World poison

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Peter Rosegger (1893)

Weltgift is a novel by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger , which was published during the week in Berlin in 1901 . The text was published in book form in 1903 by L. Staackmann's publishing house in Leipzig .

overview

The merchant Hadrian Hausler, living in the anonymous capital, died in his fifth decade of life in an asylum. In search of the cause of the disease, the narrator first resorts to the diary entries left behind by the early deceased and can ultimately only speculate: The cause of death must be the world poison. Hadrian had been corrupted by him. More precisely, he was poisoned by the infidelity of others. It starts with his father Guido Hausler. The elderly industrialist had taken his girlfriend, Helene Durassel, from him. When Hadrian protests against this, his father disinherits him, but pays him his compulsory portion. With the money, Hadrian built a new life as an agrarian in the country in Finkenstein. Of course he doesn't understand anything about the new subject and has to employ an administrator. The estate manager Lebrecht Frang embezzles Hadrian's remaining assets little by little.

The only one who sticks to Hadrian beyond the novel is his coachman Sabin Kirchner. The young Sabin, a foundling was organized by the Hökerin raised Kirchner woman in house moth factory had been a laborer and is accepted by Hadrian as sons. Above the mountain settlement of Sesam, Sabin buys the Hochkaser, a small mountain house with agriculture, and takes care of the sick Hadrian until the end.

content

Hadrian, the disinherited, was not yet forty when the father gave the partner the passport from the Fletz. The Fletz is the father's steel and iron factory. Hadrian flees to the countryside and becomes a model maker at Finkenstein Castle. During the carriage ride there, he initially spent the night in Schuttenthal. In this sooty “industrial cave” the workers of the coal, ore and graphite works fight for shorter working hours and higher wages. So Hadrian runs away again the next morning. He approaches the castle via the "Dorf Gug, political district of Breitengrub". During another stop, Hadrian and his coachman Sabin meet the alpine farmer Lindwurm from the nearby high mountain village of Sesam in an inn. Lindwurm is traveling in the opposite direction with his three sons Anton (Toni called), Berthold (Bertl called) and Michel. In the big city - from which Hadrian fled - the peasant sons are supposed to study. Sabin becomes friends with Michel.

As I said - Hadrian buys Finkenstein Castle and the associated farm. It turns out that Hadrian was not at all made for physical work. After short attempts in this regard, he relaxes, lets go and feels sick. His father travels to Finkenstein with the unfaithful Helene Durassel. The unequal couple want to hide after the senior's bankruptcy. The lord of the castle can refuse the hated visit. Hadrian is out of luck at Finkenstein in two ways. In addition to the unfaithful administrator Lebrecht Frang (in reality Johann Krenn from Trübau an der Lehm), adverse weather conditions also come into play. After weeks of summer drought, a heavy thunderstorm washes the property, which is located in a foothills valley, down the excessively swollen stream. In an emergency, Sabin finds a way out. He goes with his master and now adoptive father Hadrian up to his friend Michel Lindwurm in the mountainous Sesam. Michel has long since escaped university education and at home does the work of his brothers Anton and Berthold on the farm. The latter finish their training as a doctor or philosopher, but return home to the Lindwurmhof as passionate idlers due to a lack of employment at their mother's stove. All three Lindwurm sons ultimately turn out to be good guys. Michel is hard-working anyway. With his restless work he keeps the Lindwurmhof alive. The Dr. phil. Berthold Lindwurm got a teaching position at a commercial school in a provincial town and qualified as professor. Dr. med. Anton Lindwurm practices as a doctor in neighboring Oberbusch. However, the healing of Hadrian, who is ill with "heart sponge" (Rosegger jokes: the notorious idiot gets a spongy heart) with exercise therapy in the fresh mountain air fails. Because Hadrian wants "helplessness"; don't want anything anymore. As I said - the patient ends up in the asylum. Adopted son Sabin - looking for a bride after Michel's sister Lisele Lindwurm - rushes to that institution and takes part in palliative care.

One of the characteristics of Rosegger's novels - the meaningful side story - is also present in Weltgift . Just two examples from the social criticism section . First, before Hausler senior disinherits the junior, both partners have to survive the difficult wartime entrepreneurially. It succeeds with oh and no noise. The two house clerks do not have to use the two loaded revolvers provided by the senior as a precaution in the event of bankruptcy. Second, Helene Durassel pursues Hadrian to the foot of the high mountains. When he turns her away, she doesn't go, but runs something like a school for unmarried farmer's daughters in his neighboring village. They learn to embroider and crochet for advanced learners from the lady from the big city. Besides, the maidens are taught good behavior. After such training, the farmer's daughters usually give up their stubborn obstinacy and all of a sudden talk a word or two with their respective stormy peasant lover.

Finally, two intertwined plot-carrying conflicts concerning the protagonists Hadrian, Sabin and administrator Frang should be addressed. On the one hand, Sabin notices the deep fatherly love, because he replies with permanent care for the sick until the bitter end. On the other hand, Sabin defends himself against the attempts to bring up the "father". Sabin's relationship with his employer and adoptive father is constantly clouded despite all the love. Hadrian made the "son" Sabin his universal heir. He reaps precious little thanks for this. On the contrary - on some occasions the “son” cannot suppress the love-hate relationship with the “father”. An example: Sabin is a horse lover and instinctively treats the manager Lebrecht Frang as an enemy. When the false steward sells Sabin's horses and Hadrian lets the unbelievable for Sabin happen, the horse lover from Finkenstein fled to his friend Michel Lindwurm in Sesam, but later returned to his “father”.

reception

  • Theodor Ebner , a former admirer of the author, is sobered in his “ very harsh rebuke ”, revealing the “Rosegger's language, which is developing into repulsive mannerism”, as a “masquerade”. Hadrian and Sabin's fortunes are told "with a tiresome breadth and in the most remarkable arabesques". The plot is “a chain of improbabilities that can hardly be imagined in a more blatant and conspicuous way”. Ebner searches "in vain for a natural word, for an honest and unaffected life". Under all circumstances a new book was forced together again. "And that with the crudest imaginable means, with a craft technique that is not even skillfully handled."
  • Gerald Schöpfer writes against the impression that Rosegger could have been a “general despiser of progress” with his “› green ‹approach to life” in the novel.
  • Gerhard Pail thinks that Rosegger makes no secret of his aversion to social democracy when describing workers' unrest at the beginning of the 20th century (see, for example, above in the article: Aufruhr in Schuttenthal).

literature

expenditure

Secondary literature

  • Gerald Schöpfer: Peter Rosegger. A credible witness to economic and social historical changes? In: Uwe Baur , Gerald Schöpfer, Gerhard Pail (eds.): "Foreign made?" The folk writer Peter Rosegger . Böhlau, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-205-05091-6 , pp. 25-42.
  • Gerhard Pail: Peter Rosegger - a trivial ideologist? In: Uwe Baur, Gerald Schöpfer, Gerhard Pail (eds.): "Foreign made?" The folk writer Peter Rosegger . Böhlau, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-205-05091-6 , pp. 61-87.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor Ebner: Peter Rosegger's "Weltgift" . In: Richard Nordhausen (Ed.): The present . 31 vol., Volume 62, No. 52, Berlin on December 27, 1902, pp. 406-407.
  2. ↑ Creator in “Foreign Made?” Anno 1988, p. 34, 19. Zvo
  3. ↑ Pail, p. 72, 5. Zvo