Who the gods love (novella)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who the gods love is a novella by the German writer Clara Viebig . The year of the action is 1896, the action locations are seaside resorts on the right bank of the Rhine and the cities of Frankfurt and Berlin. The text is about a young woman with lung disease who finds little affection or even love in her environment. In her sickness she is only comforted by a soul mate, to whom she later writes extensive letters. The action ends with the death of the young woman.

action

The editor-in-chief Dr. Last spring, Ernst Wolfrath met Susanne Werther, a young girl with lung disease, during a spa stay in Bad Homburg. He is charmed by her, but treats her with restraint because of her tenderness and fragility. Susanne switches from one spa to the next with her mother Therese to find healing. The flighty mother, who cares little about her sick daughter, devotes herself mainly to her second husband, the violin virtuoso Alfredo de Camarillo, and at the same time enjoys the admiration of other men. Susanne's father is an actor who, because of his changing theater engagements, maintains contact with his daughter mainly by letter. So Susanne is often left to herself:

With the spa guests, whom she treats with reluctance, Susanne only finds superficial contacts. Only in the much older Dr. Wolfrath, editor-in-chief of a newspaper, finds Susanne understanding and affection. He accompanies them on their walks, they talk about the meaning of life and about love. When Wolfrath returns to Berlin, Susanne is full of sadness. She wrote him letters from May to August. Wolfrath thinks little of the young woman. The memory of her returns, however, when in autumn the daughter of Wolfrath's landlady, Viktoria Müller, becomes terminally ill and dies shortly afterwards. In memory of Susanne Werther, he reads her letters a second time, in which she talks about herself and shares her thoughts and considerations with him. She writes that she misses him, that she is lonely and that she is bad. An Englishman proposed to her, which she refused. From her father, with whom she only had contact by letter, she had received a package of books with Zola, Wildenbruch, keynotes from Egerton and du Mont.

Mother and daughter move to Baden-Baden. Susanne can hardly enjoy her forays through nature without the company of her friends and she considers herself an "educated wretched cultural plant". She keeps wondering whether real happiness can be found in love. Susanne tells about the young Russian Gregor Ivanovich, who she likes, but whom the mother - who flirts with the young man in the absence of her husband - tries to win. During a bike trip, the mother apparently makes advances and Susanne is worried about her mother's marriage. She also wants to be kissed by him, but then only kisses him on behalf of a letter.

Wolfrath receives the next letter from Frankfurt, where she is being treated. More and more often she speaks of exhaustion, of God, of death and of her longing. The cure continues in Soden . The mother hires a companion for Susanne, in whom the girl finds a soul mate. A visit from the father, on the other hand, is very exhausting for her. She announces that she will write when she is better. Then the letters break off. -

Wolfrath is disturbed by the presence of a young boy whom he recognizes as an admirer of the late Viktoria. The boy complains that she asked him for a kiss on his deathbed, but hesitated out of respect for his mother. Now he regrets not having granted the deceased her last wish. Wolfrath writes to Susanne, but his letter comes back. He tries to get in touch with his father, who is currently performing with great success at the Deutsches Theater . After two unsuccessful attempts, he meets the actor in his cloakroom and learns that Susannes is in a clinic in Hohen-Honnef. Wolfrath immediately leaves for Hohen-Honnef and finds Susanne in poor health. Since the girl is obviously going to end soon, both parents have been alerted. But even now, the mother mainly cares about her husband and nags about the daughter's behavior. Susanne is left to the care of her partner Klara Eigenbrod and the maid Jeanette. When Susanne's father arrives, he reacts with jealousy of his wife's new husband. Obviously, he has not yet coped with the separation from his wife.

Wolfrath comforts the terminally ill, who is overjoyed at his appearance. Ultimately, he can only grant her the wish for a kiss, namely to kiss the dying woman.

On the history of form and material

The year 1898 is known as the date of the first publication of Who The Gods Love. However, it is no longer possible to understand when Clara Viebig wrote this novella. Apparently it is a work from her earliest creative phase. This is indicated by her experimental handling of textual types of connection, genres and motifs. Such traits are shown in

  • the inter- and paratextual link with other texts,
  • the integration of elements of a letter novel into a novella as a specific form of the heriad of values ​​and
  • the design of different images of women as parallel figures.

To the form

“Who the gods love” is related to the three novels She must make her luck (1896), Before Tau and Tag (1897), and Gespenster 1898, which are linked with para- and intertextual references and provided with the same motifs. Such references link the life plans of young women of all kinds and their longing and search for happiness. In particular, the prologue to “Before Tau und Tag” serves as a paratextual link between the individual works, as well as a color symbolism that is comparable in all three novellas .

The correspondence included in the novella as well as the choice of name point to Goethe's “ The Sorrows of Young Werther ” as a model for Clara Viebig's early work. During the epoch of the fin de siècle numerous Wertheriads emerged , as authors felt addressed by Werther's psychological state of mind, which addressed the decadence consciousness of this epoch. Ludwig Jacobowski , a friend of the Viebigs, had published a work in 1892 with the title " Werther, the Jew ". Clara Viebig read this novel and in 1898 wrote her friend to share her impressions. She is "very moved" or thinks it is a "terribly sad book." This work, created in 1892, depicts the failure of a person because of the conflict between the desire for assimilation , Jewish awareness of tradition and flourishing anti-Semitism .

Clara Viebig partly adopts the form of the monological letter novel, although there are also significant differences. While in “Werther” the fictional figure of the editor introduces the plot, Viebig integrates the letters into a novella plot that is described from Wolfrath's personal point of view. However, as in “Werther”, the printed letters come only from the protagonist and contain at best Wolfrath's reaction through references to letters in reply, which sometimes makes them look like diary entries.

In Viebig's novella, too, the letter serves as the soul's actual means of expression, as there is a lack of people to talk to both in the spas and in Susanne's family. Borrowings from Werther's Spreche der sensitiveness can be found in Susanne's letters with numerous ellipses , apostrophes and rhetorical questions . In the novel, Wolfrath or the reader takes on the role of the reader. Just as in “Werther” the interweaving of parallel acts serves as a compositional means to deepen the course of action, so the characters of the landlady Müller and Viktoria fulfill the function of the parallel act by mirroring the respective mother-daughter relationship.

To the fabric

The choice of the setting corresponds to Clara Viebig's tradition of choosing places that are known to her. In July / August 1896 she spent a four-week spa stay in Bad Soden. This and other health resorts in the greater Frankfurt area and their observations by other health resort guests have been incorporated into the novella.

References to “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Numerous intertextual references reveal that Clara Viebig dealt intensively with Goethe's novel Werther before she wrote her novella. Her autobiographical admission that Werther had 'torn her away' testifies to this, as does her later statement that Goethe's genius could have captured the Werther mood “in his Werther for eternal memory”.

The choice of the surname Werther speaks for itself. Susanne may be a reference to Susanne von Klettenberg (1723–1774), the “beautiful soul” who was related by marriage to Goethe's mother and whose tolerance and spirituality impressed the young poet. The character of Clara Viebig's protagonist is reminiscent of these two. Susanne Werther is also portrayed as a "beautiful soul". Longing plays a driving role for both protagonists, although Werther's longing arises from his nature and is insatiable, while Susanne could definitely find fulfillment in a life filled with care and affection.

In several ways, Susanne, like her namesake, suffers from an "illness to the point of death", whereby Werther's morbid psychological disposition is replaced by a threatening organic disease. Furthermore, Werther suffers from the insurmountable class differences and his unrecognized genius; Susanne, on the other hand, is the victim of parents who take their own happiness more seriously than caring for their daughter, but unfortunately because of the smugness and hollowness of the people around them.

Both protagonists are travelers. While Werther always tries to escape when an unhappy love affair or conflicts with society make him unable to act, Susanne is taken from one spa to another on the initiative of her fun-loving mother. It remains unclear whether the prospect of recovery for the daughter or the prospect of new amusements for the mother are the reason for the trip. In both texts, a kiss puts an end to the relationship before death occurs, which has already been foretold in the letters.

The experience of nature as a mirror of the soul can be found in both works, albeit in a weakened form in Viebig's novella. Just as Werther's mental state changes with the seasons, Susanne's life also draws to a close in a winter season. The sun is an important leitmotif: while she still seems lavish on walks with Wolfrath, Susanne is no longer allowed to see the sun before her death: Here Wolfrath only sees the "graying morning".

Female figures

The topic of gender roles had become more topical around the turn of the 20th century against the background of the women's movement. In her novella, Clara Viebig also experiments with female figures, as can often be found in the fin de siècle epoch . The figure of Susanne as a femme fragile contrasts with Mother Camarillo as a type of femme fatale . Such femininity designs have a tradition in the Eve - Madonna constellation, in which the vampire seductress is contrasted with the ideal saint. As another type of woman, Clara Viebig inserts the caring woman into the plot, embodied in the caregivers Susannes, the landlady Müller and her daughter Viktoria.

The type of the femme fragile

Susanne, as a female type of femme fragile , is portrayed outwardly as a 'slim', still childlike and butterfly-like young woman who is already marked by her illness. Frequently used white and transparent tones, such as “her white dress”, which brushes the “anemones along the way”, which she then picks “with a cry of delight”, indicate typical characteristics of femme fragile.

The head of hair is another such feature. In the novella, the hair of Susannes, who was already terminally ill, is described as "wonderful curly hair that stretched across the pillow in long threads like a golden thread." The transfiguration of the disease is another such characteristic that is mentioned in the quote the father's deathbed comes into play. In this tradition, Father Werther quotes the words in Greek on his deathbed: "Whoever the gods love, dies young."

The figure of Susanne is drawn with an asexual eroticism, which points to the related type of ' femme-enfant '. This is evoked when Wolfrath portrays the young woman at the beginning of the novel as follows:

““ She was only made to fall in love, to caress, to gently and fleetingly-to-heart-press; a light, fluttering butterfly, which every serious touch wiped the dust from the wings. ""

After all, Susanne can also be seen as a victim of decadent neglect, with Clara Viebig blaming the girl's death as well as the lack of parental care for the girl's death. Susanne's greatest wish is to get to know a loving soul and love. Here she deviates from the expression of the femme fragile , which wants to achieve social advancement through a man.

The femme fatale type

Clara Viebig depicts a type of male-murdering femme fatale , albeit in a weakened form, in the figure of Susanne's mother, who, however, seems more childishly naive than threatening and destructive due to her naivety. Without further emotions, she has separated from Susanne's father, the well-known actor, although he apparently still has feelings for his former wife. She, on the other hand, marries a violin virtuoso, which doesn't prevent her from cheating on him if she feels like it. Wolfrath rates them as follows:

In the episode with the young Russian Gregor Ivanovich in particular, she tries, apparently without success, to have an affair with the young man, although she does not even try to hide this from her daughter. In this respect, Susanne, who fears that the mother might leave Camarillo, remarks: "It would be a shame if she did not remain loyal to him." The mother appears superficial, vain, callous and insensitive to the needs of her daughter. Susanne's father cannot compensate for this shortcoming either, since he is, in another way, caught up in his self-centered artistic world.

The type of the maternal female figure

Another type of woman, portrayed positively in the novella, is the caring woman, as portrayed in Viktoria Müller's mother and in the society lady Susannes. While Klara Eigenbrod takes care of Susanne because of her job, the girl feels a certain solidarity with them when she tells Wolfrath:

"" We'll understand each other; when did two starving people not understand each other? One says 'bread' and the other also says: 'bread'; no further word is needed. ""

During Wolfrath's visit, this paid worker is “the only sighted” who keeps watch over the sick person's bed. She shows more motherliness than the real mother of Susanne. This type of woman is even more marked in Victoria's widowed mother. Not only did she take care of her deceased daughter, but she is also a maternal hostess to Wolfrath. Despite the recent funeral of her child, she does not forget to take care of the physical well-being of her guest. The external marking of the landlady with an apron also indicates the maternal type.

A look at these types of women shows Clara Viebig's clear preference for the simple, practical woman and a reference to the most important thematic aspect of the novella, namely the criticism of neglecting children, which is purely due to concern for their own reputation, personal pleasure and the individual happiness takes place. This attitude is particularly to be found in the 'better' society, where one would like to "shake" such figures, "so that they can focus on the essentials."

Reception history

Shortly after its publication, Clara Viebig's novella received hardly any attention from contemporary critics, and when it did, it received little approval. The reason for this may be that at this point in time the writer was already being measured too much against the naturalistically oriented novels from Kinder der Eifel that appeared in 1897 .

Richard Maria Werner judged the novella in 1900 as "too refined", but "the actual motive for suffering [...] is worked out simply and naturally." This assessment does not lack a grain of truth, because the style of Clara Viebig or the The beginning of the story seems to be static in the creation of the cliché of the 'femme fragile'. Sascha Wingenroth condemns the novella in 1936 as a failed work about the aberrations of the female psyche.

expenditure

The determination of the individual requirements is problematic because the requirements are not clearly marked.

The novella was included for the first time in 1898 in the anthology 'Vor Tau und Tag', which was published six times later, and appeared from 1903 to 1918 in a further anthology entitled 'Who the Gods Love'.

In 1903 it was translated into Dutch, and in 1919 into Finnish.

Individual editions:

  • 1898: Before Tau und Tag, Berlin: Fontane (59–138).
  • 1902: Before Tau und Tag, 2nd edition, Berlin: Fontane (59–138).
  • around 1903: Who the gods love / Before Tau und Tag, Stuttgart: Krabbe (3–90).
  • undated, around 1903: in: Collection of Illustrierter Novellen, 1st vol .: Who the gods love. Before Tau und Tag (and short stories by other writers), Stuttgart :, Krabbe (3–90).
  • undated, around 1906: in: Collection of Illustrierter Novellen, 2nd vol .: Who the gods love. Before Tau und Tag (and short stories by other writers), Stuttgart :, Krabbe (3–90).
  • 1904: Before Tau und Tag, 3rd edition, Berlin: Fontane (59–138).
  • around 1905: Who the gods love. Stuttgart: Krabbe, 2nd edition (3–90).
  • 1907: Before Tau und Tag, 4th edition, Berlin: Fleischel (59–138).
  • around 1907: Who the gods love. Stuttgart: Krabbe, 3rd edition (3-90).
  • 1911: Vor Tau und Tag, 5th edition, Berlin: Fleischel (59–138).
  • around 1914: Who the gods love. Stuttgart: Krabbe, 4th edition (3-90).
  • around 1918: Before Tau und Tag, Berlin: Mosse Kronen (51–116).

Translations

around 1903: Vienna de goden liefhebben (Dutch: ›Who the gods love‹) Zalt-Bommeö: van de Garde [185 pp], (5–76).

1919: Ketäjumalatrakastavat (Finnish. ›Who the gods love‹), trans. v. Werner Anttila, Hämeelinna: Karisto [84 p.]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898. S. 84.
  2. ↑ See the explanations in Anke Susanne Hoffmann: Read from the edges, 2005, chap. 4.2-4.3.4.
  3. ^ Letter No. 547 and 548 from Clara Viebig to Ludwig Jacobowski from October 20 and 25, 1898, in: Auftakt. Literature of the 20th century - letters from the estate of Ludwig Jacobowski, Vol. I: The letters, ed. v. Fred B. Stern, Heidelberg: Schneider, p. 482 f.
  4. ↑ Cf. the typology of the letters in “Action Letter”, “Response Letter” and “Report Letter”, in: Ingrid Engel: Werther und die Wertheriaden, St. Ingbert: Röhrig 1986, pp. 45–47.
  5. ↑ See Erika Ullrich and Edith Vetter: Wo Sodens Kurgäste logierte, 2nd edition, Bad Soden am Taunus, Historischer Verein 2005 (writings on Bad Sodener Geschichte, vol. 24), p. 119 and p. 177.
  6. ↑ Cf. Clara Viebig: How I became a writer, in Velhagen & Klasings Monatsheften, Berlin (24–39), here p. 31.
  7. ↑ Clara Viebig: The female pen, in: Die Woche: modern illustrated magazine, 32nd vol. H. 48, p. 16. Clara Viebig puts this statement in connection with the problem of female writers, because Sophie von Lachoches' Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim 'was only rated as sentimental, untrue and exaggerated, since it came from a female pen.
  8. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau and Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), here p. 138, and Anke Susanne Hoffmann: Read from the edges, Trier: 2005, chap. 4.3.3.
  9. ↑ See Stephanie Günther: Femininity drafts of the Fin de Siècle. Berlin authors: Alice Berend, Margarete Böhme, Clara Viebig, Bonn: Bouvier 2007, Chapter IV.2.
  10. ↑ Cf. Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), p. 59.
  11. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau and Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), here p. 61; see. also Ariane Thomalla: The 'femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, pp. 46 and 49. On the symbolic meaning of anemones as a metaphor for the “transience of everything earthly”, cf. Anke Susanne Hoffmann: Read from the edges, …………. 2005, chap. 4.3.3.
  12. ↑ Cf. Ariane Thomalla: The 'femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, p. 28.
  13. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), p. 134.
  14. ↑ Cf. Ariane Thomalla: The 'femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, p. 29
  15. ↑ Cf. Ariane Thomalla: The 'femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, pp. 78–79.
  16. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), p. 138.
  17. ↑ Cf. Ariane Thomalla: Die 'Femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, pp. 60–61 and pp. 71–75.
  18. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), here p. 62.
  19. ↑ Cf. Ariane Thomalla: The 'femme fragile'. A literary type of woman at the turn of the century, Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann 1972, pp. 85 ff. Thomalla speaks of decadent cruelty, which Clara Viebig mitigates in her novella.
  20. ↑ See the mother's assessment as 'frivolous' in: Caroline Bland: A differentiated presentation? Female sexuality and motherhood in the works of Clara Viebig, in: Volker Neuhaus and Michel Durand: Die Provinz des Weiblichen. On the narrative work of Clara Viebig, Bern: Peter Lang 2004 (99–123), here: p. 109.
  21. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), here p. 89.
  22. ↑ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau und Tag , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138), here p. 89.
  23. ^ Clara Viebig: Who the gods love , in: Before Tau and Day , Berlin: Fontane 1898 (59-138) p. 111.
  24. ↑ Charlotte Marlo Werner: Writing life. The poet Clara Viebig, Dreieich: Medu 2009, p. 47. In this context, Caroline Bland's judgment that Clara Viebig generally produces the “prejudices typical of her time and environment” of the image of women appears to be justified on the one hand. On the other hand, the expression “prejudice” does not take into account Clara Viebig's justified criticism of the upscale artistic circles, who even today often do not meet the needs of their children and leave them to the so-called “neglect of prosperity”. Cf. Caroline Bland: A differentiated presentation? Female sexuality and motherhood in the works of Clara Viebig, in: Volker Neuhaus and Michel Durand: Die Provinz des Weiblichen. On the narrative work of Clara Viebig, Bern: Peter Lang 2004 (99–123), p. 123.
  25. ↑ Richard Maria Werner: Vollendet und Ringende, Minden: Brun 1900, p. 269.
  26. ↑ Cf. Sascha Wingenroth: Clara Viebig and the women's novel of German naturalism, Freiburg im Breisgau 1936.
  27. ↑ Further content of the novella volume: Wien de godenliefhebben (Who the gods love), Voordag en lastw (Before dew and day), De bruineschoentjes (The (small) brown shoes), Achter de Muren, (Behind walls), Jendrok en Michalina ( Jendrok and Michalina), Voorjaarsbuien (spring shower).