Wilhelm Storitz's secret

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'The Secret of William Storitz' by George Roux 09.jpg
Illustrations from the novel drawn by George Roux

Wilhelm Storitz's Secret (also The Secret of the Alchemist Storitz ) is a novel by the French author Jules Verne , which was started by Jules Verne in 1898. By 1901 he wrote 19 chapters. The manuscript was revised by Michel Verne and was the more popular variant of the novel. The revision by Michel Verne appeared in Le Journal in Paris in 1910 in the editions 6471 to 6477 from June 15 to July 13, 1910. The book edition was published in 1910 by the Pierre-Jules Hetzel publishing house . The French title of the novel is Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz . Other working titles were L'Invisible , L'Invisible Fiancée and Le Secret de Storitz . The German-language edition appeared in 1910 under the title Wilhelm Storitz 'Secret . The original version was rediscovered by the Société Jules Verne in 1985. All German-language editions were based on Michel Verne's version until 2009. In 2009, Piper Verlag published a German-language edition of the original version by Jules Verne. The English title of the novel is The Secret of William Storitz .

action

The French painter Marc Vidal writes from the fictional town of Ragz in southern Hungary to his brother Henry in France in order to persuade him to travel to Hungary . Henry describes his journey to Hungary by train and steamboat, which is accompanied by some mysterious circumstances. He meets his brother's future wife, who is called Myra Roderich. Your father Dr. Roderich is a respected doctor in Ragz, her brother Haralan is a captain in the army. The fanatical chemist and physicist Wilhelm Storitz, the son of Otto Storitz from Spremberg , also lives in Ragz . Wilhelm Storitz has a reputation for being an alchemist like his late father. He proposes to Myra, but Myra's family refuses.

Storitz uses an unusual means. He has developed a mixture that can make a person invisible . As an invisible person, he causes unrest in the city and sabotages the preparations for engagement and the planned marriage of Myra. He's perpetrated an attack on Myra. This is then considered to be missing or kidnapped. Storitz is considered a suspect, but cannot be found either. With the help of Myra's brother Haralan, the police director Stepak succeeds in finding and arresting Storitz. Storitz is invisible. However, he is fatally wounded in the confrontation. He bleeds to death and becomes visible again through the loss of blood. He takes the knowledge of the invisible miracle drug with him to death. His also invisible servant Herrmann faces the persecutors. He's in possession of an antidote, which he ingests, and he becomes visible again. In his rage, the angry police director destroys the ampoules using Storitz's means. Myra continues to disappear. Storitz took the knowledge of their whereabouts with them when they died. However, Myra reappears in her father's villa. However, she is invisible and in the meantime has passed out in her bed at home. Marc, who is still in love with her, is now marrying the invisible Myra, everyone seems to have come to terms with the fate of her invisibility. Myra becomes pregnant after the wedding. When her child is born, complications arise and she loses a lot of blood. With the loss of blood, the effect of Wilhelm Storitz's miracle drug disappears and Myra becomes visible again. This ending is a significant change by son Michel Verne in the 1910 edition. In the original version by Jules Verne, the formula of the invisibility remedy and the antidote was lost with Wilhelm Storitz's death and Myra remains invisible.

Bibliography (selection)

  • Jules Verne: The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz. The original version (translation: Gaby Wurster). Munich: Piper, 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-26692-5

literature

  • Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
  • Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
  • Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6

Web links

Commons : The Secret of William Storitz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Le Secret de Wilhem Storitz  - Sources and full texts