresh recruit to the Napoleonic army and dreams of serving as a drummer in it. The recruiting officer, however, finds that his hands are too weak for this and sends the boy to kitchen duty. The most important task of the kitchen is to have a fried chicken ready to serve at any time for Napoleon, who only seems to be feeding on it. Henri's job is initially only to clear out the chicken coops and kill the chickens that are being prepared in the kitchen tent. Soon, however, he was given the task of serving the chickens to Napoleon. Henri is aware that this task will only be assigned to him because he is not tall enough to tower over Napoleon.

Henri first finds consolation in serving his idol Napoleon. However, the harshness of the war camp in Boulogne at the beginning of 1805 meant that he was increasingly disillusioned with Napoleon. He befriends Domino, Napoleon's short groom, and the Irish Patrick, a former Catholic priest, whose unusual insight led to his dishonorable dismissal from church service and his acceptance into Napoleon's army: from a pillar he watches what is happening on him English ships passed on the British coast.

In Venice, the year 1805 begins with a broken heart for the beautiful and mysterious Villanelle. The daughter of a gondolier who works in one of Venice's casinos loves to dress up as a young man and thus confuse customers at her gaming table. At the gaming table she meets a wealthy Venetian whom she describes as the Queen of Spades in her story. The two fall in love and have a passionate relationship during the absence of the Queen of Spades. By chance, Villanelle witnesses the affectionate interaction between the Queen of Spades and her husband. Disaffected, she marries a wealthy Venetian whom she finds physically repulsive.

Several years later Napoleon and his Grande Armée marched into burning Moscow. Disgusted by Napoleon's endless war, Henri decides to desert. Patrick and the beautiful prostitute Villanelle join him. During the escape, Villanelle tells how her husband sold her to an officer of the Grande Armée after a losing bet. She also talks about how the Queen of Spades literally stole her heart. During the escape, Henri and Villanelle pretend to be married and soon Villanelle seduces Henri too. While Patrick dies on the run, they both reach Venice, where Henri is lovingly taken in by Villanelle's family. Henri steals Villanelle's heart from the Queen of Spades and a little later Henri, who is increasingly longing to return to his French homeland, kills Villanelle's husband by cutting out his heart.

Although he could have avoided all allegations, Henri confesses to the murder of Villanelle's husband. Villanelle manages to avert the death sentence by declaring him insane. He is locked up in a madhouse on an island in the Bay of Venice, from where he can overlook Venice Bay. His fate thus resembles that of Napoleon, who now lives trapped on an island. Villanelle, who is now pregnant by Henri, visits Henri regularly and could manage to escape. However, Henri breaks off all contact with Villanelle when she continues to refuse to marry him and also makes it clear to him that she would never leave Venice, where he could not live after a successful escape. As Villanelle comes to terms with the fact that her desire for the Queen of Spades will remain unfulfilled, Henri actually goes increasingly insane. In his madness he feels visited by the souls of long dead friends. Sometimes, however, he cannot avoid seeing Villanelle rowing past his prison with their daughter, who has now been born.

Trivia

  • In the afterword to her novel, Jeanette Winterson thanks her fellow writer Ruth Rendell , who made her vacation home available to the young author so that she could work on her novel.
  • In John Irving's novel, Street of Miracles , the main character relates: “As for Jeanette Winterson's book Desires , Juan Diego was very fond of the novel; he had read it two or three times and kept checking back. "

expenditure

  • 1987 The Passion (novel), Bloomsbury, London, England.

Single receipts

  1. ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed January 31, 2016
  2. ^ Jeanette Winterson: The Passion , p. 5.
  3. ^ Jeanette Winterson: The Passion , p. 160
  4. ↑ Zurich 2016. p. 338.