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The role of women in Jakob Julius David's Novellen

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The role of women in Jakob Julius David's Novellen

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Content TH E R O LE O P W O M E N IN
JAK O B JULIUS DAVID 'S NOVELLEN
by
Brainy Resnik
A D isserta tio n Presented to the
FACULTY O F T H E G RADUATE SCH O O L
UNIVERSITY O F SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P a r tia l F u lfillm en t of the
Requirements for the Degree
D O C TO R O F PHILOSOPHY
(German)
September 1972
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University Microfilms
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7 2 -2 7 ,6 8 8
RESNIK, Brainy, 1929-
THE ROLE OF W O M E N IN JAKOB JULIUS DAVID’S
NOVELLEN. [ P o r tio n s o f T e x t i n G erm an].
U n iv e r s ity o f S o u th e rn C a l i f o r n i a , Ph.D., 1972
L anguage and L i t e r a t u r e ,m odern
University Microfilms, A X ER O X Com pany, Ann Arbor, Michigan
© Copyright by
BRAMY RESNIK
1972
T n jT C m C C T 5 D T A T T O M H A S R F F .N M T C R O F T T .M F .n E X A C T L Y A S R E C E IV E D .
UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N CA LIFO RN IA
TH E GRADUATE S C H O O L
U N IV ER SITY PA RK
LO S A N G E L E S. C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
Bramx__Resnik............................................................
under the direction of h.i.s . . . Dissertation Com
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements of
the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
r
Dean
D ate September 1972
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Chairman
PLEASE NOTE:
Some pages may have
i ndistinct print.
Filmed as received.
U n iv e r s ity Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company
DEDICATION
To my w ife
i
j TABIiE OF CONTENTS
I
i
I P a g e
i
I dEDICATION................................................................................................................ i i
i
i
jchapter
I . INTRODUCTION ................................................................... . . . 2
•
H
H
BIOGRAPHY ............................................................................... . . . 13
I I I . PO RTRAYAL O F T H E M O T H E R ....................................... . . . 25
IV. PO RTRAYAL O F T H E W IFE ............................................. . . . 37
V. PO RTRAYAL O F T H E SINGLE W O M A N .......................
•
H
>
T H E M O T H E R AS A TRAGIC FIGURE ....................... . . . 96
VII . T H E TRAGIC QUEST FOR L O V E .................................. . . . I l l
VIII . TEM PTATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES . . . . . . . 123
IX. T H E TRAG EDY O F SIN . . . .................................. . . . 131
X. CONCLUSION ......................................................................... . . . 141
|APPENDIX..................................................................................................................... 159
i
(BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 163
ICH
S tets bin ich meinen s t i l l e n Pfad g e sc h r itten .
Und der und jener hat mich hart b e s tr itte n .
Ich aber schwieg in a lie n diesen Fehden—
Nun w ill ich einmal von mir selb er reden.
Ich habe manche harte Frohn v e r r ic h te t,
Auf jedes rechte Gluck hab1 ich v e r z ic h te t.
Die andern schmatzten an g e fu llte n Trogen;
Ich iibte Kunst nach innerstem Vermogen,
B estrebt, was ich in meiner S eele Griinden,
Im Lebensdickicht aufgespurt, zu kunden.
Und stummen Schraerzen, die gen Himmel schrien,
Hab1 gern ich Ohr und k r a ftig Wort g elieh en .
So, kann ich mich den GroBten nicht vergleich en ,
An Mut und Wahrheit m uB ich keinem weichen,
Und a lso mein1 ich , noch zu kunft'gen Tagen,
Wird Manches, das ich s t i l l geschaffen, ragen.
—Jakob Ju liu s David,
Gesammelte Werke, I, 46
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Jakob Ju liu s David (1859-1906), a g ifte d and v e r s a tile
Austrian author, never received s u f f ic ie n t recogn ition for
h is works to achieve la stin g fame . Although he was known to
a s e le c t iv e reading public during h is life tim e , in the years
sin ce h is death h is name has gradually faded into o b liv io n .
In s p ite of h is considerable lite r a r y con trib u tion , which
c o n sists of a c o lle c tio n of poems, three novels, four p lays,
and over t h ir t y - f iv e Novellen as w e ll as an overwhelming
number of lite r a r y essays and newspaper a r t i c l e s —a l l w r it
ten w ithin a span of tw en ty-five y ea rs—i t was indeed tr a g ic
th at few remembered him a fte r h is death. As Anna Caspary
observed, in "Osterreich kennen ihn und sein Schaffen wahr-
h aft nur ein zeln e: manche, was man so gem einiglich kennen
nennt: b e i uns im 'Reichsland' kennt man ihn einfach gar
2
3
n i c ht . I t should be added that to date there are no known
tra n sla tio n s of h is works. His works, today v ir tu a lly un
known to both the general public and, to a great ex ten t, the
lite r a r y scholars, a c tu a lly did receive favorable reviews at
one tim e. Indeed, David was considered by some of h is con
temporaries to be an outstanding w r ite r. According to Karl
B ienenstein, " J . J . Davids litte r a r is c h e r Charakter hat in
Wien n ich t sein esg leich en , besonders nich t in der jungeren
2
G eneration."
Attempts at reviving the works and name of David have
been made on numerous occasion s. I n i t i a l l y , h is c o lle c te d
works were published immediately follow ing h is death. On
the tw entieth anniversary of h is death many a r t ic le s ap
peared chiding the public for it s lack of in te r e st in
David's work. There were other attempts in the 1930's and
1940's, but only recen tly have h is works begun to arouse
considerable in te r e s t. From 1960 to 1965 four of h is in
d ivid u al works, Die Hanna (I960). Das Hoferecht (1964), Der
Hexenrichter (1965)—o r ig in a lly e n title d Fruhschein—and Der
~ * ~ In Memoriam: Jakob Ju liu s David (Koln: Neubner,
1908), p. 3.
o
"J. J . David. Eine litte r a r is c h e Skizze," Nord und
Sud, 88 (3899), 330.
4
Obergang (1966) were republished.
The reasons for David's fa ilu r e to a tta in popular
acceptance can only be open to conjecture in lig h t of the
fa c t th a t lite r a r y h isto ria n s have paid scant a tte n tio n to
h is works. Two reasons which have been expressed might have
v a lid it y - however, they are not n e cessa rily the exact
cau ses. F ir s t, i t must be emphasized th at David wrote for
a very s e le c tiv e group o f readers, an audience characterized
3
as "Aristokraten des Geschmackes." Thus, i t would appear
th at David's works did not appeal to the general public and
the mood of the tim e. Second, David has often been de
scribed as an im itator of C. F. Meyer (see Appendix). As a
consequence, a few lite r a r y h isto r ia n s, in th eir zea l to
categorize authors, attempted to f i t David into a p articu lar
school o f w r itin g . A lbert Soergel, in h is b r ie f d iscu ssion
of David, could only observe th at "M an weiB nicht rech t, wo
4
David . . . h in geh ort." I t is iro n ic that David him self
a n ticip a ted th is d i f f i c u l t y . In h is dedication of Das
H oferecht, addressed to Erich Schmidt, he made d irect
Ernestine Lothar, "J. J . David," Die Zukunft (B erlin ),
May 22, 1909, p . 290.
^Dichtung und Dichter der Z e it, 19th ed. (Leipzig:
V oigtlander, 1928), p. 487.
reference to th is problem: "Wird es nicht da wie dort
mifideutet werden, nich t nach ein er Tendenz durchforscht und
darnach b e u r te ilt? Denn die Z eit i s t tendenzios und sucht
5
und r ic h te t nach Schlagworten."
In one area., David did succeed in a ttra ctin g some
measure of a tte n tio n from the reading p u b lic. He was f a ir ly
w e ll known as a jo u rn a list in the Austrian newspaper world,
p a r tic u la r ly in Vienna, where he wrote more than 500 a r t i
c le s for at le a s t twenty d iffe r e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s T h e fa c t
th at he was b etter known for h is jo u r n a lis tic work was quite
p ain fu l to David, as h is main in te r e s t did not li e in th is
area. (Out of n e c e ssity , he had to devote much of h is adult
l i f e to journalism , which was in f in it e ly more lu crative than
f i c t i o n .) In a sen se, he led a dual e x is te n c e —subordinat
ing h is crea tiv e urge in order to eke out an e x iste n c e , yet
plagued by a consuming d esire for d ie Kunst. Truly, th is
double l i f e caused David much g r ie f and he read ily confessed
th at he su ffered "unter den Zerstreuungen und Ablenkungen
5
Jakob Ju liu s David, Gesammelte Werke, ed. Ernst H e il-
born and Erich Schmidt (Miinchen: Piper, 1908), I, 107.
H ereafter c ite d in the te x t as G W .
^For a d e ta ile d study of David's jo u r n a listic accom
plishm ents see Gerlinde Schruf, "Jakob Ju liu s David aIs
J o u rn a list und K unstkritiker," d i s s . Wien, 1953.
6
7
. . . [cles] Doppelberufes ."
The bulk of David's jo u r n a listic work co n sisted of
theater c r itic is m and stage rev iew s. This was not a random
choice on the part of David, but one which can be lo g ic a lly
explained. His entry into th is f ie ld can be a ttrib u ted to
"der Tendenz der Zeit" and to "einer geheimen Sehnsucht des
D ichters David nach dem Lorbeer des Dramatikers, der ihm
aber z e i t sein es Lebens verwehrt b leib en s o llte " (Schruf,
p. 4) . In fa c t, h is f i r s t attempt at dramatic production
(Hagars Sohn) resu lted in a t o t a l fa ilu r e . This, however,
in no way discouraged David from continuing to w rite p la y s .
His subsequent attempt a t a second play (Ein Regenbag) , a
th ird (Neigung) , and even a fourth (Der getreue Eckardt) had
the same unfortunate r e s u l t s . The public and the c r it ic s
did not accept them, in sp ite of the fa c t th at the la s t play
had been awarded the B auernfeldpreis. In regard to Neigung,
Heinrich Stiimcke remarked: "[D]em Ganzen mangelt der dra-
g
matische Nerv, die grofizugige G estaltu n gsk raft." Thus i t
can be sa id that the plays lack proper coherence as w ell as
7
"Im S p ie g e l. Autobiographische Skizze," Das l i t e r a r i -
sche Echo, 4 (1902), 530.
®"Von den B erliner Theatern 1899-1900," Buhne und Welt.
3 (1900), 39.
; 7
i
i
jthe concentration on p lo t necessary to su stain dramatic
i
in t e r e s t , and the characters seem to lack the conviction
i
needed to make the plays convincing. As to h is dramatic
I
jproduction, i t has been accurately observed that: "Im Ge-
samtwerk Davids bedeuten die Dramen nur eine Episode. Die
9
e ig e n tlic h e Entwicklung lie g t auf der Linie der Erzahlung."
In sp ite of David's shortcomings as a dram atist, i t is im
portant to note that h is prose work, e s p e c ia lly h is Nove1-
I
ilen, often disp lay "starke dramatische Effekte und v o l l -
'standige, biihnenwirksame D ialoge," even i f he lacked the
I
a b ilit y to w rite a workable play (Schruf, p. 17) .
David's Nove lie n represent h is most s ig n ific a n t con
tr ib u tio n to the lite r a r y world and i t is in th is sphere
Ithat he d e f in it e ly e x c e l s . A l t h o u g h h is to p ics appear to
i
I
j
jvary from h is t o r ic a l to the ty p ic a l D orfgeschichten, they
i ^Johann W illib ald Nagl, Jakob Z eidler, and Edward
C a stle, D eutsch-O sterreichische L iteratu r-G esch ich te, 1848-
1918 (Wien: n .p ., 1929), I I I , 1102.
j -*-® H ans Kloos, "Jakob Ju liu s David a ls N o v e llis t, " d iss .
Freiburg i/B r ., 1930, p. 9, makes the follow ing observation:
"Die Nove l i e i s t fur David die Ausdrucksf orm, h ier i s t er
iw esentlich nur er und er a lle in , h ier gewann er . . . die
rein sten und vollkommensten Schopfungen a b ," while Hans
Bethge, " J . J. David," Das lite r a r is c h e Echo, 4 (1902), 525,
s t a t e s : "Denkt man an David, so hat man das B ild des Novel-
lis t e n vor sich ."
8
are, in r e a lit y , n eith er. The h is t o r ic a l Novelien Ruth and
V erstorte Z e it, for example, lack the usual d escrip tiv e
elem ents: that i s , the b a ttle c r ie s and the fa n fa res.
These are conveniently overlooked or s e t asid e: "Den Krieg
selb er zu sch ild ern , lag durchaus nicht in meiner A bsicht.
Dazu r eich t meine Kraft n i c h t ," remarked David (G W , I I I ,
279). In a c tu a lity , what he did intend to d e p ic t—and th is
point is very s ig n ific a n t because i t d e fin ite ly se ts David
com pletely apart from most h is t o r ic a l Nove11is t e n —is the
aftermath of a war and the ensuing str u g g le , as w ell as the
problems that b eset the people tormented as a r e su lt of war.
Thus David rejected the conventional h is t o r ic a l Nove l i e and
su b stitu ted h is own format. In th is regard he stated :
"Versinkendes Gluhen, verhallender Donner—ungefahr das war
e s , was ich mir zu sch ild ern v o r g e s e tz t. Ein ganzes zu
geben vermochte ich nicht"j but what is important is that
"neben der Verstorung bemiihte ich mich d ie Wiederaufrichtung
zu zeigen: den Fruhschein, der nach jener endlosen Nachten
sic h blafi und ungewifi erhob" (G W , I I I , 280) . Even in the
D orfqeschichten, for example in Die Hanna, he omits the
pathos, and h is p lo ts and action s are uncomplicated, for his
in te r e s t and in ten t do not l i e in the a ctio n or in the out
ward c o n flic ts between characters . What is of primary
9
1
I
limportance to David, and which ap p lies to a l l of h is Novel
len , is h is concentration on and almost fa n a tic a l fa sc in a
tio n w ith "Konflikte der S e e le . " ^ This constant preoccu-
I
pation with the c o n flic ts of the so u l is encountered r e - |
peatedly as the author unfolds the innermost thoughts of
h is characters: "[die] Novellen suchen den Menschen im
~ „12
iSein zu packen.
David's works, poetry as w e ll as prose, r e f le c t the
i
lo n e lin e s s , su ffe r in g , and torment he experienced during hisi
I |
i
short life tim e . The outpouring of David's sou l is r e fle c te d
i
in h is ch a ra cteriza tio n s, and h is ch aracters, in turn, mir- j
ror h is own image. His l i f e and w ritin gs are so very inter-;
|
twined th a t, "ware kein anderes Wissen uber ihn geblieben,
in n ig ste Einfuhlung es [d .h . Schicksal] in seinen
■*"^Arturo F a r in e lli, " J . J . Davids Kunst, " Jahrbuch der
G rillp a r z e r-G e se llsc h a ft, 18 (1908), 221. Furthermore,
F a r in e lli observes th at "Reiche und verw ickelte Handlungen
hat der Dichter nicht ersinnen konnen, und auch n ich t e r -
sinnen w ollen." However, what seems to be of b asic impor
tance in understanding David and h is works is that h is
strength lie s in the "Entwicklung innerer Vorgange."
10
I Kloos, pp. 43-44. In ad d ition , Kloos makes an in te r -
jesting observation: "Das Kriterium, das a lle Novellen
Ikennzeichnet, i s t ihre psycho log is che Verwurzelung, ihre
|Verfestigung und V ertiefung im se e lisc h e n Bereich des Men-
jschen, ..." Therefore, he concludes, "Davids Novellen
jsind im vornehmsten Sinne des Wortes psycho log is che N ovel-
jlen" (pp. 54-55).
10
w esentlichen Bedingungen daraus ablesen konnte" (Kloos, p.
13). Bernhofer's stru ggles in Ein Poet? and N eunteufel's in
Der Talisman are in many resp ects s tr ik in g ly sim ilar to in
cid en ts in the author's own l i f e . I t is as i f "In jeder
G estalt i s t irgendwie ein Stuck des d ich terisch en Ich v e r -
le ib lic h t , jede i s t irgendwann Aussage eigen sten Wesens"
(Kloos, p. 2 2 ). On the other hand, David's creation of
characters who mirror him self must not be construed as con
sc io u sly autobiographical or co n fessio n a l in nature. I t is
more the r e s u lt of an unconscious a c t, one which is "nie
l a s t ig , nie ermudend" (F a r in e lli, p. 220).
David's preoccupation with c o n flic ts of the sou l and
mind has in ev ita b ly led to the creation of fa scin a tin g
characters . His choice of characters covers a wide range:
th at i s , men, women, and children of diverse origin s and
m ilieu . Upon reading the N ovellen , however, i t becomes
r ea d ily apparent that David's primary concentration and
a tte n tio n is focused on the portrayal of female characters,
whose c o n f lic t s , p sych ological problems, d e sir e s, and emo
tio n s are revealed: "Dem liebesspendenden, ewig anziehen-
den, ewig Weiblichen hangt der Dichter mit ganzer, mit
zittern d er S eele an. Im Ersinnen lebendiger Frauengestalten
li e g t die K raft, der hochste Reiz sein er schaffenden Kunst"
11
(F a r in e lli, p. 236) . These women seem to exem plify unusual
stren gth , both s p ir itu a l and moral, and are able to marshal
th e ir forces in s p ite of th e ir assumed innate weaknesses as
•women. Characters such as Hanka (Die Miihle von Wranowitz)
and Ludmila (Der L e tz te ) c e r ta in ly possess p h ysical
stren gth , but th e ir inner strength indeed exceeds the fo r
mer, endowing them with a v irtu e far surpassing th at of
th e ir male counterparts. I t is a fa c t that David had d ed i
cated in h is works "ein Ehrenblatt . . . der mahrischen
,.13
Frau.
In one of h is la s t works, "Vom Schaffen und seinen
Bedingungen," a s e r ie s of essays w ritten ju st prior to h is
death, David made an oblique reference to h is repeated use
of women characters . W e can only suspect th at David, in
retro sp ect, f e l t the need to j u s t if y or r a tio n a liz e h is r e
curring d ep iction of the female by sta tin g th at w riters are
judged according to the "Glaubhaftigkeit und E chtheit der
Frauengestalten . . . die ihm glucken, " and furthermore,
"daft uber diesen Maftstab und sein e G u ltig k eit uberhaupt
13
Herman Groeneweg, Jakob Ju liu s David m seinem Ver-
h a ltn is zur Heimat, G eschichte, G esellsch a ft und L iteratur
(Graz: Wachter, 1929), p. 52.
12
14
n ich t mehr gesprochen wird." This study, th erefo re, w ill
focus i t s a tte n tio n on the role of the women characters in
J . J . David's N ovellen . An an alysis of the major female
p ro ta g o n ists, an aspect of h is works to which scant a tte n
tio n has been paid, w ill contribute to a deeper understand
ing of David's Novellen, as w ell as c a st a new lig h t on
David h im self.
14
"Vom Schaffen und seinen Bedingungen," O sterreich i-
sche Rundschau, 7 (1906), 154.
CHAPTER II
BIOGRAPHY
Jakob Ju liu s David was born on February 6* 1859 in
WeiBkirchen* Moravia* present-day Czechoslovakia* to Jonas
and Karoline (Charlotte) David. The th ird of fiv e children*
Jakob Ju liu s was reared under the very s t r i c t and stern
supervision of h is father* who was formerly a tobacco r e
t a ile r and la te r a tenant farmer. During the reign of Maria
Theresa* the Davids had received a licen se which e n title d
them to adm inister a custom house and perm itted them to
operate a brandy d i s t i l l e r y ; consequently* they were con
sidered members of the Jewish a r isto c r a c y . They were not
r e lig io u s Jews and they liv e d "unjiidisch nach deutscher Art*
umgeben vom S l a v e n t u m * i n contrast to the s t r i c t r e lig io u s
tr a d itio n s so common among East European Jewry. His mother*
■^Ella Spiero* Jakob Ju liu s David (Leipzig: Finck*
1920)* p. 11.
13
1 4
on the other hand, came from a d iffe r e n t m ilieu , character
ized as the "Juden der Gasse, die im Ghetto der Stadte ein
miBachtetes Dasein fuhrten" (p. 11).
The year 1866 brought about a tra g ic turn of events in
the l i f e of J . J . David, a mere boy of seven. According to
h is own account: "1866 kam die preuBische Invasion. Ich
habe die k la rsten Erinnerungen an s i e . Nach ein er Krankheit
I
von nur wenigen Stunden erla g ihr der V ater. Mit seinem Tode
stob die Fam ilie auseinander" ("Im S p iegel," p. 529). Due
to the fa th e r 's mismanagement of the fam ily's finances (he
had loaned large sums of money which the widow could not
c o lle c t a fte r her husband's death) the w ife and children
were l e f t d e s t it u t e . Consequently, the children were placed
with various r e la t iv e s , Jakob Ju liu s being sen t to a r e la
tiv e in Kremsier. From th is point on "das S tiefk in d des
2
Glucks s o l l t e keine Ruhe, keinen GenuB fin d e n ," as th is
poor r e la tiv e led a l i f e f u l l of m isery. I t was indeed a
traumatic experience for David to be separated from the
c lo s e ly k n it fam ily and the mother whom he never saw again.
In 1869 David entered the Gymnasium, f i r s t in Kremsier,
2
Erich Schmidt, Vorwort zu den Gesammelten Werken, I,
xx i .
15
then in Teschen and Troppau, and then again in Kremsier.
I t is not clea r whether the r e la tiv e s with whom he liv ed
moved often or whether David was sent to other r e la tiv e s .
I t is known, however, th a t when he returned to Kremsier he
did not liv e with r e la t iv e s , but was placed with a woman a t
whose house he received very l i t t l e a ffe c tio n or nourish
ment. In school David did not do w ell and in Troppau he was
forced to repeat one y e a r . He was not a poor student but
simply did not lik e school: "In neun Jahren brachte ich das
Gymnasium h in ter mich. Ich war durchaus e in s e it ig veran-
l a g t . Was ich nich t lernen mochte, dazu war ich nicht zu
bringen" ("Im S p ieg el, " p. 529). He had an unlim ited t h ir s t
for reading, and began early to acquaint him self with the
great men of lite r a tu r e both past and p resent.
David t e l l s us th a t, as a c h ild , he was often i l l and
th at a fte r
ein er besonderen schweren Erkrankung sandte man mich zu
einer Erholung und damit ich die andere Landessprache
e rlern e, zu Verwandten, die in der Hanna le b te n . Es
i s t das gesegnete mahrische Flachland zwischen der March
und ihrem NebenfluB Hanna. (p. 530)
The impressions th is area had l e f t upon the s e n s itiv e boy
were never to leave him and, in fa c t, they appear again and
again in many of h is works. In 1873 th is f r a i l youngster
16
was a f f lic t e d with typhoid fev er, which l e f t him with l i f e
long impairments; he became hard of hearing and n earsigh ted .
In sp ite of h is problems, he managed to m atriculate in 1877
a t the U niversity of Vienna, where he undertook the study of
German lite r a tu r e , h isto r y , and pedagogy. He was fortunate
to be able to study under such men as Richard H einzel,
Robert Zimmermann, and Erich Schmidt; the la s t , in p a rticu
la r , became a personal frien d and g rea tly influenced the
young u n iv ersity stu d en t. David dedicated h is f i r s t prose
work. Das H oferecht, to Erich Schmidt, who was impressed by
h is stu d en t's f i r s t published N o v e lie .
In order to support h im self during h is years as a s t u
dent David held numerous odd jobs, from tu torin g to j a n i
t o r ia l work. Often he was forced to sle e p under a bridge
when he did not have enough money to pay h is r en t. These
were indeed years of su fferin g for David. One of h is c o l
leagues a t the U n iversity, Adolph Gelber, rela ted some of
David's hardships during the u n iv ersity years to E lla
S p iero :
"Wir jungen Studenten konnten uber den seltsam en G esel-
len [David] lach eln , der halbblind, halbtaub und schwer-
f a l l i g , doch, wenn es se in mufite, flin k mit dem B illa r d -
queue auf uns losd rosch . Es kam fur ihn die Z e it, wo
uber d iese Schaden n ich t zu lacheln war. Sie sep arierten
ihn von der Welt und wurden zu seinem b itte r e n Elend.
Wir fanden Lektionen, wir schrieben h e ite r e A rtik e1, die
17
uns bezahlt wurden, w e il s ie der Leser in angenehme
Stimmung v er se tzte n ; wir fanden A nstellung b e i ein er
Zeitung, in ein er Advokaturkanzlei, in einem Buro.
Er—hungerte . " (Ella Spiero, p. 24)
David's tr ib u la tio n was not confined to h is years a t the
u n iv ersity ; i t was h is ste a d fa st companion throughout h is
l i f e . W e must admit a measure of admiration for th is man
whose stru ggle in the face of such adverse fortune and
misery was met with a kind o f personal p rid e. David's
misery became so much a part o f him that he likened i t to a
constant companion, almost an exten sion of him self: "Du
b is t s e i t meinen Kindertagen, / Seitdem ich denke, mir v e r -
trau t; . . . / Wohl mir! ich habe ausgehalten— / Durch Dich
g e k r a ftig t h i e l t ich stand!" (G W , I, 2 ).
David's entrance into Viennese l i f e brought him no
r e sp ite from the problems which had always b eset him. He
soon discovered th at he was unable to obtain a teaching
p o sitio n due to h is hearing d e fic ie n c y . "So b lie b S c h r ift-
s t e l l e r e i und Journa lism u s" ("Im S p iegel," p. 530). Without
a doubt, a teaching p o sitio n would have guaranteed David a
life lo n g income and would have enabled him to pursue h is
w riting with fewer fin a n c ia l concerns. One might assume
that David was plunged in to deep despair; yet th is was not
the case, as is seen in the poem "Gebet":
18
Alima c h tig e r ! Du hast mir v i e l genommen,
Du weiftt a lle in , was a lle s ich v erlo r;
Mein Auge s ie h t die schone Welt verschwommen,
Und nur gedampft, gedampft und le is e kommen
Des Lebens Laute in mein krankes Ohr.
E inst ta t m ir's weh—und war zu meinem Frommen,
Ich dank' Dir's h eute, sc h a lt ich Dich zuvor —
Du hast mir v ie le n Jammer, manches Grauen
Erspart zu horen und erspart zu schauen . . .
(G W , I, 2 )
This poem begins with a bewildered accusation of the A l
mighty but ends with an unexpected concession, a counter
balance ex h ib itin g a wry y et mild humor.
In the mid-1880's David began h is jo u r n a lis tic career
by working for E. K. Franzos on the Neue Wiener I llu s t r ie r t e
Z eitung. I t was Franzos who was instrum ental in publishing
some o f David's poems and other prose works. Later m is
understandings arose between the two men which caused David
to leave Franzos and join the s t a f f of the Neues Wiener
Journal, where he worked for almost ten y ea rs. In 1885 he
was summoned to h is mother's deathbed, but unfortunately
did not arrive u n til a fte r her death. This loss was par
tic u la r ly unfortunate as he had not seen her sin ce the
fam ily had been separated almost twenty years b efore. David
admitted that h is fe e lin g s of lo ss la sted "fiir ein W eil-
chen" ("Im S p iegel," p. 529), a statement which im plies an
in d iffe r e n t a ttitu d e toward h is mother. This utterance has
19
undoubtedly led c r it ic s such as E lla Spiero to a lle g e that
David's mother "konnte dem Sohn niemals v i e l sein" (p. 11).
However, th is was not the c a se . David never ceased to love
h is mother in s p ite of h is long years of enforced separation
from h er. "Du sta r b st, und ich war nicht zugegen, / Hab1
n ich t die treue Hand gedriickt" (G W , I, 1 ). E lla Spiero
b eliev ed that th is poem ("Der Mutter") was w ritten as a
r e s u lt of a purely subconscious yearning for the mother love
th at eluded him. Yet the above lin e s in d icate that David
probably f e l t a greater love for and a deeper loss o f h is
mother than E lla Spiero assum es.
While working as a jo u r n a list, David managed to com
p lete h is u n iv ersity studies and began to prepare h is doc
to r a l d is s e r ta tio n . However, the d a ily pressures of the
newspaper work hampered h is progress and caused repeated
in terru p tio n s. Not u n til 1889, twelve years a fte r h is ad
m ission to the u n iversity, did he f in a lly submit h is d i s
s e r ta tio n . The d isse r ta tio n , "Zur Psychologie Heinrich
P e s ta lo z z is , " was a mere th ir ty -th r e e pages in length* how
ever, i t was accepted and he received h is fin a l degree the
same year. Although the a p p ella tio n of Doctor brought no
improvement in the material aspects of David's l i f e , i t was
a d e fin ite boost to his sagging morale and dim inishing
20
hopes. His s p ir it s had even risen and he was beginning to
demonstrate acceptance of h is f a t e . This is c le a r ly e x
pressed in the poem, "Im V olkston":
Ich hab1 kein Haus, ich hab' kein Nest,
Ich hab' kein Hochzeit und kein F est;
Ich hab' kein' Hof, ich hab' kein Feld,
Ich hab1 k e in 1 Heimat auf der W elt.
Am Himmel s e lb s t der Schauerstrich,
Den furchten s ie nicht so wie michj
Mir g eh t's nicht gut, mir g eh t's n ich t sc h le c h t—
Und so, gerade so i s t ' s recht . . . (G W , I, 35)
In 1891, the same year that the poem appeared, David
married Juliane Ostruska and enjoyed some degree of happi
ness for the f i r s t time in h is l i f e . At the same time he
converted to Catholicism , thus givin g up the fa ith of h is
p a ren ts. Henceforth, David never denied th at he had been a
Jew, in fa c t,
im Gegensatz zu manch anderen P roselyten in ahnlicher
S itu ation i s t er w iederholt an tisem itisch en A u sfallen
scharf und entschieden en tgegen getreten . Jahrelang war
er M itarbeiter der von dem Rabbiner J o sef Bloch heraus-
O
gegebenen "Osterreichischen W ochenschrift."
David's conversion can be a ttrib u ted to two fa c to r s: he had
never been deeply committed to Judaism (compare the observa
tio n by E lla Spiero quoted on p. 13 above) and he had not
3
Peter Goldammer, "Jakob Ju liu s David: e in vergessener
D ichter," Weimarer B eitrage, 5 (1959), 337.
21
ceased to hope for a government p o s itio n . To be sure, there
was no a lte r n a tiv e i f one wished to obtain a government
appointment in C atholic A ustria .
The b irth of a daughter, Marlene, brought great joy to
David. His daughter seemed to f i l l a void in h is l i f e and
he expressed unbounded love for h er. His happiness, how
ever, was s h o r t-liv e d , for none of h is previous problems had
been reso lv ed . For a period of time he lo s t h is p o sitio n as
a jo u r n a list, which caused grave fin a n c ia l d if f ic u lt y (his
lite r a r y works provided a meager income) and h is health
continued to d eteriorate as the development of lung cancer
became apparent. In 1905, as he lay i l l in bed, David was
awarded the "Bauernfeldpreis . . . in Anerkennung sein es
4
poetischen Gesamtschaffens ..." The award carried with
i t a so rely needed 1000 Kronen.
I t is important to point out th at David had for the
most part been certa in of h is worth as a w riter, confident
th at h is works were of inestim able value regardless of the
c r itic is m with which they had been received . His cousin,
E rnestine Lothar, wrote a newspaper a r t ic le about him a fte r
4
Carl B ern ou lli, "Bauernfeldpreis," Das lx tera risch e
Echo, 8 (1905), 458.
22
h is death in which she expressed the view th at David b e
liev ed in him self and h is p o etic message as w ell as "an die
hochsten Z ie le , an Triumphe und S iege, die ihm k raft sein es
Talentes beschieden sein muBten."^ Toward the end of h is
l i f e , however, he began to express a dim inishing s e l f -
confidence as w e ll as some sign s of envy toward w riters who
had reached su ccess, as he had not. In 1904 he wrote:
"Glucklich schon d iejen igen , denen e in friiher Erfolg ins
noch v o ile Haar g e fa lle n i s t , denen so der Glaube an sich
£
b e s ta tig t ward." Only a few months before h is death, he
appeared to have reached the conclusion th at he would never
receive the renown he had so eagerly sought. In a very
m a tter-o f-fa ct v ein David opined th at "Ein Friihling i s t
ziem lich jedem beschieden; der Herbst, die Z eit der Frucht-
r e if e , aber kommt schon n icht mehr fur jeden" ("Vom Schaf-
f e n , " p. 152).
On November 2 0, 1906, David f in a lly succumbed to the
ravages of cancer. His untimely death brought ou tcries from
5
Lothar, p. 289. Furthermore, David him self was con
vinced th at "die Berufung zum Schaffenden i s t eine Schickung,
e in Aufruf" ("Vom Schaffen, " p. 160).
"Werkstatt-Gedanken," Die Neue Rundschau (B erlin ), 15
(1904), 756.
23
numerous n o ta b les. Among them was Stefan Zweig, whose r e
marks were b i t t e r :
Aber n ich t a lie s s o l i mit ihm begraben s e in . Z w eierlei
s o l i b leib en . Sein Werk: fiir a l l , die noch Freude an
ernster Kunst, an groBer Schopfung haben konne . Und
dann sein e B itte r k e it: s ie m uB heute in uns se in und
ihn anklagend uberleben. Wenn wir an das Verlorene, an
das v ie le unniitz E r litte n e denken, brennt s i e herb auf
der Zunge und laBt einen n icht schweigen. Was er uns
sa g te, m uB heute o ffe n tlic h gesagt sein : wie man einen
D ichter, einen der Besten O sterreich miBachtet h a t. Man
m uB anklagen. Anklagen ein deutsches Lesepublikum und
sein e Fuhrer, daB es ihm nich t vergdnnt h at, auf den
vollkommensten Werken die Worte "zweite Auflage" zu le s e n .
Anklagen ein Vaterland, das einen solchen D ichter die
besten Jahren in jo u r n a listisc h e r Tretmuhle verkommen
lieB P
The truth of the matter is th at David died before seeing h is
works published as a c o lle c tio n . Shortly before h is death
he wrote a le t t e r to Erich Schmidt expressing h is d esire to
have h is works published in th e ir e n tir e ty , con fessin g:
"Ich selb er war zu schwach, mich durchzusetzen." Apolo
g e t ic a lly he added: "Ich ubersehe mein Werk: es i s t ja
natiarlich Torso geblieben" (Schmidt, p. v i) . Erich Schmidt
f u l f i l l e d the deceased man's la s t request; he and Ernst
Heilborn published David's works on a su b scrip tion b a s is .
7
"Dem Gedachtnis J . J . Davids," O sterreichische Rund
schau, 11 (1906), 219.
24
In 1907 a six-volum e e d itio n appeared* follow ed in 1908 by
a seventh volume containing a s e le c tio n of David's lite r a r y
essays .
CHAPTER III
PO RTRAYAL O F T H E M O T H E R
The purpose of th is chapter is to examine David's
treatment of the mother figure in r e la tio n to her immediate
surroundings and fa m ily . In two Nove l i e n , Das Hoferecht and
Die Schwachen, David characterized and depicted the inner
stru ggle of two mothers who were placed in the unenviable
p o sitio n of having to determine the fa te of th e ir sons, w ell
aware th at one of them would be the so le in h eritor of the
fam ily's m aterial goods. The c o n f lic t of the mothers is
heightened by the fa c t th at th is custom caused v io le n t
r iv a lr ie s to erupt between the brothers.
The few characters in Das Hoferecht, David's f i r s t
N o v elie, seem to be divided in to two d is t in c t camps: the
Lohners and the Bermanns. The p a rticu la r a tte n tio n that
David paid to the creation of the women characters in th is
f i r s t attempt as a Nove H i s t became immediately apparent,
for "in dem M ittelpunkt jeder Erzahlung ste h t eine G esta lt,
25
um die und in der sic h A lles c o n c e n tr ie r t. Ihr Charakter
g ib t dem Ganzen Leben und Stimmung" (Bienenstein, p. 331) .
Frau Marianne Lohner, or "die Schulzin" as she was b etter
known in her v i l l a g e , was a lovin g, good-hearted and kind
woman, and y et "sie g a it fur karg" (G W , I, 120) when n eces
sary. She was not a b oisterou s in d ivid u al, nor was she
p reten tio u s, even i f she was the Groflbauerin, the w ife of
the r ic h e st landowner and farmer of the v il l a g e . In fa c t,
"wenn w eit armere Bauerinnen in Seide einhergingen, trug s ie
Wollenzeug und s t a t t des stad tisch en Hutes die Bauernhaube"
(p. 120) .
David's ch a racterization of Frau R osalie Bermann, the
second mother figu re in th is N o v e lie , is in contrast to Frau
Marianne Lohner. Frau R osalie Bermann, the w ife of the
v illa g e Jew, liv e d in stra iten ed circumstances plagued by
unrelenting memories of her past grandeur. Upon entering
the v illa g e one would fin d homes which were adorned with
flow ers, surrounded by trees and kept in f a ir ly good condi
tio n . "Aber man muGte das ganze Dorf durchschreiten—und
e in gutes Stuck Weges war das—ehe man ein es tr a f, das a lie n
Schmuckes entbehrte, das kahl und ode an der kahlen Strafie
lag, ehe man zur Wohnung des Dorfjuden gelangte" (pp. 109-
110). Ihe Bermanns were, indeed, very poor. Ihey had been
27
fin a n c ia lly secure in the past; now they could hardly manage
to su b sis t from day to day. As David's father had m is
managed the fam ily's money, so too had Lazar Bermann. In a
p resentation which was almost p ic to r ia l in nature and even
rem iniscent of the N a tu r a lists, David depicted the squalid
condition of the Bermann abode:
Unter ihrem moosigen Schindeldache lag s ie ganz seltsam
geform t. Die Verkahlung ihrer Wande war abgebrockelt,
und zwischen dem schmutzigen WeiS schienen d ie Rohziegel
hafllich in braungelbem Fahl hervor . Niemand mvihte sic h ,
zu bessern Oder zu schmucken; nicht ein arm seliger Blumen-
top f stand zwischen den erblindenden F ensterscheiben.
Zwei einsame Pappeln, deren B latter unter einer schweren
Staubschichte verschwanden, h ie lte n kerzengerade und
langw eilig Wache davor. Eine Bank war zwischen ihnen,
a Is schienen den Bewohnern der Hiitte s e lb s t d ieser Schat-
ten noch begehrenswert. Die Hoftiir war immer nur ange-
lehnt; wer sic h die Muhe nahm, in den Hof zu b lick en ,
der sah a H e r l e i k la g lich es Gerumpel zu Hauf steh en .
Zerbrochene S e s s e l, verbogene Ofenrohren lagen wirr
durcheinander, sch lech t geschirmt vor der Sonnenglut und
dem Regen des Sommers. (p. 110)
After describing the ex terio r of the house, the author de
p ic ts the horrid condition of the in te r io r :
Wann immer aber im sommerlicher Z eit die Haustiir g e o ff-
net ward, drang der Staub e in . Ein unbarmherziger Ge-
s e l l e ! Er lagerte sich b reitsp u rig auf dem durftigen
Mobelwerk, er umkrustete die D ielen , die Betten, kurz
a lle s mit sein er tru b seligen Farbe . Fingerdick lag er
auf den wenigen Buchern und auf dem Ofen, im Geschirre
h a tte er sich h au slich e in g e r ic h te t. Kam der Wind, dann
s t ie g er in formlichen Saulen in die Hohe seltsam vom
Scheine der bunt schilldernden Fenster b eleu ch tet.
(p. 110)
28
■Thrust in th is v illa g e by uncontrollable circum stances,
l e f t alone by her husband throughout the day, Frau R osalie
Bermann was unaccustomed to th is type of l i f e : "das Elend
nahm s ie mit der Indolenz der O rientalin hin, den gewohnten
Luxus konnte s ie mit ihrem arm seligen Schmutze vertauschen;
aber s ie muftte sic h beklagen konnen" (p. 113). E arlier she
had been confident th at the Groflbauerinnen of the v illa g e
would be duly impressed by her cosmopolitan nature and h a s
ten to c a l l on her and extend th eir welcome. These s o c ia l
ambitions were thwarted as she r e a liz ed th at the towns
people were ignoring h er. "Aber wer G esellsch a ft eh rlich
sucht, der fin d et s ie bald. Und so h atte denn Frau R osalie
Kameradschaft geschlossen mit den Weibern der Hausler und
Tagelohner" (p. 114) . These women ultim ately became her
only contact with the outside world.
Memories from the past began to assume a dispropor
tio n a te part of Frau R o sa lie's everyday thoughts. Whenever
her husband went away,
dann vertauschte s ie ihr gewohnliches Kleid mit einem
anderen, nicht minder z ersch lissen es und fleck ig en , auf
dessen Grundfarbe die Z eit und der Gebrauch a H e r le i
merkwurdige Farbentone aufgetragen h a tten . Aus dem
Schranke nahm s ie ihre Sabbathaube, unter der s ie ihr
kahlgeschoren Haupt s o r g fa ltig verbarg. Auf dem Grunde
ihrer Truhe suchte s ie nach einem kleinen Kastchen; dem
entnahm s ie a l l e r l e i g litzern d e Ringe, gering an Wert,
mit Ha lbe d e is t einen g e z i e r t . Ihre Fusse zwangte s ie in
29
enge und verblichene Schuhe, deren Sohle aufgebraucht
war. Dann s t e l l t e s ie auf das F ensterbrett zwei s i l -
berne Leuchter, uberzog den abgeblaBten Samt des Lehn-
s e s s e ls . . . mit einem reinen Tuche, b etrach tete sic h
im groBen S p ieg el, dessen Gold b lin d und dessen Glas
langst schon fle c k ig geworden war, und erw artete, ihr
Zimmer bedachtig durchschreitend, wahrend der Saum ihres
langen Kleides im Staube s to r te , ihre Besucher innen.
(pp. 112-113)
This r it u a l, in which she r e liv e d minute d e ta ils of her
splendid p ast, began to assume more importance than her
d a ily l i f e . She entered in to a dream world where the d a ily
act of changing cloth es and preparing for the a r r iv a l of her
avid lis te n e r s became the major event in her humdrum e x i s
ten ce. These "friends" were perm itted to come only when
Herr Lazar Bermann was not a t home, as he did not approve of
them. Yet Frau R osalie craved th e ir companionship, for her
husband rarely conversed with her and spent h is few hours at
home immersed in the study o f the Torah. They became a
sounding board for her present p lig h t and they, in turn,
learned of a world they would never experience as she r e
lated the events of her p a s t .
In diesem Kreise war s i e , oder meinte s ie doch wenig-
stens immer noch die Erste zu s e in . Denn s ie h atte die
Welt gesehen, s ie war in Olmutz und in Briinn gewesen,
und s ie kannte den Reichtum. Dem zu Beweisen trug s ie
ja a lle s an ihrem Leibe, was an die glucklicheren Tage
von derm aleinst erinnerte . (p. 114)
_ 30
The Groflbauerin, Frau Marianne Lohner, on the other
hand, paid scant a tte n tio n to wealth and m aterial goods,
although her needs were amply met by her wealthy husband.
She was d istin gu ish ed by her s im p lic ity o f dress and her
seriousness of character: "Niemand konnte sic h erinnern,
von der ernsten Frau nur e in lau tes Wort gehort zu haben.
Niemand w o llte je vernommen haben, wie ihr Lachen klang"
(p. 120) . Frau Marianne's importance in the Nove l i e r e sts
in her devotion to her two sons; Georg, the eld er, f r a i l and
not very b righ t and Gustav, younger but more in t e llig e n t as
w ell as robust and h ea lth y .
Unfortunately, there e x is te d a deep anim osity between
the brothers which grew out of the knowledge th at Georg
would even tu ally become master of the e sta te while Gustav
would be faced with two le sse r choices . He could e ith e r
enter into the employ of h is brother as a laborer or leave
the home to seek h is fortunes elsew here. The Schulz in, Frau
Lohner, was w e ll aware of the r iv a lr y between the brothers
but subconsciously refused to face the fa c t th a t i t would
in ev ita b ly lead to a d ir e c t con fron tation . As a form of
compensation, the mother had shown p a rticu lar favoritism to
Gustav from the time he was sm all and had encouraged him to
attend the Gymnasium and la te r the U niversity in Vienna.
31
She had hoped th at he would achieve prominence via another
route, not as a landowner but as a p ro fessio n a l in some
f i e l d . There was, indeed, a c lo se i f often s ile n t a f f in it y
between the mother and her younger son. "Ihr brachte er
sein e Zeugnisse heim, ihr b e ic h te te er a lle sein e kleinen
Leiden. Ein Ton herzinniger Z a rtlich k eit und hochster
g eg en seitig er Achtung herrschte zwischen ihnen" (p. 133).
This is not to imply th at she loved only her younger son.
She loved both, but her fears for the future seemed to take
root in a sp e c ia l fe e lin g for Gustav. Georg sensed th is and
began to hate h is brother simply because he went away to
school, "fur se in Geld, p fle g te er zu sagen" (p. 144).
There were no such worries in the Bermann fam ily. The
Bermanns had one daughter, Fanny, on whom they wasted
neither love nor s lig h t a f f e c tio n . In fa c t, Frau Rosalie
had a t one time expressed the fe e lin g that Fanny was ugly
and wondered how th is ch ild became so u n attractive, since
she h e r se lf had been so very b e a u tifu l. In fa c t, "die
fe in ste n Herren ihrer Heimatstadt" (p. 131) had been a t her
f e e t . I t should be noted th at while Fanny f e l t no love from
her own mother, she did receive i t from another person, die
S ch u lzin , who was eager to f i l l the void in Fanny's l i f e and
glad to bestow upon th is poor neglected ch ild the a tte n tio n
32
and a ffe c tio n she lacked. This was made clea r when Herr
Lazar Bermann was c a lle d upon to appear with Fanny before
Herr Lohner and the Parson to explain why Fanny had not been
sen t to sch o o l. Upon meeting her, Frau Marianne developed
an immediate lik in g for Fanny and introduced her to her own
ch ild ren . At one p oin t, looking a t Fanny's oversized dress
and tru ly unkempt appearance, she exclaim ed, "Na, wenn ich
deine Mutter war!" (p. 124). This is noteworthy in that
Frau Lohner seemed to be reg rettin g that she never had a
daughter .
David has endowed Frau Marianne Lohner with C hristian
ch a rity , which becomes evident a t the confrontation between
Herr Bermann, Herr Lohner, and the Parson. Only Frau Mari
anne perceived how tir e d and th ir s ty Herr Bermann was a fte r
the long walk in response to the summons from the Parson.
[Sie] s c h r itt . . . raschen Ganges auf den Juden zu,
s t e l l t e zwei Stiihle zum Tische, f u l l t e e in d r itte s Glas
und sprach, auf ihren Mann weisend: "Er i s t nicht mude
und weili n ich t, daft Ihr miide se in miifit. Trinkt, ehe
Ihr r e d e t." (p. 122)
In fa c t, the author has created a woman character with a
measure of r e lig io u s to lera n ce. She t e l l s Fanny th at she
would be able to borrow Gustav's school books and adds:
"W enn du auch das Vaterunser nicht mitbeten kannst, dein
33
Vater i s t der im Himmel doch so gu t, wie er es diesem da
i s t . m 1
In Die Schwachen, David again treated the problem of
s ib lin g r iv a lr y and the r e su ltin g su fferin g of the mother.
"Die Erbschulzin aus dem Hoferecht mit ihren beiden Sohnen
t r i t t wieder au f, lo s t aber eine andere Aufga.be" (Nagl et_
a l . , p. 1102) . In th is Nove1l e , the fam ily property had
already been given to the younger son, Thomas. Thomas r e
garded him self as a "Kriippel, den keiner mag" (G W , I I I , 34),
and th is was d e f in it e ly the ca se, for he was both p h y sic a lly
and s p ir it u a lly weak. Thomas and Georg (Das H oferecht) are
in many resp ects very sim ila r characters; both were weak
p h y sica lly and both m anifested deep hatred and jealousy
toward th e ir b ro th ers. The mother, Frau Katharina Grenzer,
w ell aware of the b itte r n e ss between her sons, answered
Thomas: "Du b is t kein Kriippel, das weifit du. Nur schwach
b is t du. Aber sch lech t muSt du nich t s e in . Du weifit gut,
dafi er so lang fo r t war" (p. 34) .
. 123. Furthermore, Kloos (p. 18) made the follow ing
observation in reference to Marianne Lohner's role in Das
H oferecht: "Rein a ls Mensch gesehen [ i s t s ie ] die s e e lis c h
schonste wie groftte und darum auch ergreifen d ste G estalt der
Erzahlung," and th at "man geht wohl nicht fe h l wenn man s ie
a ls Schopfung t i e f e r Sehnsucht d e u te t."
34
H einrich, the eld e r, had always been devoted and obed
ie n t and b elieved that "Die Mutter . . . was s ie ta t und
w o llte , muftte das Beste sein" (p. 3 6 ) . At the time of h is
fa th e r 's death, when i t was assumed th at he would in h erit
the e s ta te , he l e f t home for unknown reasons. At the b e
ginning of the N o v elie, H einrich is about to arrive home
a fte r h is long absence. Thomas' fra tern a l hatred was pre
c ip ita te d by the fear th at h is eld er brother was returning
to reclaim h is r ig h ts . As a consequence, he absented him
s e lf from the home when h is brother arriv ed . "Die Mutter
a lie in erw artete ihn; in der guten Stube h atte s ie dem hohen
F este, dem lieb en Gast zu Ehren decken la sse n . Das geschah
sonst zum Fruhmal nicht" (p. 3 7 ) . Few words were spoken,
but "Frau Katharina war s e li g , daft ihr Heinrich aft, wie
s ic h 's gehorte, dafi er fro h lich war, wie d erein s. Sie ging
sogar gegen Abend mit ihm in den Feldern spazieren" (p. 4 3 ).
In both N ovelien David points out the d estru ctive e f
fe c t th at c ity l i f e has on country people and, in a c o r o l
lary, makes a d ir e c t a sso c ia tio n between the Heimat to which
2
they return and the mother fig u r e . Both Gustav (Das
Groeneweg (p. 59) a ls o observed: "Die Heimat betrach-
t e t David besonders a ls Ernaherin."
35
H oferecht) and Heinrich returned to th eir homes fe e lin g the
magnetism, se c u r ity , and warmth they had known sin ce early
childhood. However, neith er Gustav nor Heinrich found com
fo r t in th e ir return because the e x istin g conditions made
th e ir liv e s unbearable.
Schruf had observed th at in "Davids Werken finden wir
die s t e t s wiederkehrenden Motive der a llh eilen d en b a u e r li-
chen Heimaterde, das Verderbnis der GroSstadt fur den Ihrer
Ungewohnten" (Schruf, p. 117). David him self had sought
so la c e , peace, and hope in h is return to h is Heimat only
months before h is death. For David, however, Heimat did
not n ecessa rily mean Moravia, although many of h is Nove lie n
center in or near th is area, but the Heimat of the major
p ro ta g o n ist. Thus, Adrienne Oudenweerde (Das T oten lied ) ,
for example, desperately beseeched her tyrant husband to
relea se her so that she might return to her homeland:
"Haltst du mich fur sc h le c h t, so laS mich gehn. Nach
Frankreich, zu den Meinen" (G W , I I I , 358).
The recurrent use of con trastin g characters in David's
Novelien is a means of in te n sify in g the v ir tu es and fa u lts
of h is p ro ta g o n ists. Thus Frau Marianne Lohner's devotion
and love for her ch ild ren , e s p e c ia lly for Gustav, is con
tra sted to Frau R osalie Bermann's in d ifferen ce to Fanny.
36
S im ila rly , the brothers Gustav and Georg, Heinrich and
Thomas, the poor and the r ic h , the ugly and the b e a u tifu l,
are depicted so th at th e ir d ifferen ces become even more
pronounced. And as these con trasts become apparent, an
immediate sense of tragedy is im plied. The observation th at
"Resignation und p essim istisch e Stimmung, die an V erzw eif-
lung grenzen kennzeichnen einen groften T eil sein es Lebens-
3
werkes," is consequently only p a r tia lly tru e. Many of
David's characters are often thwarted in th e ir attempts at
reso lv in g th eir dilemmas, but never do they submit p a ssiv ely
nor do they accept th eir p lig h t as f a t e . Fate, indeed,
plays a major role* therefore a more acceptable and c e r
ta in ly ap p licab le explanation is th at David's "Einzelbilder
e rh e lle n das Dunkel der Seele m e hr getriebener a ls f r e i
handelnder Menschen." Furthermore, and th is is d e fin ite ly
important, these portrayals are "bei a lie n Pessimismus n ie -
mals Verneinung des Lebens" (Kloos, p. 141).
3
Paul Reimann, "Jakob Ju liu s D avid ," Von Herder b is
Kirsch (Berlin: D ietz, 1961), p. 95.
CHAPTER IV
PORTRAYAL O F T H E W IFE
For David, the woman was not ju st a simple creature,
but the sum of a l l the values of mankind, embodying myriad
human v irtu es . "Er sah im Weibe nicht nur das andere Ge-
sch lech t, sondern auch den Menschen" (Ella Spiero, pp. 160-
161) . The women in h is l i f e provided him with a s p ir itu a l
u p liftin g , as h is a r t i s t i c creation needed female encourage
ment in order to th r iv e . In fa c t, David was very lonely
when there were no women in h is immediate presence and he
demanded much a tte n tio n from those he knew. He severed h is
r e la tio n s with h is cousin E rnestine, with whom he had been
very c lo s e , when he discovered that she spent a preponder
ance of her time with other people. "Aussprache mit Frauen
brauchte David" (p. 160). Under these circum stances, i t is
easy to understand David's life lo n g a sso c ia tio n and fr ie n d
ship with Frau O t t ilie Natter, w ife of the sculptor Heinrich
N atter. Moreover, i t is important to note that David
37
38
treated the w ife fig u r e * in particular* with great z e a l. H e
has portrayed women who demonstrate varying degrees of
w ifely virtu es* th at is* love of husband* devotion to fam
ily* and s e lf-s a c r ific e * as w ell as some who lack these e l e
ments. This chapter w ill endeavor to portray David's crea
tio n of women characters in th e ir ro les as w iv es. I t w ill
deal* in part* w ith the s p ir itu a l and moral strengths e x
h ib ited by these women. In some cases th eir strengths w ill
be contrasted w ith th at of th e ir male cou n terp arts. A tten
tio n w ill a lso be focused on the part th at uncontrollable
circum stances play in determining the d estin y of th ese
wives .
David o ffers h is most profound ch aracterization of a
women in h is portrayal of Hanka Jerab* the departed w ife of
F lorian Peters ilka* in Die Hanna . This is h is most mature
Nove li e and one of the la s t to be w ritten . Florian* a
painter of nature scenes* f e l t th at the memory of h is w ife
would lin ger on forever as she had been the epitome o f a l l
w ifely v ir tu e s during the years they spent togeth er. The
wives of Josef Bernhofer (Ein Poet?) and Neunteufel (Der
Talisman) were a ls o id ea l in the sense th at they did th eir
utmost to p lease the men they loved and married. O n the
other hand* F lorian f e l t th at Hanka surpassed her w ifely
39
d uties by being both h is lover and the embodiment of h is
conception of a r t i s t i c p e r fe ctio n . How v iv id and clea r the
memory of th eir f i r s t love encounter! They met
in einem Buchweizenfeld . . .D e r Tag war so heifl, und
es ging zu M ittag, und kein Mensch war auf den Feldern
. . . Und ich sehe s ie an, und s ie wird r o t. Und ich
ziehe s ie an mich, w eil ich muG, ich kiisse s ie auf den
Mund, und s ie h a lt s t i l l und tu t die Augen zu und atmet
sehr t i e f und sonderbar ruhig, wie e in e s, das so e in -
schlafen mochte . (G W , VI, 162)
Though few words were spoken, Hanka Jerab in her own s ile n t
way loved Florian very much. "Dann hat s ie sic h mir gege-
ben. Ohne daG wir einmal davon gesprochen haben, wir hatten
uns lie b oder wie das einmal mit uns werden w ill" (p. 163) .
I t must be pointed out th at David never elaborated on
the sensual sid e of l i f e in h is N ovelien ; th at i s , he never
indulged in lengthy d escrip tion of love affairs.'*' U sually,
the author e ith e r omitted or merely intim ated what was
a c tu a lly occurring. An example o f th is can be found in
Marie V ic o le 's encounter with Hans (Das Wunder des H eiliqen
L ib eriu s) when she spends the day with him in order to
appease h is anger. David merely alluded to th eir intim ate
■ ^In th is respect F a r in e lli observed: "Den Rausch der
a H er betaubenden, a lle s verschlingenden Liebe zu veran-
schaulichen, i s t son st nicht Sache der Davidschen Kunst"
(p. 242).
4 0
r e la tio n s . In Die Hanna, Florian., the narrator, r e c a lled
h is a f fa ir m a tte r -o f-fa c tly , om itting any d e ta ils :
Und wir waren miteinander sehr g lu ck lich und haben
Monate gehabt, wie man s ie nicht o ft e r le b t, wenn einen
auf der Welt auch a lle s Gluck beschieden und vergonnt
i s t . Denn wir waren sehr jung, und wir haben einander
sehr gern und immer lie b e r gehabt. (p. 163)
Gradually F lorian began to sense that there was some
thing lacking in h is view of th e ir rela tio n sh ip in s p ite of
th e ir p h ysical b l i s s . Mere p h ysical p ossession became jaded
as he r e a liz ed th at h is crea tiv e s e l f needed to recreate her
p h ysical being on canvas. He could not be s a t is f ie d u n til
he had the opportunity to paint her nude. "Denn ich habe
immer sich erer geglaubt, s ie i s t das, was ich brauche, wenn
ich in meiner Kunst der werden s o i l , der ich se in konnte"
(p. 163) . In one other N ovelie (P etre, quo vadis?) David
portrays a sim ilar desire of a p a in ter. Petrus, the monk,
f e l t th at he could portray the V irgin Mary only by using a
liv e model. Yet as Petrus' desire led to catastrophe, so
did F lo r ia n 's. F lo ria n 's pleas to have Hanka pose for him
only made her more reserved. She was in "aHer ihrer Liebe
und Hingebung von ein er Schamhaftigkeit und Keuschheit, die
sic h nich t besagen la l it . Durchaus Weib und dennoch ein
Madchen v o ll an gstlich en Schamens" (p. 163). His in su lts
4 1
and h is anger were in vain as she s te a d fa s tly refused to
pose for h is p ain tin g, a r e fu sa l which was not so much due
to modesty but to a premonition th at i t would lead to con
f l i c t . F lorian , in h is in to x ica tin g d esire to portray her,
thought th at marrying her might solve the problem. His
in ten tio n , however, was met by a fr a n tic and desperate r e
fu sa l: "Florian tu 's lie b e r n ic h t. Es war ein Ungliick!
. . . mir kommt es so v o r " (p. 166). Even a fte r her mar
ria g e, Hanka Jerab, now Peters ilk a , never gave in to her
husband's demands. F lorian rea d ily admitted that as he was
con sciou sly making l i f e miserable for her, she in turn would
do "alles mogliche . . . damit ich in gute Laune komme, " and
th at i t was "wie e in Kampf zwischen uns. Und mich hat es
gefreu t, dafi s ie darunter leid et" (p. 173) .
Hanka 's stren gth , which is s p ir it u a l and moral, is
ce r ta in ly a r e fle c tio n of David's respect for the women he
knew. Both F a r in e lli and Groeneweg make d irect reference
to David's ta le n t in portraying great women characters (see
pp. 10-11 above) . I t should be pointed out th at E lla Spiero
contends th at these women are not strong but rather do e x
h ib it a weakness. "Ist nich t der Mangel an Mut mehr Schwa-
che?" (p. 8 5 ). On the contrary, i t is the male characters
who are weak and devoid of courage, almost cowardly in th eir
42
a c tio n s . The ca refu l reader w ill perceive th at i t i s , in
deed, a weakness and lack of courage on F lo ria n 's part when
he continues to badger h is w ife . is i t a lso not weakness
and lack of courage on the part of Josef Bernhofer (Ein
P oet?) who, in the face of despair, resorts to suicid e? In
fa c t, E lla Spiero contradicted h e r s e lf when she observed
th a t David considered Ein Poet?
sein b estes Stuck . . . w eil er in d ieser Tragodie
ein es D ich ters, der sein e Kraft dem Ringen nach dem
ta g lich en Unterha It opfern muB, se in eigenes Schicksal
g e s t a lt e t h at, wie es h atte werden konnen, wenn . . .
ja , wenn David n ich t eben ein Starker gewesen ware.
(p. 77)
E lla Sp iero's view of female weakness is evidenced in ju st
one Nove l i e . Madlena Zapleta (C y r ill W allenta) f e l t that
she had committed a grave sin a fte r her adulterous act and
"so t i e f s i e darunter l i t t , s ie war zu schwach, sich d ieser
Sunde abzutun" (G W , VI, 4 5 ).
G. Schruf, on the other hand, attempts to ju s t if y her
contention th at David's fo rte " lie g t in D arstellen mannli-
cher Charaktere" (p. 120). However, she does agree that
these characters (male) are "zum Groftteil 'Schwache'," su r
mising th a t " V ielleich t i s t h ier das w eibliche Element zu
sehen" (p. 120). Her a lle g a tio n that David's portrayal of
"der schwachliche Mann, dessen Starke im Ertragen lieg t"
43
(p. 120) , is applicable to only two Nove lie n (Der Letzte and
Ein Poet?) . On the contrary, i t is the female characters
who disp lay great strength in th eir endurance. Thus Hanka's
p ersisten ce was a true strength which derived from her moral
and s p ir itu a l v a lu e s.
The fa c t th at Hanka fin a lly submitted to her husband's
in cessan t proddings was not a sign of weakness, but one of
great strength and ultim ate s a c r ific e , indeed, a noble a c t.
His ob session w ith h is art was so overpowering that he
ceased to regard her as a person, seein g her merely as a
p h ysical object whose function was to serve the a r t i s t . I t
was only a fte r r e a liz in g h is blindness a t th at time th at he
was able to r e c a ll sorrow fully the day she entered h is
stu d y :
Die Tage sind langer geworden . . . Ein strenger Frost;
v i e l Schnee i s t gelegen, und es war ein sehr kurzes,
aber e in sehr k r a ftig e s und giinstiges Licht . . . Und
ich hor, wie die Tiir h in ter mir geht, und ich ruhre mich
nich t in meiner B esch a ftig k eit . . . Und dann erschrecke
ich ganz p lo tz lic h ; denn ich hore, s ie dreht den Schlus-
s e l in der Tiir um. Das g u ie tsc h . Einmal; zweimal. Und
dann probiert s i e —v o r sic h tig und doch mit einem starken
Rucker . . . S ie h a lt . . . Und ich tu' ihr einen S ch ritt
entgegen—denn das kann nur eines bedeuten . . . Und es
i s t ein e grofle Freude in mir, so grofl, dafi ich nicht
merke, wie sehr trau rig und ganz v e r sto r t s ie i s t . Ich
w i l l s ie an mich ziehn, s ie kiissen. Sie b le ib t stumm
und s t e i f . Und ohne e in Wort zu reden, ganz g e sc h a fts-
mafiig, z ie h t s ie sich aus, Stuck fur Stiick, und nimmt den
P latz an, welchen ich bestimme. (G W , VI, 174-175)
44
David's d escrip tio n in d icates the torments Hanka must have
undergone to have come to th is d e c isio n . For th is pure
so u l, whose devotion to her husband was the apex of love,
the a ct was the ultim ate s a c r if ic e . I t was her la s t f u l
fillm e n t of the demands of her id o l. "Den Kopf von sich
selb er gewendet, die Augen gesch lossen , damit s ie nichts
sehen muft, s i t z t s i e . Und manchmal kommen ihr Tranen, und
s ie laftt s ie rinnen, und ich merke nicht darauf" (p. 175).
In toxicated by her beauty, su ccessfu l in h is d e sir e ,
F lorian nonetheless saw her only as a model, not as h is w ife
w ith her own needs and f e e lin g s . At the time of h is g rea t
e s t e c sta sy , he exh ib ited the g rea test fa ilin g as a husband.
Da s i t z t e in Mode11 vor dir von ein er unerhorten V o ll-
kommenheit, ganz so ta d e llo s in Bau und Linien, wie man
s ic h 's nur wiinschen und wie es einen Kiinstler beruhmt
machen kann. Und daft d ieses Modell ein Weib i s t , mein
eigenes Weib, welches ich sonst von Herzen lie b habe und
welches darunter le id e t , dies vergesse ich ganz. (p. 175)
No other male characters in David's works e x h ib it such
strong emotions or deep fe e lin g s . However, F lo ria n 's ad
m ission of h is fa u lts and h is lack of understanding serve
only to e le v a te Hanka as a strong character.
Although David portrayed devoted and loving w ives, such
as Hanka Jerab (Die Hanna). Frau Neunteufel (Per Talisman) ,
45
and Frau Bernhofer (Ein P o et? ), he characterized other types
as w e ll. In p a rticu la r, he created wives who were devoid of
any love or a ffe c tio n for th e ir husbands, women who had not
experienced great romantic episodes or simply did not con
sid er love to be a p ertin en t factor in th eir l i v e s . Olga
Michailowna (Woran starb Sionida?) was very young when she
was forced to marry a man she hardly knew because her par
ents made i t clea r th at they could not support her. She
c e r ta in ly f e l t no love for such a man, although she acknowl
edged w ife ly d uties toward him and even greater resp o n si
b i l i t y toward her ch ild ren . She attempted to create a l i f e
of her own, but an unreasonable fear of her husband kept her
a t home with the ch ild ren . She led a tru ly lonely e x i s
tence, and her so le joy was th at of bearing ch ild ren . The
longing to experience a happy day, to see an opera or a
concert was never f u l f i l l e d because her husband was always
busy with h is work. I t was only years la te r th at she r e a l
ized: "Der Mensch hat sich nich t solche Wiinsche und E in-
f a lle zu machen, sondern er s o i l die Dinge nehmen, wie s ie
kommen” (G W , I I I , 18).
Other than the fa ct that Frau R osalie Bermann's l i f e
was a dream world (Das H oferecht) , i t can be said th at both
she and Olga Michailowna led sim ilar l i v e s . They were both
46
poor and lonely and had decidedly d is tr u s tfu l and cool
rela tio n sh ip s with th e ir spouses. No terms of endearment
are uttered by e ith er spouse nor do the wives speak of th eir
husbands in any intim ate or a ffe c tio n a te manner.
I t is d i f f i c u l t to perceive the r e la tio n sh ip th at e x
iste d between Madlena and her husband in C y r ill W allenta.
Old Zapleta* barely able to walk and t o t a lly concerned with
amassing as much money as p o s s ib le * succeeded in marrying
Madlena* h is former servan t. Although a strong* m ajestic
woman who yearned to experience l i f e to i t s f u l l e s t extent*
she appeared content to enter in to th is marriage in order to
become the m istress of an a fflu e n t household. She performed
her w ifely d uties competently* even bore a c h ild ; yet the
fe e lin g p e r siste d that the so le change th a t had resu lted
from the marriage was the a cq u isitio n of a new sta tio n in
l i f e .
C y r ill Wallenta* hired by Zapleta to help him in h is
land dealings* had f e l t the haughty sta res of Madlena, "als
ware s ie ein e Konigin" (G W * VI* 26). He tr u ly f e l t that he
had f in a lly met h is superior* but "einmal h a t t 1 er s ie gern
k le in vor sich gesehen" (p. 26). Eventually* she began to
47
think of him con stan tly and seemed to be curious to discover
was die Weiber so sehr h in ter ihm zo g . Denn hiibsch war
er sic h e r lic h n ic h t. Man sprach v i e l von seinen Augen.
Freeh waren s ie genug. Aber s ie war noch n icht rot g e -
worden von ihnen, wie man sagte, jede mhftte es werden,
die er angucke—s ie n ic h t. (p. 28)
I t was d e fin ite ly beyond Madlena's comprehension that any
one could f a l l under the s p e ll of W allenta's penetrating
glan ce, le a s t of a l l sh e. One evening, as i t was g ettin g
dark, Madlena walked to the door of the room where her hus
band and Wallenta were d iscu ssin g th e ir b u sin ess.
Und wie s i e , den Leuchter hoch in der braunen Hand, e in -
tr a t , so safi ihr Mann ganz im Schatten auf der Ofenbank
und b r e it ihr gegenuber, daft a lle s Licht zu erst auf ihn
f i e l , der W allenta. Sein Kopf war t i e f g esen k t. Er hob
ihn e r s t , da s ie hart am Tisch war, und sah s ie an:
frech , unruhig, mit zuckenden, g ierig en Augen, und die
Madlena fiihlte r ic h tig , wie ihr p lo tz lic h das Blut in
die Wangen s t ie g und die Hand z i t t e r t e , die die Kerze
n ie d e r ste lle n s o l l t e . Das war unerhort. (p. 33)
David portrayed sev era l male characters--Hermann
Woytech (Ruzena 6apek) , Georg Lohner (Das H oferecht) , and
even Florian P etersilk a (Die Hanna) --who got unusual s a t i s
fa ctio n from seein g the female s u ffe r . Perhaps they derived
a personal g r a tific a tio n from the notion th at they were
superior to the opposite sex; a t the same tim e, th is served
only to reveal an inherent weakness. W allenta, too, was a
weak in d ivid u al whose only weapon was h is sensuous,
48
penetrating eyes . He knew now th at a t la s t he was her
su p erior. "Es ging jah wie ein Triumph uber das G esicht des
Burschen" (p. 33). Madlena, c e r ta in ly unprepared for such
an encounter, began her r e tr e a t.
Mit unsicheren Fingern an ihrem Gewand herumstrich und
riickwartsschreitend Aug' mit Aug' mit ihm, wie mit einem
Todfeind, vor dem man sic h nich t die mindeste Blofce geben
und dem man unter gar keiner Bedingung den Rucken weisen
diirfe, die Stube v e r lie fi. (p. 33)
Although Madlena had met d efeat in the very eyes of Wal
len ta , i t is not i l l o g i c a l to assume that she tru ly desired
the encounter, subconsciously curious to understand the
power of h is potent a ttr a c tio n . After the i n i t i a l shock of
her reaction had subsided, she began to miss him when he was
absent and even went so far as to defend him whenever he was
c r i t i c i z e d — "Erst nur in sich ; dann auch vor ihrem Mann"
(p. 34) .
Madlena was a lso drawn to Wallenta by the need for
companionship. This oft-rep ea ted theme of David's (Frau
R osalie Bermann in Das Hoferecht and Olga Michailowna in
Woran starb Sionida?) is merely a p rojection of h is own
lo n e lin e ss: "Ein einsamer Mensch, schwer fahig mich m itzu-
t e ile n , war ich von Kind auf. Es i s t mir das geblieben"
(David, "Im S p iegel," p. 530). Yet Madlena was w ell aware
49
th at such a rela tio n sh ip , no matter how innocent, would draw
many su sp icious remarks from the outside as w e ll as from her
own husband, whose extreme jealousy made him suspect her
a c t i v i t i e s . In ad d ition , she found i t absurd and rep u lsiv e ,
sich auswarts . . . mit dem Burschen zusammen b e s te lle n
. . . Sie war GroGbauerin, Frau, Mutter, und er doch nur
ein ein zeln er Mensch, ein Tunichtgut, ein Unbehauster.
Mit so einem ste c k t man sich nicht zusammen, a ls h atte
man mit ihm was zu versteck en . (pp. 35-36)
Although she must have had a hidden d esire to meet with
W allenta, i t is not a t a l l e x p lic it whether she intended to
pursue an a ffa ir with him.
As her husband's su spicious queries became frequent,
Madlena became convinced that Wallenta had to leave and
never return to the house, i f she was to preserve her home
and marriage. The narrator t e l l s us that one day,
es war zu Anfang November und das A lle r h e ilig e n w e tte r .
Die Felder ganz kahl und von Krahen uberflogen, die iiber
die Schollen hiipften, sic h zu Schwarmen g e s e llte n ,
krachzend f la t t e r t e n . Ein recht unfreundlicher Tag.
Sparliche Sonnenblicke, g e fo lg t von einem e isk a lte n
traurigen Regen, der so dicht fiel, daG man n ich t b is
zum nachsten Haus sehen konnte. (p. 36)
Madlena then approached Wallenta and to ld him: "Wallenta,
ein er i s t zu v i e l in Haus" (p. 37) .
I t is ty p ic a l of David to precede an unpleasant s it u a
tio n or a tra g ic incident with a d escrip tio n of nature.
50
Often these d escrip tion s d epict a gloomy environment and
serve as an o b jective c o r r ela tiv e to an impending c a ta str o
phe (see a lso p. 43 above). "Er lie b te a ls Dichter das
H elldunkel, die langhinfallenden Schatten des Abends, die
2
Schauer der Dammerung." The inference of an A lle r h e ilig e n -
w etter and the " ice-cold sad rain" are used to in d icate both
Madlena's sadness as w e ll as W allenta's co o ln ess. Wallenta
seemed unmoved by her d ecisio n to sever th eir innocent r e
la tio n sh ip . His reply — "So sc h a fft ihn ab" (p. 37)—was
follow ed by her very reso lu te "Das t u 1 ich eben" (p. 37).
I t is apparent th at Wallenta understood the meaning of her
words.
In these s u sp e n se -fille d m inutes, enveloped by a morbid
s ile n c e , the atmosphere surrounding them was no b etter than
the gloomy w inter weather. Both Madlena's and W allenta's
2
Lothar, p. 290. In ad d ition , Marianne Thalmann,
"Erinnerungsblatt an J . J . David," Die L iteratu r, 29 (Octo
ber 1926-October 1927), 219, sta te s that David, even though
he had a hearing lo s s , was able to perceive more than the
average individu al: "Soweit David in die Landschaft hinaus-
horcht, hort er werdende Sturme, s ie h t er Spatherbst, Dam
merung und Schatten. Es i s t der ungeheure Spursinn fur Auf-
losung und V e r fa ll, fur Briichigkeit, und Niedergang." I t
might be added that Stefan Hock, "J. J . David," Biographi-
sches Jahrbuch und deutscher Nekrolog, 11 (Berlin 1908),
189, observed th at "Davids Landschaftschilderung i s t
durchaus ly r isc h , so wenig Naturbilder sic h unter seinen
Gedichten finden."
51
a tte n tio n seemed to str a in to the o u tsid e, liste n in g to hear
i f anyone was coming. At the same time "beider Atem ging
schn eller" (p. 38) . H esita n tly , as i f uncertain whether
Wallenta would leave, she inquired of him, "Also, Ihr werdet
das so machen, Wallenta?" (p. 38). She f e l t great r e lie f
th at the matter was resolved by h is affirm ative rep ly , and
to show her gratitu d e she even shook hands with him. At no
other point in the N ovelle is such ten sion depicted as a t
th is p articu lar moment. The s ile n c e about them as he held
her hand lends to th is situ a tio n an almost m ysterious a ir .
Sie konnte ihre Hand durchaus n ich t losmachen und bekam
nur Herzklopfen und ein kurzer Atem von ihren Bemiihungen.
Er aber stand vor ih r, mit v o ll aufgeschlagenen Augen
und mit einem eigentum lichen, lauernden Zug u m die Lip-
pen. Ins G esicht schlagen s o llt e man ihn dafiir, dachte
s ie , und hob die fr e ie Linke zu ein er miiden Armbewegung.
"Ihr muftt mich n ich t so ansehen, W allenta," fliis te r te
s i e . Er n eigte sich zu ihr zu, wie um s ie besser zu
horen: "Und warum nicht?" "Ich le id 's n ic h t. So s ie h t
m an keine Frau an." Er antwortete n ic h t. Nur fe s t h ie I t
er s ie , und ihr ward immer schwiiler und beklommener
dabei. Wenn der Wagen nur kame! dachte s i e . Und es
ging wie ein Zug von zein er Rechten zu ih rer, ein Zug,
der s ie irgendwohin rifi, dem s ie gegen ihren W illen f o l -
gen mufite. W enn s ie nur etwas gewuftt h a tte , womit d ieses
sonderbare Lacheln verdecken [sic j , das s ie so emporte.
Und nun stand er hart an ihr: "Und mein L etztgeld , Mad
lena?" (pp. 38-39)
While in Die Hanna the narrator, P ete rsilk a , t e l l s us
th at the seduction took p la ce, here i t is obvious even
though i t is only im plied. David cut o ff the scene very
52
abruptly and then changed the s e ttin g : "Es war spat abends,
a ls der Wagen h ie It und der Bauer . . . heimkam" (p. 40) .
Everything resumed i t s usual course as i f nothing had hap
pened. I t is only la te r , as she led Wallenta out of the
house, th at she revealed: "Wir sind in Todsunde, C yrill"
(p. 4 0 ). I t is noteworthy that before the seduction she had
always addressed him as W allenta, whereas now she c a lls him
by h is f i r s t name, a sign of th e ir new-found intim acy. His
brash reply to her fe a r s, "Dann g ib t's v ie le Todsunden auf
der Welt" (p. 4 0 ), shows David's keen sense of irony, while
her solemn p lea, "Wir werden1 s biiBen miissen. Du oder ich
Oder e in anderer" (p. 4 0 ), points to David's sense of mor
a l i t y . Wallenta has, however, no regard for Madlena's f e e l
in gs, as h is answer is ample in d ication of h is lack of mor
a lit y and sense o f value: "Dann am lie b ste n e in anderer"
(p. 40) .
Although Madlena had committed adultery, i t was not an
act that had been planned. I t was preordained, in the sense
th at she was powerless to overcome h is advance and her un
co n tro lla b le d r iv e . In the end, Madlena emerges as a mar
ty r , su ffe r in g , y e t s t i l l a noble ch aracter--th e only adul
te r ess in David's g a lle r y of w ives.
53
While some women in David's early Novellen (Ruth; Die
Tochter F ortunats) may appear somewhat overendowed, that is
to say, strong both s p ir itu a lly and m orally, to a very great
exten t they were s t i l l under the influence of the mores of
David's era . I t was not u n til the la te r Novellen (Die Miihle
von Wranowitz and Ruzena Capek, for example), th at David
gave h is women characters the freedom which was denied them
e a r lie r . One would not be making any conjectures in assum
ing th at as David matured, so did h is characters- th at is to
say, th at there was more tolerance on h is p art. Further
more, the acts which some of them committed in the early
works do seem a b i t harsh as w ell as unpolished. Those acts
committed by characters of the la ter works, although sim ilar
in nature, do seem acceptable, even p la u s ib le . Thus Graf in
Adrienne Oudenweerd's obvious poisoning of her tyrant hus
band (Das T oten lied ) makes one shudder. On the other hand,
in Ruzena 6apek, Ruzena's murder of her husband, although a
dastardly a c t, is the only thing she could have done in
order to preserve her s i s t e r ' s honor.
The GrSfin Adrienne Oudenweerde was the daughter of a
very poor but o ld , proud, and honorable Burgundian fam ily.
Her marriage was an in to lera b le one, as the old Graf was
insanely jealous and v io le n t . N everth eless, "er konnte s ie
54
n icht mehr zu sich zwingen, so manches Schelten und so
v ie le n Schlag er daran gewendet haben so il" (G W , III* 356).
In fa c t, the Grafin "lebte . . . e in Leben, das n icht um
3
v ie le s besser war, denn der Tod." When the Graf was found
dead, i t was immediately obvious to the reader th at h is w ife
was resp o n sib le—she had poisoned him.
The murder of Grafin Adrienne's husband did not provide
her any so la ce or r e lie v e her of the tortures she endured.
Instead, she had to cope with the torment of her conscience
and a l i f e far more s o lita r y than b efore. In th is pain fu l
so litu d e she had to reco n cile h e r s e lf to the fa c t th at her
once g en tle hands had a ctu a lly carried out a murder, th at of
the man to whom she had pledged h e r s e lf in marriage.
In a l l of David's Novellen the narrator r e la te s im
p a ssiv ely the events of the story without any in d ication
th at the author condemns or condones the acts of the char
a c te r s. Thus i t is l e f t to the reader to ask whether Grafin
Adrienne was simply g u ilty of a horrendous act or was the
v ictim of circumstances over which she had no co n tro l.
Indeed, Adrienne was driven to th is act by the nature of her
. 356. Kloos (p. 108) sta te d that "Ihre Ehe [war]
eher ein e Un-ehe."
55
husband and the pervading atmosphere and laws of the period,
which relegated women to second-class sta tu s and deprived
them o f any c i v i l r ig h ts . "So i s t Adriana Oudenweerde ein
Opfer ihrer eigenen Siinde und zu gleich das der 'verstorten
4
Z e i t 1, in der s i e l e b t ."
Renata Malespina in Die Tochter Fortunats bears a
str ik in g resemblance to Adrienne Oudenweerde in th at both
were victim s of a d isto rted time as w e ll as of th e ir per
sonal circum stances. In Renata's case, the past plays an
even more important ro le in shaping the events of the p res
ent .
The Malespinas were a powerful, respected , and wealthy
fam ily o f Ravenna during the R enaissance. A fam ily tragedy
in which the father had k ille d h is own brother had made i t
necessary for Fortunat Malespina to f le e to another country.
During h is absence, h is uncle, Dr. Andrea, had assumed the
care of the fam ily e s ta te as w e ll as the e n tir e fortune. At
the beginning of the N ovelie Fortunat Malespina and h is
^E lla Spiero, p. 114. I t might be added that Heinrich
Spiero, Deutsche G eister (Leipzig: Xenien, 1910), p. 232,
sta te d that: "Hier haben wir die neue psychologisch-
h is tor ische Nove l i e . "
56
daughter, Renata, had embarked upon th e ir journey back to
Ravenna. Fortunat had to ld Renata "daB ihr Geschlecht in
Ravenna Konigen g le ic h geach tet werde" (G W , II, 109), and
she had the exp ectation of a royal welcome and an end to
poverty abroad. The s itu a tio n , however, had a ltered dra
m atically and a l l th at Fortunat and Renata could contemplate
was penury and hardship. "Alle A rbeit ruhte auf den Schul-
tern R enates" (p. 112). The h um iliation that she experien
ced when pleading with her uncle for funds to su sta in them
was almost too much for her to bear a fter having been r e
peatedly reminded of the g loriou s p a st. In a sen se, she
began to f e e l that she was tr u ly su fferin g for the sin s of
her fa th e r .
A ll of David's female characters are proud in d ivid u als,
even those having le sse r moral v a lu e s . Yet none are as
determined and stro n g -w illed as Renata. Perhaps David c r e
ated Renata as rep resen tative of a l l those c h a r a c ter istic s
which an in d ivid u al must possess i f he or she is to face
ad versity and emerge v ic to r io u s . "[Renata] g r e if t auf die
KSmpfe der Unterdruckten, Glucklosen zuriick und erhebt sich
5
. . . b is zum hochsten Sieg der M enschenliebe." Hanka
5
Richard Maria Werner, V ollendete und Ringende (Minden
i/w .: Bruns, 1900), p. 180.______________________________________
57
Dworzak (Die Muhle von Wranowitz) is sim ila r to Renata in
th at both fo llo w th e ir own d ic ta te s to the point of defying
p u b lic c r itic is m . These characters epitom ize the freedom of
a ction which David so admired in certa in women of h is era.
In fa c t, David compared Renata's s p i r i t to a sturdy tree:
Wer jemals I ta lie n v erlassen h a t, um sic h dem Norden,
den Alpen, zuzuwenden, der wird befremdet ein neues
Wunder gewahren: d ie Tannen, welche ihn hochstSmmig
und mit machtigem Rauschen b e g le ite t haben, verschwin-
den ihm allgemach, wShrend er hoher und hoher s t e i g t .
An ihrer S t e lle aber k riech t, der Jochhohe nahe, ihr
verkruppeltes G eschwestergeschlecht hervor. Es i s t
n iedrig von Wuchs, und sein e Nadeln sind struppig;
aber kein Sturm, so gew altig s ie auch iiber d iese G ipfel
dahinbrausen mogen, kann d iese StSmmchen brechen; auch
der en d loseste Winter verseh rt ihre Triebkraft n ich t;
die Schneide der Axt wird stumpf an ihnen, und es b re-
chen s e lb s t die Zahne der Sage, welche daran n a g t.
Legfohre nennen die Bewohner jener Wiisteneien den Baum.
Einer solchen Legfohre g le ic h erwuchs Renates G eist.^
When Renata rebuffed Dr. Andrea's i n i t i a l overtures he
used the p retext th at he was su fferin g from g u ilt of the
knowledge of the murder and would have no choice but to
rev ea l h is r e la t iv e 's crim inal a c t. Renata r e lu c ta n tly
accepted h is marriage proposal in order to spare her fath er.
As much as she despised th is man, she f e l t th at she had no
0
P. 114. In th is regard, Kloos (p. 103) has observed
th at "Das W esentliche d ieser Novelie i s t eben doch das Er-
leb n is einer groften und grofigeschauten Frauenfigur."
58
choice but to submit to h is in tr ig u e s .
Immediately a fte r the wedding ceremony, Renata, who had
astonished the townspeople with her m ajestic beauty and her
proud stance, was overcome by great g r ie f . Fortunat, old
and i l l , succumbed to a heart a tta ck . Renata was almost
speechless at the sig h t of her fa th e r 's corpse. A fter a l l ,
i t was only for him th at she had made th is s a c r if ic e . She
did not love Dr. Andrea* in fa c t, she had a se c r et admira
tio n for a young man c a lle d Renatus, who had sunk in to d i s
repute a fter h is parents 1 d ea th s. In s p ite of her deep
sadness and shock, Renata mastered h e r s e lf . Slow ly, as i f
awakening from a trance, she looked at her husband, the
murderer of her fa th er, and began to speak. Her v o ice did
not tremble, as she gradually regained her composure and
showered him with a ccu sa tio n s:
Du hast mich u b e r lis te t und betrogen; du, der Arzt,
wufitest die Zeichen in Fortunats Wesen ausdeuten konnen,
die sein nahes Ende verkiindeten, du muBtest w issen, daB
ich fur Stunden Jahre hingab. Du aber w irst s ie mit
mir t e ile n ; nun wahre dich, Andrea! (p. 135)
From th is day on, her l i f e , ju st lik e th at of GrSfin A dri
enne Oudenweerde (Das T o te n lie d ), became an empty e x iste n c e ,
as she too liv ed apart from her husband. This was the only
weapon with which Renata and Adrienne could take revenge.
59
Dr. Andrea su ffered deeply from h is fa ilu r e to consummate
h is marriage.
For Renata th is marriage was the beginning of an empty
and purposeless ex isten ce which changed l i t t l e with the
subsequent repentance and Jeath of Dr. Andrea. Just as
GrMfin Adrienne led a meaningless l i f e a fter the death of
her husband, so did Renata. "Ein dumpfes Gefiihl to d lich er
Verodung lebte fortab in ih r . Sie besafi n ich ts mehr, was
den Menschen sonst wert i s t ; ein Grau umzog ihr die ganze
Welt" (p. 140). Renata gradually became convinced that a
fam ily curse, which manifested i t s e l f in her fa th e r 's crime,
had now come to plague h er. "Der fin s te r e Gedanke, daB ihr
Geschlecht v erflu ch t s e i , erstark te mehr und mehr. So
schwand ihr jede Kraft des Hoffens; denn a ls die Erbin d ie -
ser U nselligen b etrach tete s ie sich" (p. 141). Thus, i f
Renata Malespina shows in d ifferen ce toward l i f e , i t is not
because she had lo s t fa ith in l i f e , but because she was
deeply convinced that her fam ily was cursed. In fa c t, she
f e l t th a t the only way to end th is curse would be to make
sure that she would never have o ffsp r in g —a great s a c r if ic e
on her p art. Renata was tru ly cognizant of the power of
d estiny on her l i f e .
In regard to the Novelle Das T otenlied (1898), Hans
60
Kloos sta ted th at "Nirgends aber hat David so wie in d ieser
Grafin ein derart ersterbendes Leben g e sta lte t" (p. 109).
This does not in any sense diminish the impact of the crea
tio n of Renata (Die Tochter F ortunats), as Das Totenlied was
w ritten sev era l years la ter and David had ample time to
p erfect h is c h a r a c ter iz a tio n s. K loos1 statem ent, however,
is ju st as applicable to Renata. C r itic s have often r e
ferred to Die Tochter Fortunats as an im itation of C. F .
Meyer. "Manche G estalten erinnern an Meyer, so Renata, die
mit z w ie sp a ltig e r , zwischen Edlen und Niedrigen schwankender
Seele a ls ein e gem ilderte Schwester Lucrecia Borgias (Angela
Borgia) erscheint" (Ella Spiero, p. 6 9 ). While c r it ic s
gen erally agree that David had for a short time been under
the influence of C. F. Meyer, i t is d i f f i c u l t to view Renata
as having any resemblance to Lucrecia Borgia, or to her
"gemilderte Schwester." This comparison would apply far
b etter to Grafin Adrienne Oudenweerde in Das T otenlied, who
did indeed poison her husband, but for d iffe r e n t rea so n s.
I t must be kept in mind that for David, h isto ry was
nothing more than "ein s t o f f lic h e s M ittel fur die Gestaltung
des Menschen" (Kloos, p. 2 5 ). He was not concerned with
great h is t o r ic a l persp ectives or the forces of h isto r y .
"Nicht den GroBen jenes glanzenden Z eitab sch n ittes geht
61
David nachj sondern er b le ib t b e i weniger Bekannten am Wege
7
stehen und deckt ihre Schicksale auf." In so doing, David
was able to concentrate on a p articu lar incident or in d i
v id u a l, thus deemphasizing the h is t o r ic a l background and
importance. Consequently, "wird er von der iib erlieferten
Geschichte fr e ie r und darf der eigenen Phantasie mehr Raum
geben" (Ella Spiero, pp. 65-66) ( c f . pp. 8-9 above).
For the most part, David has characterized h is women
characters as n atu rally good and u n s e lfis h . Even those
apparent ex cep tio n s—for example, Frau Rumpler (Schufl in
der Nacht)—are shown to have been only misguided rather
than in n ately e v i l . The important point is that David was
not as in terested in portraying ex terio r human v ir tu e s and
appearances as in exploring the mechanisms th at made these
people act as they did.
Ruzena 6apek (Ruzena 5apek) was a strong, determined
7
E lla Spiero, p. 65. Furthermore, Theo Trummer, "Ein
o sterreich isch er E rzahler: J . J . David," A u stria , 3 (Novem
ber 1948), 415, has made a sim ilar observation in th is r e
gard: "Das h is to r is c h e , sow eit er es in sein Schaffen e in -
b e z ie h t, bedeutet ihm nur eine M oglichkeit, das ewig Mensch-
lich e zu enth u llen und so vom Zeitbedingten zum Z eitlo sen
a u fzu steig en ."
62
woman, a p erfect example of the ty p ic a l Moravian woman whom
David so admired. Unmarried, she singlehandedly managed the
fam ily e s ta te and cared for a crippled brother and a younger
s i s t e r . Even though these arduous duties caused great hard
ship, she adamantly refused to accept outside help , p a rticu
la r ly from r e la tiv e s . In s p ite of her siz a b le e s ta te , mar
riage would have been b e n e fic ia l, but she had given up a l l
hope of a match. She con tin u ally asserted that: "Die
Teresa, kame s ie zu ihren Jahren, s o l l t e h eira ten . Die
werde hubsch und dumm und unselbstSndig genug. S ie aber
w o llte son st a lle in bleiben" (G W , VI, 65) .
In many resp ects Ruzena was very much lik e Frau Mari
anne Lohner (Das H oferecht) . Both were honest, good, d u ti
fu l, and sin c e r e , and above a l l very se r io u s. RuSena is
described by the narrator in a manner rem iniscent of Frau
Lohner: "Sie lachte f a s t niemals und man horte nie ein
lautes Wort von ihr" (p. 64) ( c f . p. 30 above). In other
resp e c ts, however, they d if f e r . F ir s t, Frau Lohner was
married and had two ch ild ren . Second, even a fter her hus
band's death, her very e x iste n c e , except for some personal
a s s e ts , depended on her e ld e s t son's benevolence. Rufcena,
on the other hand, was not married and was f ie r c e ly proud
of her independence:
63
Ihre Unabhangigkeit, die s ie schwer genug behauptet
h a tte , die w o llte s ie nicht mehr preisgeben. Es war
ihr w idrig, sic h jemanden neben ihr zu denken, dem s ie
Rechenschaft uber jeden ihre S c h r itte , wohl gar von
ihren Gedanken schulde, der sic h Rechte uber ihre Hand-
lungen und ihre Person anmafie, die s ie aus freien
Stiicken niemanden zugestanden h a tte . (p. 65)
Since Ruzena never sought companionship among the
townspeople, they developed the h ab it of coming to her home
with the la t e s t g o ssip . The current g o ssip concerned Her
mann Wojtech, a very clever good-for-nothing, who g rea tly
resembled C y r ill Wallenta (C y r ill Wallenta) . Both Madlena
Zapleta and Ru&ena Capek had much in common as they demon
s tr a te d deep compassion for these vagrants. Ruzena would
i
ipay no heed to the go ssip about W o j tech: "Er i s t ein
|Haderlak!," w hile at the same time
|
! dachte niemand im ganzen Ort so v i e l an den Haderlak,
' den Hermann, a ls eben die Ru&ena in ihrer s t i l l e n Art,
[ die es nicht b e g r iff, wie ein junger und k ra ftig er
| Mensch so dem Herrgott den Tag abstehen und mit sich
i und seinen Gaben nichts zu beginnen wissen s o l l t e .
! (p. 77)
i In the attempt to escape with h is l i f e a fter an attack
jby the townspeople, Wojtech f e l l unconscious on Ruzena's
I
jdoorstep. She had him brought into the house and with de-
j
! voted and tender care managed to revive him. At the same
time very p ain fu l memories flooded her consciousness: "Die
A hnlichkeit mit dem Geschick ihres Bruders, b ei dem's nur
64
le id e r so v i e l schlimmer ausgegangen war, erweckte in ihr
das ech teste w eibliche Mitleiden" (p. 8 1 ). In a very per-
Isonal sense j RuSena f e l t that i t was a divine act and she
i
experienced deep g r a tific a tio n at being instrum ental in
l
|saving h is l i f e . Wojtech recuperated and m iraculously
|
appeared to reform. Gradually he became indispensable to
the fam ily, p a rticu la rly to Ruzena.
j
E ventually the townspeople began to go ssip about the
.rela tio n sh ip between Ruzena and Wojtech. In order to put
|
an end to those susp icion s she decided to see the m inister i
I
i
and resolved to marry Wojtech:
I ;
I Ihn selb er zu befragen aber f i e l ihr nicht einmal e in . j
Denn ihr war, a ls konnte s ie uber ihn verfiigen. Daft er
das Gluck ausschliige, welches sich ihm bot, ware nich t
nur ihr undenkbar erschienen. Wie die Ruzena gewohnt
war, durch ihr ganzes Leben a lle s mit sich a lle in ab-
| zumachen, ohne jeden Berater, desto mehr fur sic h , w e il
i d ies son st so gar n icht Weibersart i s t , so h i e l t s ie es
| auch diesm al, wo a llerd in g s der W ille ein es anderen sehr
in Betracht gekommen ware. (p. 88)
ilt was as i f Ruzena was performing a d a ily chore, as she
i
I
^bluntly to ld the w aiting Wojtech: "Geh hinauf, Wojtech,
i
zum Herrn Dechanten, und kuB 1 ihm die Hand. Wir h eiraten
uns" (p. 8 9 ). Ruzena exh ib ited great independence of action
as she took the in it ia t iv e h e r s e lf, e sp e c ia lly sin ce Wojtech
had not courted her nor had any a ffe c tio n passed between
65
them. A sim ilar type of aggressiveness was exh ib ited by
Ludmila Prokupek (Der L etzte) when she frankly to ld a young
monk that she lik ed him and th at: "Die Haare laft dir wach-
sen, die Kutte w irf weg . . . Dann komme mich freien" (G W ,
I I I , 85-86) .
I t must be emphasized th at David made the w ife the
cen tra l figu re in a number of N o v ellen . Their actions have
|been scru tin ized in view of th e ir circumstances and the
jforces that act on them. Each reacts in a d iffe r e n t way,
j
jof course; yet each m anifests a single-m indedness of purpose
jand a freedom of action th at makes her a h eroic ch aracter.
CHAPTER V
PORTRAYAL O F T H E SINGLE W O M A N
i
Just as David centered many of h is Novellen around the |
figure of the w ife and mother, he a lso depicted the sin g le j
|
woman with her myriad problems. For some of these charac- 1
ters the b asic concern was the quest for love and a ffe c tio n ,
which would u ltim ately lead to a sa tis fa c to r y r e la tio n sh ip . ;
For o th e r s, the a ffa ir s of the heart were secondary, w hile j
the main o b jectiv e was enticement and entrapment of the
male. This chapter w i l l in v e stig a te David's ch a ra cteriza
tio n of sev era l unmarried women.
In the Novelie Ruth, David has created an unusual
character, B r ig itta Woberin, who bears a str ik in g sim ila r ity
to Dorothea in Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea. B r ig itta is
pictured as a most serene in d ivid u al, the purest sou l from
whom goodness and kindness seem to emanate in a never-
ending stream. I t is true th at "in d ieser N ovelie der G eist
der Versohnung sieg t" (Ella Spiero, p. 66) . In fa c t, the
67
reader g ets the impression th at David has created B r ig itta
iin the image of the b ib lic a l character Ruth. Moreover,
i
jDavid completes h is picture of B r ig itta by having her seek
i
her eventual refuge in the mountains, clo se to God and
ilig h t, the source of wisdom.
The story is s e t in fifte en th -ce n tu ry Bohemia at the
time of the r e v o lt of the follow ers of John Huss (Jan Hus),
;the Czech r e lig io u s reformer and n a tio n a lis t who was burned j
iin 1415 for h is attempts to change the structure of the
I
I
I
iCatholic Church. The H u ssites, under the leadership of
i !
I !
ilskra Kravar, were planning to a ssa u lt the c it y in which
l
jB rigitta and her old mother liv e d . The townspeople, f i l l e d
with su p e r stitio n and r e lig io u s fan aticism , were convinced
th at the impending raid was due to the fa c t that a sinner
liv ed among them. I t was B r ig itta who r e a liz ed th at she
and her mother were regarded as the sinners as she was
i
|aware "daft s ie m Unehren empfangen und in Schande geboren
jworden ist" (G W , I I , 2 0) . Yet they l e f t the town proudly
and fle d to a mountain refu ge.
By sheer coincidence, Iskra Kravar stumbled upon B ri-
g i t t a ' s mountain r e tr e a t. He was immediately struck by her
overpowering beauty and g en tle manners: "Eine sachte Ruhe
uberkam ihn in ihrer Nahe . . . s i e war friedsam, und s ie
68
machte andere stillgem u t" (p. 2 8 ). What a con trast David
|
lhas created: the leader of the marauding band and the
|goddess-like outcast from the c i t y . E ventually, the s e c lu -
jsion of the mountains and the marvelous q u a litie s of B ri-
!
I
igitta began to lessen Iskra's warlike nature. When he
i
returned to h is men in the camp, he longed for her, "dessen
Lacheln so anmutig war, das sein e Glieder so hubsch und
g e f a llig zu bewegen wufite," and thus, "immer unlieber dachte
jer des Lagers und sein es wusten Larmens, immer langer w e ilte
|
ier oben" (pp. 28 -2 9 ). B r ig itta , too, began to f a l l in love
I
i
Iwith Isk r a . F in a lly , she was su ccessfu l in persuading him
j
to abandon h is planned sacking of the c it y and he, in turn,
i
{asked her to become h is w ife . In response, she folded her
i
'hands, "und der Herr leg te die Worte der Ruth in ihr Herz
i
i
i
|und auf ihre Zunge: 'Mein Fufi s o i l nicht wanken von dem
i
Deinen noch weichen. Deine Heimat s e i meine Heimat, und
I
dein Gott s e i mein Gott!" (p. 35).
i
| Thus th is character who was created as the p e r s o n ifi-
i
I
cation of love and goodness was able to use her powers to
save the very c it y which had ca st her out because of her
supposed s in s . David has elevated her to the point where
j
she is transformed from the outcast of the c it y in to i t s
very sa v io r . At the same time Iskra Kravar, the mercenary,
69
was reborn insofar as he entered her sphere of l i f e . In
;fact, th is story was included in a c o lle c tio n e n title d Die
|
j wiedergeborenen.
S What is not sta te d , but im plied, in B r ig itta 's d ecision
I
i
|to accept Isk ra's proposal, is th at she would, of n e c e ssity ,
i
jhave to espouse her husband's r e lig io u s view s. Thus David
used the r e la tio n sh ip between B r ig itta and Iskra as a v e
h ic le to expose in d ir e c tly h is views on C atholicism , which
jwere probably sim ilar to those of John Huss, namely th at the
j
|church imposed too many r e s tr ic tio n s and was in need of
in s titu tio n a l reform.'*'
Die s t i l l e Margaret is a Nove1le which focuses it s
a tten tio n on two ch aracters, a p r ie s t and a young woman.
However, Goldammer str e sse d th at: "Nicht dem P r ie ster ,
sondern dem Madchen g i l t das H auptinteresse des Dichters"
(p. 348). I t is a fa c t th at David did cloak the r e lig io u s
d ifferen ces by keeping the reader's a tten tio n on Margaret.
In sev era l other N ovellen (Per neue Glaube, Per
L e tz te , and Die s t i l l e Margaret) , David has in serted a sub
theme depicting the stru ggle between Catholicism and Prot
estan tism . Perhaps th is is an in d ication of David's strong
views on r e lig io u s to lera n ce, already shown in Das Hofe-
recht ( c f . p. 32 above).
70
Only at the end of the N ovelle were the r e lig io u s im plica
tio n s revealed .
] Margaret was a lon ely and f r a i l g ir l: "Sie gehorte
ganz armen Leuten, d ie sich eben nur ein e Geis h alten konn-
I
Iten, w eil die keinen eigenen Grund braucht, auf dem man s ie
Jernahre . Nicht einmal ihre eigene Hiitte besaften die E ltern
der s t i l l e n Margaret" (G W , I I I , 128). Due to the squalid
con d ition s in which the fam ily liv ed and the many people
junder one ro o f, Margaret f e l t compelled to shut out the
!
world around her and withdraw into her own private e x is - i
f e n c e . As a consequence, her parents as w e ll as the v illa g e
1
I
people thought of her as slow . Her parents l e f t her to do j
| !
whatever she wanted and "ihrem eigenen Sternen; und so
l
kannte s ie denn vom Leben e ig e n tlic h n ichts anderes, als
Not und Sorgen, und dachte kaum mehr, das konnte anders sein
Oder werden" (p. 129).
' Margaret's p lig h t bears great s im ila r ity as w e ll as
|d issim ila r ity to Fanny Bermann's own su fferin g (Das Hofe-
|
jrecht) . Both were extrem ely poor and both were shunned by
|
th e ir parents, Margaret as a r e s u lt of her own withdrawal
and Fanny because of her parents 1 lack of love for h e r . I t
is e s p e c ia lly in te r e stin g to note th at th e ir drives were
com pletely d iffe r e n t. Fanny had discovered early in l i f e
71
th at the ex isten ce th a t she and her parents were leading was
not for h er. Consequently, "der Stachel der Armut senkte
sich t i e f in ihr Herz mit dem E n tsch lu sse, ihrer led ig zu
werden—um jeden Preis" (G W , I, 118). Margaret was, in
Ifact, very content with her l i f e , knowing perhaps that i t
would have been f u t i l e to even think of anything b e t t e r .
In s p ite of i t a l l , for Margaret,
das gewinnende war: ihre Stimme, die zumeinst a l l e r -
dings einen schlafernden und ein to n ig en , einen sch ier
w einerlichen Klang h a tte , wie s ie ihn von Einsummen der
| Kleinen her gewohnt war. Sang s ie aber, dann lag grofte
\ Fiille und se lte n e r Wohllaut darin, daft man s ie aus a lie n j
! heraushorte und sic h die anderen f a s t wider W illen nach
| ihr r ic h te te n . (G W , I I I , 129)
I
I
| When the p r ie s t , Pater F e lic ia n , n oticed th a t Margaret
had an excep tion al v o ic e , he asked her to sin g in h is newly-
formed ch o ir. This t o t a lly changed the dimensions of her
l i f e and from th at point on she was able to think of l i t t l e
I e ls e "als Musik und den Pries t e r , der s ie in die tibung
jdieser Kunst eingefiihrt hatte" (p. 130). As time passed,
i
!she began to r e a liz e th at she had a purpose in l i f e , in
con trast to her mundane and superfluous r o le in the fam ily.
The young and inexperienced Pater F e lic ia n had been
sen t by h is superiors to th is v illa g e in the hope th at h is
youth and determ ination would revive the fa ith o f the
72
townspeople. In h is z e a l to carry out h is m ission and, in
p a rticu la r, to develop the ch o ir, he was com pletely unaware
i
I
jthat he was paying undue a tten tio n to Margaret. She, how-
lever, m isinterpreted th ese a tte n tio n s, b eliev in g them to be
I
something th at they were not.
S Margaret made up her mind th at she would be much hap-
!
jpier liv in g with the p r ie s t in the capacity of housekeeper, j
iThe scene at the parish house when Margaret presented her i
in ten tio n s to Pater F e lic ia n was almost ludicrous, as each
imisunderstood the o th e r 's m otives. He queried g en tly ,
"W illst du etwas von mir, Margaret?" at f i r s t and pressed
i
ion as her natural tim id ity overcame her, "Steht es sch lech t
i
|bei euch zu Haus : 1 st wer krank? Oder s o i l ich sonst
helfen?" (p. 132). I t was incomprehensible to her that he
did not understand immediately. Had he not approached her
i n i t i a l l y and then continued to express great in te r e st in
both her sin gin g and her personal wellbeing? In response
|to a l l h is questions she merely shook her head u n til f in a lly
!
|he continued with exasperation: "So sprich! Ich habe
gerade heute zu tun und sehe n ich t ab, was du von mir
Iw illst, und erraten kann ic h 's wahrhaftig auch nicht!" (p.
132). This was the crux of the matter; Pater F e lic ia n could
not fathom why she had come. F in a lly she summoned courage
73
and spoke: "Ich kann a lle s . . . Ich kann a lle s . . .
a l l e s , Hochwiirden! ", to which he rep lied in a b a ffle d man-
i
jner, "Nun, und was s o l i mir das? . . . Ich w ill dich doch
I
jnicht d in gen !" (p. 133). Once again Pater F e lic ia n fa ile d
|to comprehend her actual in ten t as she even agreed with h is
i
la s t remark: "Nun eben, das i s t ' s ja" (p. 133). At th is
point he wanted only to end th is f u t i l e d iscu ssio n , for he
i
iwas quite busy and s t i l l had not perceived the depths of
jher in fa tu a tio n . Her f in a l, desperate p lea, "Nehmt mich zu
I
l
|Euch, u rn C h risti Barmherzigkeit, nehmt mich!" (p. 133) was
dism issed with a cold and reso lu te shrug.
I
To the lon ely young woman who had f in a lly received some
i
j
in sp ira tio n through the p r ie s t, th is was, indeed, a tr a g ic
blow, and one which represented another turning point in
her l i f e . She f e l t h e r se lf rebuffed and spurned by him and
!she refused to accept the r e a lit y of the s itu a tio n . As time
'passed her love transformed i t s e l f into resentment and hate
i
I and she withdrew into h e r se lf t o t a lly , com pletely ending
|
her a sso cia tio n with the Church and it s a c t i v i t i e s .
Pater F e lic ia n , quite puzzled by Margaret's absence
from the Church and choir a c t i v i t i e s , appeared at her home
I
to inquire about h e r . His appearance undoubtedly caused
her v io le n t passions to reappear and, in a la s t attempt to
74
unmask her unrequited love, she agreed to enter the con
c e s s io n a l with him. When the usual con fession of sm all and
in s ig n ific a n t sin s was fin ish e d , the p r ie s t, about to r e -
jlease her, was r e a lly not surprised as Margaret, who had
been stru g g lin g in te r n a lly , f in a lly sta ted : "Ich habe noch
ein e Siinde auf dem Herzen . . . ich habe einen Mann lieb"
(p. 139). In a very m a tter-o f-fa ct v ein , as i f he had been
hearing th is type of con fession d a ily , he asked: "Hast du
jdich mit ihm vergessen?" and then she r ep lied , "Schlimmer!
!
:Hochwiirden! Ich darf ihn nicht lie b haben" (p. 139) . Pater
F e lic ia n b eliev ed th at he had at la s t found the reason for
I
jthe change which she had undergone during the past few
|weeks. Innocently he prodded further: "Und warum nicht?
1 st er dir zu nahe verwandt?" (p. 139). I t was iro n ic that
in Margaret's second f u t i l e attempt to convey her fe e lin g s
|of love, the p r ie s t again seemed preoccupied and eager to
end th eir d isc u ssio n . Thus, when she f in a lly blurted out
I
jthe tru th , "Schlimmer, er i s t ein P riester des Herrn" (p.
i139), he s t i l l fa ile d to connect i t with h im se lf. He r e
to rted in a sten to ria n tone, "ReiB ihn aus, Margaret, reifi
|ihn aus" (p. 139). Under the circum stances, Pater F e lic ia n
i
refused to give her absolution and commanded her to return
at a la te r d a te .
I 75
I
Margaret's sense of desperation yield ed to a calmer
and more confident mood, probably because she rea lized th at
|
jhe s t i l l had not comprehended her in te n tio n . In fa c t,
j
.throughout th e ir en tire dialogue, she never sta ted d ir e c tly
|
i
jthat he was the focus of her lo v e. Perhaps th is was due to
|
jher innate shyness or, more im portantly, the ingrained
j
knowledge of the p r ie s tly role which subconsciously pre
vented her from candidly declaring her love . O n the other i
jhand, she seemed to be almost unaware of the r e s tr ic tio n
|imposed upon the C atholic clergy as she stated in a l l inno-
icence,
| In Ungarn druben, b e i den Evangelischen, heiraten s i e .
j Da war b e i uns e in Kaplan, kurz vor Euch, wie der vorige
! Herr Pfarrer schon ganz a lt war. Der s i t z t j e t z t druben
und hat Weib und Kinder. D arf's der, warum nich t auch
e in anderer? (p. 139)
These words were tantamount to blasphemy for Pater F e lic ia n
land he responded in haughty tones: "Das sind Abtriinnige
loder Unwiirdige. Uns aber hat es der groBe Papst Gregor v e r -
w ehrt. Wer es doch tu t, der f a l l t in die Sunde der M einei-
digen" (p. 140) .
Once again i t appears th at David has expressed h is deep
con viction s about the need for r e lig io u s reform s. Margaret
was indeed a victim ; both of her in s tin c ts as w ell as of an
unyielding r e lig io u s in s titu tio n with which she came to
g r ip s. Even her upbringing, which produced a tim id, w ith
drawn person, unable to cope with the r e a lit ie s of l i f e ,
!
iplayed a large part in th is tragedy. Forces which were
i
A bsolutely beyond her con trol contributed almost e n tir e ly to
I i
I
her dem ise.
Die Miihle von Wranowitz, s e t in the Moravian Hanna, an
!
jarea dearly loved by David, is the story of Hanka DworSak,
i
i
a m ille r 's daughter who became involved with the Baron of
!the v illa g e c a s t le . Hanka, according to Kloos, "verleib -
! 2
ilic h t die lebenspendende Kraft des heim atlichen Bodens."
She was a t o t a lly independent and s e lf-c o n fid e n t so u l,
driven to act by her in s tin c ts alon e. Furthermore, Goldam-
mer points out that
i
i
j Hanka Dworzak i s t mehr a ls ein blofies Naturwesen, als
| eine P erso n ifica tio n der mahrischen Hanna. Sie i s t ein
I Mensch, dessen Denken, Fuhlen und Handeln durchaus g e-
| s e lls c h a f t lic h bestimmt wird, der sein e sp e z ifisc h e
I s o z ia le S tellu n g nicht verleu gn et. (p. 359)
The young baron Braniky was gravely i l l with tubercu-
2
Kloos, p. 114. In addition, Kloos sta te s that: "All
ihr Handeln, ihr Tun und Lassen w urzelt in ihrer Naturver-
und gebundenheit" (p. 115).
77
lo s is and needed someone to care for him. Hanka offered
her serv ic es even though she had never done any work ou tsid e
of the m ill. W hen her father asked her why she wanted to do
I
jth is, she gave a simple and d ir e c t answer which revealed a
Igreat deal about her p e r so n a lity . "Na . . . stark bin ich
jund eh rlich bin ich" (G W , V, 118) . Her father pursued the
I
su b ject by wondering what the reaction of Hynek Potremka,
the m ille r 's a s sis ta n t and Hanka's fia n ce, would be to her !
jworking and liv in g at the c a s t le . Again Hanka re p lie d in a
i I
| i
Imanner revealing her great independence and openmindedness: |
| "Der m u f i> froh s e in , er k rie g t mich, wie er mich kriegt"
! (P- H 9) •
In the beginning Hanka performed her chores d u tifu lly
and devoted h e r s e lf to the Baron only when h is needs de
manded her a tte n tio n . As an in d ivid u al she gave him l i t t l e
thought. "W as ging s ie der Herr Baron an? Er wiirde wieder
i
fiir immer fortgehen, oder wiirde sterben, und der Gedanke an
,beiden lieft s ie g le ic h g iiltig . Sie t a t , wofiir s ie b ezah lt
i
Iward" (p. 12 3 ). However, as time passed, she in ev ita b ly
became more fam iliar with h is p er so n a lity . Gradually a
certa in warmth developed between them, fo ste r ed , no doubt,
by her sympathetic manner and compassion for him. Soon she
found th at she thoroughly enjoyed playing the ro le of a
78
nurse: "Es war jenes Gebietende an ih r, das b e i Madchen in
I
jdiesem A lter die kiinftige M utterschaft vordeutet" (p. 142).
i
'David had previou sly alluded to Hanka's M utterschaft when
jHynek thought, "was fur prachtige Kinder die einmal haben
!
jwurde" (p. 129) . The fa c t was that Hanka cared for the
iBaron with a natural motherly in s t in c t , and he responded by
|
laccepting her orders and thoroughly enjoying her presence.
i
Eventually she assumed the proportions of a goddess, "als
3
jstrahle s ie Genesung fiir ihn aus."
i
t
! Now Hanka1 s fe e lin g s for the Baron began to become more
intense than she had expected. While her natural in s tin c ts
Itold her th at she was merely caring for an individu al in
|need of h elp , her mind began to be preoccupied with him,
even at n ig h t. One stormy evening she awakened and found
h e r s e lf walking to the c a s t le , as though driven against her
!
j
;own w i l l ,
ohne Besinnen und ohne sic h selb er einzubekennen, wohin?
Und e r st auf den wenigen Stufen, die zu der Stube des
i jungen Herrn emporfiihrten, wufite s i e , was s ie h ierh er-
gejagt: s ie w o llte doch nie mehr kommen. Aber : Behiit'
•^P. 134. F elix Poppenberg, "David's Erzahlerkunst, "
Die Nation, 18, 27 (1901), 427, a lso observed th at: "Die
Hanka wird in diesem Licht zur P erson ifik ation m iitterlichen
Heimatbodens, aus dem der Todgeweihte noch einmal le tz te
Lebenskraft sich z ie h t."
79
Gott sagen mufite s ie ihm, und das war b esser, man t a t
das g le ic h heute, s t a t t wieder eine lange Nacht, in der
| man anderen Sinnes werden konnte, dariiber v erstreich en
| zu la ssen . (p. 150)
i
j
lHanka came to r e a liz e th at her r e la tio n s toward th is man
I
j
jwere more than ju st a fe e lin g of compassion. Her way of
; , |
[thinking and her independent natural in s tin c ts to ld her
!that th is situ a tio n had gone far enough. Fearing a deeper
I
| involvement with the Baron, she then resolved th at the b est
j thing for both of them would be to terminate her employment.
i
|At no tim e, however, was Hanka ever concerned with what the
i '
; I
[v illa g ers might say about her presence in the c a s t le . Her
isole concern was her own personal fe e lin g . Furthermore,
i
|Hanka reasoned, the Baron appeared to be on the road to
recovery. What she did not r e a liz e was th at i t was her
I presence, her natural exuberance and h ea lth , and her youth
fu l a ttitu d e toward l i f e , th at made him f e e l tem porarily as
i
j i f he were on the verge of recovery.
[
i When she to ld him of her d ecisio n never to return, h is
j
reply was that of a desperate, dying man, possessed by a
fear of lo sin g the only thing that would bring him so la c e .
"Bleib b e i mir, Hanka! Ich furcht' mich so" (p. 153). His
pleas were lik e the words of a c h ild , a boy c a llin g for
h elp . As i f paralyzed, Hanka stood next to h is bed unable
80
to move or to r ep ly . Suddenly,
i
i
s ie fu h lte sein e Arme u rn s ic h . Was d ie doch fiir ein e
| Gewalt h a tten . Wie schwer s ie nur waren und s ie n ie -
| derzogen. Und ihre Knie gehorchten n ich t, und s ie
konnte sic h nur mit Not und allem W illen au frech ter-
j h a lte n . Und was fiir ein Licht in der Stube war. So
| ein e groBe, groBe He l i e , der s ie zutaum elte, um v e r -
schlungen zu se in von ih r. (pp. 153-154)
llliis s itu a tio n p a r a lle ls the scene in which Madlena Zapleta
i
i
| (C y r ill W allenta) shook hands with Wallenta to s e a l th eir
’agreement (see p . 50 above). Madlena, too, commented on I
|
the strength and power in W allenta's hand which rendered j
i
jher sp eech less and b r e a th le s s . What is important is that
|both of these situ a tio n s seem to con trast the innate
strengths of the male and the fem ale. I t is thus implied
jthat the male derives h is powers from h is p h ysical su p erior
ity while the female is morally and s p ir it u a lly stron ger.
Hanka's c o n f lic t arose from her innate d esire to be a
I
free and independent sou l and her deep fe e lin g of compassion
I
;for the unfortunate Baron. Her o r ig in a l d esire to follow
iher in s tin c ts led her to care for him. While follow ing the
I
j
d ic ta te s of her in s t in c t s , th at i s , performing her actu al
d u tie s, her natural sympathies caused her to become in ex-
j
tr ic a b ly t ie d to him. E lla Spiero sums up her character
very aptly: "Trotzig i s t s ie und s t o lz , ohne liisterne
81
S in n lic h k e it; s i e g ib t s ic h in ech ter Liebe und heiflem
i
'M itleid , " as Hanka does not concern h e r s e lf w ith "aufiere
|
jv o rteile" (E lla S p iero , p . 1 4 8 ).
j
i
I
1
P e tr e , quo vad is? is an extrem ely sh ort s to r y , a c tu a lly
an anecdote, r e la te d w ith in the framework o f a Nove1l e . In
jit a member of a r e lig io u s order r e la te d the h is to r y , r e a l
I
or im agined, o f a p ictu re hanging in the m onastery. The
j
i j
p a r t ia lly fin is h e d p o r tr a it o f the Madonna was reputed to
j
|have been done by one Brother P etru s, a member o f the order
i
i
jwho had been ob sessed w ith p a in tin g . His s o le aim in l i f e
was to portray the V irg in Mary through the use of a liv in g
|
jmodel.
Brother Petrus receiv ed p erm ission from h is su p erio rs
and f e l t very fo rtu n a te to fin d a model s u ita b le fo r h is
[proposed p a in tin g among h is w o rsh ip ers. He approached t h is
[young, lo v e ly , and innocent-appearing c h ild and asked h er,
j
;"W illst du deine Ziige leih e n fur e in B ild , wie i c h ’s im
l
Sinne tr a g e ? " (G W , I I , 1 1 ). I t was co n ceiv a b le th a t th is
Kind der W e I t , Magdalene, had m isin terp reted h is q u estio n ;
but her f a c ia l ex p ressio n rev ea led the o p p o site , fo r "ein
sc h a lk isc h Lacheln s p ie lt e um ihren Mund" (p. 1 1 ). Brother
82
Petrus, in ten t upon h is work, was com pletely ob liviou s of
her charms. Magdalene, on the other hand, reveled in the !
s itu a tio n .
Denn der P r ie ste r , wie er da vor ihr stand und sich
bewegte in sein er blonden K raft, wie er Tone prufend
suchte und versuchte, g e f ie l ihr gar wohl. Sein h e i- ;
lig e r Ernst f e s s e lt e und r e iz te das bewegliche Kind 1
der W elt. Dennoch wagte s ie n ich t, ihm das zu zeig en .
(pp. 12-13)
The p r ie s t , to o , soon began to be aware of in ten se
fe e lin g s which he had never exp erien ced p r e v io u sly . In
f a c t , now, whenever she came, he had d i f f i c u l t y p a in tin g andi
could hardly speak when he wanted to d ism iss h e r . Slow ly he
began to r e a liz e th a t t h is c h ild was more than a mere model;
she was f le s h and b lood , b e a u tifu l and d e s ir a b le . When one
day he found i t extrem ely d i f f i c u l t to p a in t, he approached j
i
h er, "suchte ihre Hand an d ie rech te S t e lle zu tun, fu h lte j
|
ein junges pochendes Atmen darunter und ein heiBes g e- j
flu s te r te s : 'Du Tor, Du lieb er Tor' wehte uber sein e !
!
S ch lafen dahin" (p. 1 4 ). F o rg ettin g h is p la c e , p o s itio n , i
I
and vows, Brother Petrus was nothing more than fle sh and j
b lood , an ordinary m ortal, unable to r e s i s t the e a r th ly j
i
offerin g s and tem ptations. "D a riB er das Weib an sich und j
I
empfand w eiche Arme u rn sein en Nacken geschlungen, und ein
Jauchzen war in b eid en . Das in Petr is Brust war wohl
stS r k e r , neuer und rein er" (p. 1 4 ).
S h o rtly a fte r th e sed u ctio n Brother P etru s, consumed
w ith g u i l t , fle d the monastery and roamed the s tr e e ts for
months. Upon h is return, i t was obvious that he had become
demented. Magdalena's sed u ctive powers had wrought havoc
upon th is dedicated so u l. I t is of in te r e st to note th at
for Brother P etrus, Magdalene was a mere ch ild at the b e
ginning, and as time passed she matured in h is e y e s. I t is
more than co in cid en ta l th at David used th is name for the
person who posed for the p ain tin g of the V irgin Mary.
The most poignant portrayal of a female in David's
Novellen is to be found in h is f i r s t work, Das H oferecht.
Fanny Bermann, the young Jewess in the sto ry , was raised in ,
u tter poverty. Yet she was aware of a d iffe r e n t type of 1
i
I
l i f e . According to Werner, "die Armut wird fiir Fanny der [
I
I
A ntrieb, e ifr ig e r zu lernen a ls d ie anderen, der Gegensatz |
I
I
zu den Dorfgrofien erweckt f r e ilic h den Neid in ihr" (V ol- i
!
len d ete und Rinqende, p . 176) . She d isco v ered e a r ly in life j
th a t she was as su p erflu ou s to her mother as th e dust th a t j
blew in to th e ir d e c r e p it home. G radually Fanny estran ged j
I
h e r s e lf from her own fam ily, sin ce there had never e x iste d
any kind o f meaningful r ela tio n sh ip among it s members.
Thus "erwachst Fanny, iiber ihr A lter r e i f und klug schon
84
a ls Kind, jed es ech ten G efuhls erraangelnd, a l l e i n vom V er-
stande ih rer Rasse b eh errsch t und z e r se tz t" (K loos, p . 1 7 ).
jWell aware th a t she would not r e c e iv e any in h erita n ce or
I
jdowry, she began to c a p it a liz e on her only a s s e t , her sharp
i 4
jw it.
i
| A cursory reading of the N ovelle would lead one to
|
|presuppose th a t David had crea ted Fanny in the image of the
ste r e o ty p e d Jew; th a t i s , cunning and sh a rp -w itted . Fanny !
|was portrayed in th is very lig h t ! However, a more thorough
i
istudy w i l l r e v e a l th a t D avid's in te n t was not to p erp etu ate j
| !
ith is myth but to in d ic t the s o c ie ty of th a t e r a , p a r tic u -
i
la r ly the G e n tile s , who clung to th e ir a n ti-S e m itic b e l i e f s ,
jwhich in e v ita b ly su rfaced whenever th e Jew posed a th r e a t.
S
iln f a c t , Frau Lohner, th e on ly person in the v illa g e who
i
I
jbefriended Fanny, and even found i t p o ssib le to love h er,
j
jshowed her tru e co lo r s when Fanny th reaten ed Frau Lohner's
w e ll-o r d e re d e x is t e n c e .
As time e la p se d , Fanny f e l t more and more the need to
jseparate h e r s e lf from ev ery th in g th a t kept her t ie d down to
i
! 4
Werner (p. 176) had s u c c in c tly d escrib ed Fanny:
"David entw arf . . . den Character des armen Judenmadchen
Fanny Bermann, d ie , a u sg esch lo ssen von der G em einschaft der
D orfkinder, in freu n d loser K indheit aufw achst, wahrend a lle s
in ihr nach Leben s c h r e it."
85
Jthese sq u a lid c o n d itio n s o f l i f e . She grew in to a b e a u tifu l
!young la d y .
i
j
I Dazu h a tte s i e gerundete Bewegungen, d ie ihr auch wah-
| rend der Z e it ih res Wachstums b lie b e n , und im Gegensatz
i zu den u n gesch lach teren D orfkindern k le in e FiiBe und
Hande von s e lte n e r Z ie r lic h k e it , m it denen s ie beim
Sprechen bedeutsam leb en d ig zu a g ieren wuBte, was ein en
! ganz angenehmen G egensatz zu ih rer so n st so ern sten
j Haltung gab. Auch des Wortes war s i e m achtiger, a ls
i irgend e in e G enossin. Kurz, es gin g ein e groBe Wandlung
i zum G e fa llig e r e n in d ie se r Z e it an ihr v o r, d ie le ic h t
b estech en konnte und wohl g e e ig n e t war, auch ein e Frau ;
von bedachtigem U r te il und bedeutendem S ch a r fb lic k , d ie
: S ch u lzin etw a, zu gewinnen und einzunehmen. Und Frau
j Lohner v e r fe h lte auch n ic h t, s ic h d ie se r Umwandlung
i h e r z lic h s t zu freuen und v i e l f a l t i g ihr In te r e sse an
i dem Madchen zu erw eisen . (G W , I , 132)
i
jFanny knew how to use her newly d isco v ered a s s e ts to her own
j j
[advantage, e s p e c ia lly when i t concerned the Lohner b oys.
\There is no denying th a t her b a sic r e la tio n s h ip w ith Frau
j
jLohner was a s e l f i s h one, th a t of b e tte r in g h e r s e lf and
j
jlearning more than she could ever have hoped to learn at
home .
j D avid's d e p ic tio n o f Fanny's a ttitu d e toward her own
j
|mother and fa th er borders on th e g r o te sq u e . She was ic y and
devoid o f any f e e lin g s or com passion. As her m other's death
approached, her fath er awakened her: "Steh a u f, Fanny, d ie
j
jMutter w i l l sterben" (p. 13 6 ). She was sim ply annoyed th a t
86
her fa th er had aroused h e r . "Fanny wunderte s ic h iiber d ie
t i e f e Trauer in jedem Worte des a lte n Mannes . Die Frau
i
i
h a tte ihn geschmaht und h e r a b g e se tz t in den Augen der Leute,
und doch, in sein en Augen standen Tranen, wenn er dann w e i-
jter b etete" (p. 1 3 7 ). She s a t by her m other's b ed sid e and
pondered, showing no em otion s. In Fanny's eyes the e n tir e
scene bordered on the lu d ic r o u s :
I i
S ie bemerkte gedankenlos d ie sch reck lich en Wandlungen,
i d ie der Tod im G esich te der Mutter h erv o rb ra ch te. "Kein
| Wunder "—dachte s ie — "wenn man den Tod f iir c h t e t . Er
| macht ja so h a filic h !" S ie sah w ie d ie Nase ih rer Mutter
' immer s p itz e r und sch a rfer h erv o rtra t und w ie etwas
; Fremdes s ic h u rn ihren Mund la g e r t e . Und doch kam k ein
Grauen in ih re Seele* das a lle s b eob ach tete s ie n ic h t
! etwa te iln a h m slo s, denn es in t e r e s s ie r t e s i e h o c h lic h ,
| aber ohne t ie f e r e E rschiitterung, ohne jed es h e ilig e
| Erbeben, mit dem der Tod e in e s g e lie b te n Wesen den Men-
schen e r fa flt. (p. 137)
Somehow one has the f e e lin g th a t Fanny f e l t th a t th is
tran sform ation o f her m other's fe a tu r e s in th e fa ce of death
iwas a ju s t reward fo r the c r u e lty she had in f lic t e d upon her
jdaughter (see p . 31 above) . Things had changed j Fanny was
j
i
jb ea u tifu l and her mother was u g ly . Fanny's thoughts then
!
turned to the problems th a t would ensue a fte r her m other's
d ea th .
5
Kloos has observed, as a consequence, th a t "diese
Judin i s t e in damonisches Geschopf" (p. 1 7 ).
j 87
J Wenn nur d ie Mutter n ic h t s tiir b e ! Sonst muftte s i e das
| Hauswesen fiihren und d ie Verantwortung fur d ie M iBwirt-
! sc h a ft f i e l auf s i e zuriick; nur zu le ic h t konnte s ie
! dadurch b e i Frau Mariannen m iB lieb ig werden. Ein emp-
fin d lic h e s Unbehagen b e f i e l s i e b e i dem Gedanken.
| (p. 138)
i
iShe even con sid ered the tim e o f her m other's death to be j
jmost inopportune: "Gerade j e t z t , wo das E r n te fe st vor der |
|
;Tur sta n d , muBte s i e sterb en ; das zwang s ie w ohl, zu Hause
I
zu b leib en " (p. 1 3 9 ). j
I
i At the tim e of her m other's death, Fanny r e a liz e d th a t
I
jher r e la tio n s h ip w ith her fa th er posed an even g rea ter
l
'th r e a t. He had never shown th e s l i g h t e s t a ffe c tio n fo r her j
iand she con sid ered h e r s e lf t o t a l l y estran ged from him . I t i
! ;
i
would be d isa str o u s i f he were to become i l l and she would
I
i
jhave to assume the burden of h is c a r e . On the other hand,
|
|i f he were to d ie , she would be fr e e to leave a t w i l l . Herr
j
|Bermann's absence of f e e lin g fo r h is daughter was ex p la in ed
Iby th e narrator as a consequence o f h is r e lig io u s back
ground. "Eine Tochter h at fiir den stren gglau b igen Juden
|
;keinen rech ten Wert; s i e p fla n z t den Namen und das Ge-
!
I
jsch lech t n ic h t fo r t und darf n ic h t einm al das herkommliche
i
jSeelengebet am S terb etage der E ltern sprechen" (pp. 147-
I
1 4 8 ). While t h is ex p la n a tio n may be fa c tu a lly tru e accord
ing to the te n e ts of orthodox Jew ish law, i t a p p lie s more
88
to the formal p ractice of the r e lig io n and has l i t t l e bear
in g on fam ily l i f e , p a rticu la rly as regards the p aren t-ch ild
I
jrelation sh ip . Even in the most r e lig io u s Jewish homes,
i
c h ild ren are a b le s s in g upon whom much love and a tte n tio n
iare la v ish e d . This weakness in D avid's f i r s t Nove 1 le can
i |
perhaps be a ttrib u ted to an incursion in to Talmudic law and
jean be explained by David's need to provide a ju s tific a tio n
for Herr Bermann's detachment toward h is daughter.
I Fanny spent most of her time alone at home dreaming of
i
ithe day she would be able to go to Vienna, e s p e c ia lly sin ce
!
IGustav Lohner was there . "Dort war der grofle Markt, wo
ja lle s Anwert fand" (p. 1 4 2 ). Now th a t her fa th er was show-
i
ing sign s th at he too would d ie , she was almost a n ticip a tin g
the day. I t is important to point out the meaning David
attaches to the fa c t th at Fanny expected to go to Vienna
iwhere there was a great market and everything had it s v a lu e .
I
I
This idea and it s symbolic meaning is a recurring le itm o tif
|
|in th is N o v elie. Georg Lohner, jealous of h is brother
Gustav and afraid th at Fanny would sid e with h is r iv a l,
pretended to love her and even made Fanny an o f f e r . "W as
dir der Schurke geboten h at, das kann ich auch noch b ieten
und noch mehr—w eit mehr!" (p. 15 1 ). His tw isted mind was
convinced that anything on th is earth could be acquired i f
89
the p r ic e were r ig h t . Even though not y e t the owner of
h is fa th e r 's e s t a t e , he made her an even more a sto n ish in g
i
I
Ipromise : "Und b in ich e r s t einm al Herr, dann s o l l s t du
|
jleben! In Samt s o l l s t du gehen und wer weiB, wer einmal
|
jHerrin auf der E r b r ic h te r ei ist? " (p. 1 5 1 ). When Fanny did
jnot respond, he cried out d esp erately, "Sie! Ich kann dich
i
Idem Gustav n ich t lassen ! Und g e h t's n ich t anders, dann
he ira te ich dich" (p. 1 5 1 ).
i
Gustav had never made such in su ltin g p rop osition s, and
lhad, in fa c t, never proposed marriage to h er. N everth eless,
i
Ian understanding o f s o r ts had e x is te d between them. U lt i-
i
I
jm ately, Fanny regarded G eorg's o ffe r s as an in s u lt to her j
j
ego. Calmly and sure of every word, she retorted :
Hor mich an . . . ich habe dich lange genug reden la s s e n .
j Es i s t m oglich, dafi ich schlimm geraten b in , —aber du
j b is t s c h le c h te r , tausendmal n ie d e r tr a c h tig e r , a ls ic h .
I Hat je ein M ann so mit einem eh rlich en Madchen gesprochen,
wie du? . . . Du h ast gelogen, und du h ast es gewufit.
I M einst du w ir k lic h , du kannst mich h eiraten ? M einst du
| w ir k lic h , ich b in so dumm, daft ich d ir nur e in Wort
i glaube? N ein, so dum m b in ich n ic h t! Du h a st auf deinen
| Geldsack g esch la g en , und der klang h o h l. Du h a st mich
! kaufen w ollen und h a st lange n ich t genug dazu. M einst
du ich mach' G eschafte auf lange Z e it hinaus? M einst du,
ich werde an dem knuspern, was du mir h eim lich z u tr a g st,
was du deinen E ltern s t ie h ls t ? M einst du, ich werde mich
verkaufen und n ic h t einm al etwas davon haben? (p. 152)
I
This was indeed ir o n ic , as Fanny claim ed on th e one hand
th a t she was an h on est g i r l , w h ile on the other hand she
90
did not deny th a t she would command a h igh p r ic e .
| A fter her fa th e r 's d eath , Fanny so ld ev ery th in g of
|
jvalue in the home and s e t out for the great and promising
icity of Vienna. Gustav was at the u n iv ersity , and she knew
i
jthat he could be depended on for h elp . B esid es, she was
sure th at Gustav loved h er. W hen they met she knew she was
jrigh t. "Gleich Flammen h atten sein e Beriihrung, sein K ufi ihr
I
't ie f s t e s Empf inden aufgeruhrt und vers t o r t , " as " se lb st im
: !
IMomente der h och sten , berauschenden Hingebung empfand s i e ,
I
wie das n ic h t das Rechte war" (p. 1 6 6 ). Fanny had su ffe r e d
I
'the d ep riv a tio n of w orld ly goods too long I She was in t o x i- j
j
|cated by the w ealth o f the c i t y , which acted on her d is -
i
i
jtorted sense of v a lu e s . In a way, she was content for a
I
jwhile w ith Gustav- however, the splendor of the c ity was too
i
jmuch to b ear, as i t brought back to her mind th e horrors of
jher p a st l i f e . She was s e iz e d anew by a p a ssio n a te d e sir e
;to r id h e r s e lf of the stigm a o f p o v erty .
i
Beginning to t i r e o f Gustav and str a in e d by the n e c e s
s i t y to share h is meager allow an ce, Fanny r e so lv e d to accept
a p o s itio n as a ca sh ie r in a r e sta u r a n t. She was the cen ter
jof a ttr a c tio n and r e v e led in th e adm iration heaped upon h e r .
In f a c t , many patrons sought to make her acq u ain tan ce.
N e v e r th ele ss, " sie besafl eben jen es grofie Geheimnis
91
in n erlich k a lter Frauen, sic h nie ganz hinzugeben und imitier
jein s t i l l e s Gluck ahnen zu la s s e n , hoher, a ls s i e es je
|
jgewahrt h atte" (p. 1 7 3 ). A gain, David has allu d ed to the
|idea th a t Fanny and v a lu e or money are lin k ed to g e th e r . In
i
jher p o sitio n as ca sh ier, she was a h igh ly v is ib le receiver
|of money as w ell as of numerous p ro p o sitio n s.
j
Gustav was tr u ly sh attered when he discovered th at
'Fanny had become self-su p p o rtin g and independent of him.
jH e r e a liz e d that he had lo s t her forever. In fa c t, in her
|
!desperate quest for fortune, Fanny had s e t her sig h ts a good
deal h igh er. One of the patrons, F riedrich von Eck, had
j impressed Fanny, as h is behavior toward her was th at of a j
i I
true gentleman. I t was F riedrich von Eck's frien d , acting
as a middleman, who made i t p aten tly clea r to Fanny th at she
would be worth the m ost.
|
Ich sehe in Ihnen ein e L eid en sgefah rtin . Merken Sie
i sic h , was ich Ihnen sagte; es wird Ihnen wohl zu pafi
| kommen. Sie w ollen sic h doch auch verkaufen? Die
Eigenheiten haben S ie dazu. Hier i s t Markt, a lso der
r ic h tig e Ort, nur zogern Sie n ich t zu lange, denn die
Ware i s t n ich t so s e lte n in Wien. (p. 188)
For the fourth and fin a l tim e, David has pictured Fanny as
having a measurable value in terms of m aterial th in g s .
Thus Fanny's corruption was now com plete—she had come
f u l l c ir c le . Her d esire to escape poverty at a l l co sts was
92
|aided and abetted by the corrupting and demoralizing forces
Jof the large c it y . Fanny had accepted the fact that she was
i
Inothing more than merchandise in the m art. She was d e te r -
I
jmined to r e c e iv e the most v a lu e!
i
I
| The character of Lois H irschvogel in V erstorte Z eit
|
jpresents i t s e l f as a s tr ik in g c o n tr a st to both Fanny (Das
H o ferech t) and Magdalene (P e tr e , quo v a d is ? ) . L ois was
j
I innocent and in exp erien ced as w e ll as t o t a l l y unaware of
|
jher feminine a llu r e ; she lacked "jene Scham haftigkeit, die j
; i
; j
|dem Frauenzimmer so wohl ansteht" (G W , I I I , 293) . In a d d i- j
i
:tion_, she had no scru p les about doing th in g s u su a lly r e -
i
Iserved for men. In a sen se, one has the fe e lin g th at Lois
t
t
jwas ignorant o f th e tr a d it io n a l r o le o f th e fem ale in s o c i-
|e ty . Kloos em phasized th a t "Sie war e in r ic h tig e r k r a f t -
‘ v o lle r W ildling" (p. 1 0 4 ).
j Lois was the o ffsp r in g o f her fa th e r 's second m arriage;
Ihis f i r s t marriage had produced a son, Gregor, who had been
away from home fo r a long p eriod o f tim e fig h tin g in the
T h irty Y ears' War. When peace f i n a l l y came to th e ir ravaged
land, Gregor returned home only to d isco v er th a t he now had
a h a l f - s i s t e r . The two ch ild r e n o f o ld H irsch vogel were
93
indeed str a n g e r s, la ck in g any s ib lin g warmth: " 'Grufl G ott,
'Schwester 1 'Griifl G ott daheim ,Bruder, 1 und d ie b eiden Handen
I
t
ilagen fremd und g le ic h g u lt ig in einander" (p. 2 8 7 ).
i
Although Lois and Gregor were p r a c t ic a lly str a n g e r s,
I
ithey were sim ila r in many r e s p e c ts . Lois had never r e c eiv e d
;r e lig io u s tr a in in g , w h ile the horrors of war had caused i
|
!
jGregor to rep u d iate any moral or e t h ic a l v a lu es he had h e ld .
|
■Both, unaware o f r ig h t and wrong, liv e d on an in s t in c t u a l j
!
iplane, in a world of th e ir own, away from any e x te r io r
i
ic iv iliz in g in flu e n c e . They were alm ost lik e crea tu res o f
; i
n atu re, working hand in hand to reb u ild th e ir w ar-torn home.
Gregor began to be aware of h is s i s t e r ' s fe m in in ity and
|h is co n sta n t g la n ces awakened a new f e e lin g in h e r . She was
i
i
jseized w ith a stran ge but p le a sa n t se n sa tio n , an in e x p lic
a b le c u r io s it y th a t had never b efore touched her b e in g .
!
S ile n t ly , y e t jo y o u sly , th ey both performed th e ir d a ily
ch o res, growing c lo s e r and c lo s e r as though an unseen magnet
;were p u llin g them. Even the a ir about them became charged
^with th e u n rest in th e ir h ea rts and b o d ie s. There was
i
Eine fremde Unrast in a lie n . . . Denn es zog ein e
u n en trin n lich e Schwiile durch das ein e Gemach, darin d ie
I Anverwandten ihre Ruhe su ch ten . S ie s c h la fe r te e in und
s ta c h e lte a u f. Jeder Atemzug des ein en umwehte den
anderen, wenn er fiir A ugenblicke wach ward, und d ie
K raft und das noch unklare Sehnen des Gregor str e b te
h in zur Lois und umfing s ie griiBend. So empfand jed es
94
0
dumpf und dennoch erregend d ie N M he des G efahrten.
i
iThus they jo in ed , as p r im itiv e b ein gs not heeding the con -
i
i
Istra in ts o f s o c ie t y , fo r sim ple p lea su re and com panionship.
i
{Nothing m attered, n eith er the o u tsid e w orld, the p a s t, nor
i
I
the fu tu r e . They liv e d sim ply fo r the p r e se n t, th e sw eet
! i
{enjoyable now. "Die h eim lich e S e lig k e it , d ie s ic h dazu
i
igefunden, das a lle in war das Wahre und a ls o das Dauernde"
: (p. 306) .
Again, David has portrayed ch aracters whose tragedy
|
{can be d ir e c t ly traced to fo r c es over which th ey had no
ic o n tr o l. Lois is a product o f a n a tu ra l u n restrain ed up-
|
b r in g in g . Her lack of co n ta ct w ith the o u tsid e world made
|
{her unaware of her power as a woman as w e ll as her own
sex u a l d e s ir e s . Gregor was a product of h is tim e, a w arrior
{ d is illu sio n e d about man and h is r e lig io n by the horrors he
i
i
i
;had exp erien ced in war. His d is to r tio n was a d ir e c t r e s u lt
{of the era in which he liv e d . Thus two s o u ls , molded by
{
Itheir environm ent, came to g eth er in an in cestu o u s r e la t io n
s h ip .
0
P. 299. Kloos had commented th a t "Unter dem ein en
Dache erwacht in den beiden w ilden und le b e n sv o lle n G e sta l-
ten d ie Liebe zueinander, a ls e in e Ur-Not, a ls e in Ur-Zwang"
(p. 1 0 5 ).
95
The s in g le women in D avid's N ovellen are not ordinary
crea tu res in any s e n s e . They vary from the extrem ely inno
cen t L ois H irsch vogel to the s ly Fanny Bermann. Each is
junique in her r e sp e c tiv e r o le , y e t they are in e x tr ic a b ly
|
[linked by th e fa c t th a t u n co n tro lla b le fo r c es a c t to d e te r -
i
i
mine th e ir d e s tin y . Whether th ese fo rces are a product o f
th e ir p a st or p resen t environment does not dim inish th e ir
|impact upon the u n fold in g drama.
CHAPTER V I
T H E M O T H E R AS A TRAGIC FIGURE
i
The tr a g ic elem ent is p resen t in p r a c t ic a lly a l l of
D avid 's N o v e lle n . As the numerous p lo ts unfold., the th r e a t
of impending tragedy hovers around the p r o ta g o n ists and
renders them alm ost pow erless to a lt e r th e ir p red estin ed
co u r se . "Dennoch b e s e e lt s ie in a lle r V erlo ren h eit ein e
|
jgliihende Hoffnung" (K loos, p . 68). I t is t h is dim spark o f
i
I
jhope th a t s u sta in s th e b eleagu ered ch aracters in th e ir in -
i
te r n a l str u g g le to change the course o f th e ir d e s tin y . This
str u g g le u ltim a te ly in v o lv es s u ffe r in g , sin c e "leidende
sin d se in e Menschen durchaus" (K loos, p . 70). Thus the
tragedy is in t e n s if ie d , as the e f f o r t to escape the i n t o l-
i
jerable circum stances is u su a lly to no a v a il.
i
j D avid's ch a ra cters o fte n exp erien ce fe e lin g s o f g u i l t .
i
jHowever, t h is is not to be construed as moral or e t h ic a l,
but as a tr a g ic g u i l t . M argaret's tragedy (D ie s t i l l e Mar
g a ret) was a r e s u lt o f her innocent and b lin d love for the
96
97
p r ie s t . She then became "unschuldig-schuldig," exem plify
ing the modern paradox of a tr a g ic fig u r e . The apparent
Itragic flaw in David's characters is quite d iffe r e n t from
jthe tra g ic flaw encountered in Greek and Elizabethan tra g -
I
bdy. In fa c t, David's
i
i Tragik w urzelt n ich t in m oralischen Bindungen, die
! durchbrochen werden, kein von auflen herangefiihrtes a l l -
j gemeines Prinzip bedingt s ie , ihre Ursachen lieg en im
i jew eilig en Menschen selb er, wie er leb t und Leben e r -
fa h rt, s ie i s t die Folge ein er unlosbaren S itu a tio n .
| (K loos, p . 56)
i
|Each ch aracter's tra g ic dilemma must be viewed w ithin the
personal sphere of the in d ivid ual p rota g o n ist. Every char
a c t e r 's p lig h t is unique, " [sie] sind G etriebene, n ich t
I
jTreibende, und miissen nach den G esetzen ih rer L ebensver-
h a lt n is s e so und n ic h t anders handeln" (Trummer, p . 414).
This chapter will d ep ict th e mother as a tr a g ic fig u r e ,
s tr e s s in g e s p e c ia lly the str u g g le s and torm ents th a t she
undergoes in the attem pt to r e so lv e her dilemma.
Frau Marianne Lohner (Das H oferecht) gave the impres
sion th at her fears of the in ev ita b le con fron tation between
her sons had long been forgotten ; at the very le a s t , they
seemed tem porarily s e t aside when her son Gustav l e f t for
Vienna. Her worries apparently were relegated to her sub
conscious, for she was never tru ly at e a se .
98
Frau Marianne mochte im Dorfe immer noch a ls die gliick -
lic h s te Frau g elten ; in Wahrheit war s ie es n ich t mehr,
! lan gst n ich t mehr. Die U neinigkeit zwischen ihren Soh-
i nen g r if f ihr t i e f ans Herz, mehr noch die V erstellu n g,
i zu der s ie dadurch gezwungen wurde. Denn d ie Auflenwelt
| durfte es n ich t ahnen, daB sich auf der E rb rich terei
I schwere Kampfe a b sp ielten , daB Frau Marianne ihren gan-
zen EinfluB n otig h a tte , u r n mindestens offenen Feind-
! s e lig k e ite n vorzubeugen. (G W , 1 , 143)
i
I
What was even more tra g ic was that she had to conceal th is
anim osity from her very own husband.
' j
Now Frau Marianne was confronted with an even greater j
j
problem which could p o te n tia lly lead to an eruption between j
!
her sons and create chaos in her C hristian home. "Sie h atte
i
leinmal gehort, wie ein e jungere Magd den Kameradinnen von
i
gar verfan glich en Freundlichkeiten des Herrensohnes e r - |
I
t
jzShlte" (p. 145). The s it u a t io n was even more in su ffe r a b le
because th e involvem ent was w ith a Jew ess, Fanny Bermann.
Frau Marianne was determ ined to do a l l in her power to aid
her so n . When Gustav l e f t fo r Vienna she was r e lie v e d and
I
ibecame convinced th at the Jewess had to leave the v illa g e .
i
j"Ja, s ie begann den Gedanken zu erwagen, wie s ie es ihr und
ihrem Vater erm oglichen konnte, anderswo ihr Fortkommen zu
suchen" (pp. 154-155). When Fanny l e f t o f her own accord
a fte r her fa th e r 's d eath , Frau Marianne was tr u ly r e lie v e d
to see one of th e o b sta c le s in the path o f G ustav's h ap p i
ness and w ell-b ein g removed. With a certa in irony the
! 99
narrator s ta te s th at Fanny went d ir e c tly to Vienna where she
!planned to meet Gustav. Indeed, Frau Marianne was com-
i
jp letely unaware of the fa c t th at Gustav's requests for
i
I
'larger sums of money were for the purpose of tryin g to sup-
j
! port both h im self and Fanny. j
| When news of h is fa th e r 's illn e s s summoned him home,
|Gustav, preoccupied with Fanny, arrived too la t e . His
j
Ifather had already d ied . As a matter of fa c t, Gustav had I
i
, I
been long delinquent in correspondence w ith h is mother and
I
had never given an account of h is action s in Vienna, esp e- \
i
Ic ia lly the reasons for h is sudden need for more money. Thus
lit was a great su rp rise, indeed a shock, when Frau Marianne
jheard her son Georg, who had been informed of Gustav's
i
behavior in Vienna, burst out in a h a tefu l v o lle y of accu
sa tio n s :
; Du w ills t erben . . . du? Wofur? Wir haben es uns
j h ier sauer werden la ssen , und du h a st gelumpt in Wien.
Wir a ll e , das ganze Hauswesen, durfte so v i e l n ich t
i verbrauchen, a ls du a lle in , heiftt das mit der ,Judin.
I (P. 198)
j
I t was more than she had expected, and what seemed to have
been a world o f hope and great exp ectation was momentarily
sh attered . N everth eless, Frau Marianne knew th at Gustav,
her id o l, who always confided in h er, even the sm allest of
100
se c r e tsj was s t i l l devoted to h er. She was determined, in
!fact desperate, in her attempts to avoid any further com-
!
i
jp lication s to her already burdened mind.
!
In der Nacht . . . tr a t s i e an das B ett ih res Sohnes;
m it jenen Worten, wie s ie nur ein e r Mutter zu Gebote
; steh en , beschwor s i e ihn, sic h ihr zu e r o ffn e n . S ie
I h a tte k ein L ich t m itgebracht; einem unsichtbaren B eich -
t ig e r b e ic h te te es s ic h le ic h t e r . T o t e n s t ill war e s ;
nur der schwere Odem Frau M ariannes, d ie fliiste r n d e
| Stimme ih res Sohnes ton ten durch das Gemach. (p. 199)
i Here David has created sev era l situ a tio n s which actu -
l
jally are d evices leading to the r e a liz a tio n of impending
|
(tragedy. The Fanny in c id e n ts , both in the v illa g e and in
j |
(Vienna, are necessary in order to bridge the gap leading to j
i
(the tragedy. Even Herr Lohner's death, which foreshadows
I
jtragedy i t s e l f , as w ell as Gustav's la te a rriv a l at h is
j
jfath er's bedside, only contribute to the already e l e c t r i -
I
jcally charged atmosphere. C ertainly Frau Marianne's d es
p erate attempts to fin d a so lu tio n to her son 's problem
point to her deep despair in the knowledge th a t her long
standing fears were slow ly being r e a liz e d . Thus she rea
soned th at Gustav "Mufite vor allem unbedingt aus dem Hause;
sein e arg verfahrenen Angelegenheiten in Wien in Ordnung
bringen. Dann konnte m an w eiter iiberlegen" (p. 201) . Her
motherly in s tin c ts as w ell as her native in tu itio n , which
101
were her gu id elin es during her many years of scheming,
'served to warn h er. "Schwere E reign isse ahnte s ie voraus,
und ihre Schatten war fen sich j e t z t schon verdiisternd auf
I
jihr Gemut" (p. 201). D avid's p o rtra y a l o f Frau Marianne as
i
!a schemer and p lo tte r serv es, at th is juncture, to h ig h lig h t
i
I
(her r e a liz a tio n th at the very outcome she had been tryin g to
Iprevent was, in e f f e c t , beginning to m a te r ia liz e . One
I
senses a certa in haste in her d e c isio n s, as her lo g ic a l |
jprocesses seemed to be supplanted by her darkest fears .
j
iGustav had made h is d ecisio n to return home and enter h is
!
i
(brother's employ as a laborer.
j
| Gustav, who was working hard, seemed to use h is labors
jas a form of punishment or rather as an atonement for h is
mistakes in Vienna. For Frau Marianne, h is in cessan t labor
ing seemed to point more to her fe a r s, in fa c t, " u r n
isch reck lich er Gedanken lo s zu werden" (p. 202). Although
S
i
jno confrontation between the brothers had m aterialized as
jyet, Frau Marianne had asked Gustav to promise her "keinen
jS treit zu veranlassen und auf keine Beleidigung zu erwidern"
j (p. 212). She could sense th at Georg was w aiting for the
jpropitious moment to a c t .
One day, a fter the h arvesting was over, Gustav joined
the celeb ratin g laborers, in sp ite of Frau Marianne's
102
warning .
Das Larmen des F estes und das Gerausch des Tanzes war
| b is in Frau Mariannes Einsamkeit gedrungen. Aufhorchend
I lauschte s ie darauf. Die S t i l l e , die e in tr a t, h atte s ie
I 9 *
j befrem det, das jahe, wuste G eschrei, das sich dann erhob,
j ersch reck t. Nun horte s i e , wie sich langsam plumpe
I T ritte ihrer Kam m er naherten. Sie w o llte ihnen entgegenj
aber s ie fu h lte sich wie g e f e s s e lt und an die S ch olle
i gebunden. Jeden S ch ritt vernahm s ie d eu tlich auf dem
Boden aufstampfen, so langsam und sch w erfallig kam es
| naher, a ls triige m an behutsam etwas Gewichtiges . Unge-
| stum erfaflte s ie ein Schrecken; a lle e n tse tz lic h e n Mog-
lic h k e ite n , die sich ereig n et haben konnten, d u rch lief
i s i e . (p. 216) j
! i
!
She did not need any explanations of what had transpired
because "sie h atte die Geschichte erzahlen konnen, a ls ware j
j l
Isie zugegen und Zeugnis jedes Vorganges gewesen" (p. 217). |
i
Gustav, confronted and antagonized by Georg, had k ille d h is
I
own brother in a towering ra g e. At the very moment th at
Frau Marianne rea lized what had occurred, a panorama of her
en tire l i f e , her plans and hopes passed before her ey es.
"Das a lso war das Ende a lle r ihrer Bemuhungen und Opfer"
| (p. 217). Her d ark est fea r s were now a r e a l i t y .
David did not end th is N ovelle a fter it s tra g ic clim ax,
as the reader would ex p ect. Instead, he added scenes which
seem to contribute to a deeper understanding of Frau Mari
anne Lohner's character, and each subsequent portrayal of
her d ep icts more v iv id ly her tortured so u l. Her movements,
103
|as she attended to the macabre ta sk o f preparing her son's
!
body* were e n tir e ly m echanical. Yet there was a certain
d ig n ity attendant upon each a c t .
| I
{ S ie e n tk le id e te den Toten; den g ew a ltig en Korper sa u -
i b erte s ie vom B lu te , das am Hemde und an den GewSnden j
I s t a r r t e , d ie Augen schloB s ie ihm; mit dem Aufgebote j
I a lle r ih rer K raft lo s t e s ie d ie F a u ste, d ie der Todes- i
kampf verkram pft h a tte ; dann fu g te s ie d ie Hande in e in - j
ander und t a t e in Kreuz dazwischen h in e in . Das G erinn- !
s e l wusch s ie von se in e r Kopfwunde weg und s t r ic h das
; Haar v e r sc h le ie r n d zu rech t, daB es das Schrecknis der
t ie f e n Wunde v e r h iille , aus der s e in Leben e n tflo h en war.
: Dann entzundete s ie d ie T o ten lich ter; je g lic h e s b e r e ite te
| s i e , wie es der Brauch und d ie S itte begehrten. Kein j
| Laut entgang sich dabei ihrer B rust. (p. 217) j
i i
| j
I t is noteworthy to point out David's use of a con- I
| i
jtrastin g s itu a tio n . W hen Fanny Bermann's father died, Fannyj
•too was faced w ith th e sim ila r ta sk o f tak in g care of her
i
jfath er's remains in the customary fa sh io n .
[Fanny] tr a t . . . fu r c h tlo s zum B e tte , u rn das g la n z lo se
Auge zu sc h lie B e n . S ie s e lb s t k le id e te den Toten in
! jen es Hemd, das ihm d ie Braut d e r e in s t am H och zeitstage
| iib erreich t h a tte und d essen k ostb ares Linnen und reich e
| G oldverzierung so sc h le c h t zu d ie se n kum m erentstellten
I A n tlitz paBten, dem n ic h t einm al der Tod sein en fried-
lo sen Ausdruck h a tte benehmen konnen. Dann t r a f s ie
a lie ihre la n g st vorbedachten MaBregeln fur d ie B e sta t-
tu n g. (G W , I , 157)
While Frau Marianne discharged her d u ties in an almost
I
m achine-like manner, Fanny's action betrayed a d e fin ite
ro u tin e. Frau Marianne, overwhelmed by the immensity of
104
the traged y, found her g r ie f to be beyond w ords. "Ein
'wuhlender Schmerz le b te in ihrem H irne, aber er war zu groB
I
jfur Worte, zu neu und zu sc h r e c k lic h , a ls daB s ie h a tte
weinen konnen" (G W , I , 218) . On the other hand, David in
d ic a t e s th a t Fanny shed no te a r s; in fact, she showed no
em otions a t a ll. One could alm ost sen se th a t Fanny had been
a n tic ip a tin g th is death, alm ost w ishing i t . D avid, by
em ploying t h is grotesque c o n tr a st, has focu sed more d ra-
jm atically on Frau Marianne Lohner as a tr a g ic figure.
I
!
| Frau M arianne's tragedy assumes even g rea ter propor
t io n s as she "ging . . . mit s ic h s e lb s t in s G e r i c h t , a n d
j
jarrived a t th e co n clu sio n th a t she had "unm iitterlich g e - j
jhandelt" (p. 219). She became aware of her p a st m istak es,
i
th a t i s , having shown p a r tic u la r fa v o r itism toward one son
w h ile n e g le c tin g the other and d ep rivin g him of equal lo v e .
"DaB s ie es n ic h t verm ochte, daB s ie dem Jiingeren, Erb-
i
jrech tsverku rzten ein e Entschadigung durch das groBere AusmaB
ih rer Neigung b ie te n w o llte , das war ihre Schuld" (p. 219).
Her tr a g ic g u i l t , however, was nothing more than a
" h ?. 219. Furthermore, Caspary makes t h is o b serv a tio n :
"Auf den Trummern ih res Hauses halt Frau Marianne Umschau
und Innenschau. Da erkennt sie, daB a lle s vorausbestim m te,
a l l e s abwagende K lugheit und G erech tig k eit das S ch ick sa l
n ic h t aufhalten" (p. 4 ) .
105
m a n ifesta tio n of her love fo r her sons . Through th e r e co g
n it io n of her own guilt, she became, in a se n se , redeemed
i
■in the eyes of the C reator. S im u ltan eou sly, w ith th e aware
ness of her p a st m istak es, a new f e e lin g o f stren g th seemed
j
to emanate from her. Her thoughts then turned to G ustav, j
i i
who was contem plating escape from th e law . Her v o ic e took
ion a commanding y e t somewhat r e lig io u s tone as she t o ld him:
I
"Du h a st a ls F liic h tlin g k ein M itte l mehr, dich zu entsuhnen,;
aber d r e i furchtbare R ich ter: den in d ir , den auf Erden und
iden iiber dir. Und sie werden dich fin d en , G ustav, a lle d r e i
! i
i !
werden dich finden!" (p. 224). Her beckoning him to a r is e
i
I
land surrender has a true " a ltb ib lis c h e Wucht und E in d rin g- |
I
lic h k e it" (K loos, p . 19). In fact, her p ersu a siv en ess
| lea v es Gustav but one c h o ic e : "Er will tun, was s i e von
| ihm h eisch t" (Caspary, p . 5) .
t
i
l
I
i
The tragedy of Frau K atherina Grenzer (D ie Schwachen)
evolved from a s e t o f m otives and circum stances very sim ila r
to th ose o f Frau Marianne Lohner, although the outcome p re
sen ted a t o t a lly d iffe r e n t p ic tu r e . Frau K atherina, to o ,
jwas faced w ith a tr a g ic dilemma, the r e s u lts of which were
immune to her con stan t m a n ip u la tio n s. Circum stances made
106
her r e a liz e th a t she had no ch o ice but "inuner den M ittle r
[sp ielen zu mussen, wo es k ein e V erm ittlung g ib t , keine
iandere Losung, a ls daft e in e r dem anderen weiche" (G W , III.,
|49) . She was a ls o aware th a t "irnmer h a tte b isla n g der B es-
sere den sc h le c h te r en T e il gezogen" (p. 49). In a d d itio n ,
both of th e se str u g g lin g mothers are d istin g u ish e d by th e ir
I
I
s t a t e of mind. While Frau Marianne attem pted to ignore her i
! I
b a sic fea r s or pretend th a t they were n o n e x iste n t, Frau
■ i
i
i
j
K atherina was com p letely cogn izan t o f th e problems fa cin g
her and was co n fid en t o f her a b i l i t y to r e so lv e th e differ-
I
iences between her sons .
j
j When H einrich returned home a fte r many years of ab-
|sen ce, Frau Katherina soon p erceiv ed th a t her hopes th a t her
Isons would liv e am icably were nothing more than an il l u s i o n .
i
]
jThe e x is t in g anim osity was compounded by the fa c t th a t
I
‘ H einrich developed a deep a ttr a c tio n fo r L ise , h is b r o th er's
I
!in ten d ed . Thomas saw th a t a r e la tio n s h ip was developing
j
between L ise and H einrich and pleaded w ith h is mother to
persuade H einrich to le a v e . Frau K atherina saw no choice
but to in terv en e on th e sid e of Thomas as she sa d ly r e
marked : "Ich w erd' ihm w ieder weh tun mussen! Ich w erd's
j
w ieder mussen!" (p. 45). Uppermost in her mind at th is
p o in t was the s e c r e t knowledge which exp la in ed H ein rich 's
107
previous d isap p earan ce.
| Thomasj im patient to claim h is bride and f u ll of hate
toward h is brother, confronted Heinrich and accused him of
cowardice for having l e f t home when he should have claimed
h is r ig h tfu l place as h eir to the fam ily e s t a te . Heinrich
I
jfe lt deeply wronged by h is brother's mistaken a lleg a tio n s
|and f e l t obliged to divulge the actu al reason for h is de
p artu re. H e rela ted th a t Frau Katherina had approached him
i
sh o r tly a fte r her husband's death and pleaded:
! S ie h s t du, du b i s t k lu g , und w ir st d ir fo r th e lfe n .
1 Aber der Thomas? W as s o i l ' s mit dem Thomas? Er taugt
ja zu n ic h ts ! Nicht einmal Knecht kann er s e in . Und
j
S soil er sem Lebtag herum liegen und das Gnadenbrot
| essen ? Erbarm' d ich H einrich! (p. 53)
i
i
jThus Heinrich departed from h is Heimat not because of cow-
!
lardice but because of a d eep -sea ted d e sir e to a lla y h is
I
(mother's fe a r s and perm it h is brother to liv e w ith a measure
I
,of d ig n ity . At t h is p o in t H einrich refu sed to s a c r if ic e
h im se lf again , as he tr u ly felt th a t he had the r ig h t to
some degree of h a p p in ess. Frau Katherina would now be
o b lig ed to use a l l her powers both as a mother and m ediator,
knowing "dafi ihr der schw erste Kampf e ig e n t lic h noch b evor-
stiinde" (p. 49).
Although David portrayed Frau Marianne Lohner as a
108
jsomewhat softh earted , indulgent mother liv in g with constant
lanxiety, th is was cer ta in ly not the case in the ch aracter-
i
jization of Frau Katherina Grenzer . In Frau Katherina David
|has created a character whose determ ination to preserve her
Isons ' liv e s at any cost far outweighs any reservations re- J
!
igarding her course of a ctio n . W hen Frau Katherina confessed
[
|to Heinrich th at she had no choice but to ask him to leave
i
a fter her husband's death, he was sk ep tica l and apparently j
!
|sensed th at she was about to embark on a sim ilar course i
| i
; j
lagain. While conceding th at "der Mensch s o i l n ich t Herr- j
I I
Igott sp ie le n wollen" (p. 57), she j u s tifie d her action by J
t |
!sta tin g th at no other option was open to her i f she was to j
I I
[preserve Thomas 1 l i f e and se lf-e ste e m .
Frau K atherina's ap ologetic approach did not impress
i
H einrich. She changed her t a c tic s and began to reso rt to
[fla tte r y as w ell as a r e c ita tio n of her personal su ffe r in g .
;She continued by str e ssin g H einrich's q u a litie s . At the
Isame time one senses th at she contrived to make him f e e l
i
j
g u ilt y . She remarked:
J e tz t, hab' ich geglaubt, h e ir a te t der Thomas die L ise,
und er hat s ie gern . Da wird er das Trinken lassen und
wird gut; er geht ja so nur ins W irtshaus, wenn ihn was
krankt. Da kommst du, und a lle s i s t au s. DaB s ie dich
lieb er nimmt . . . das i s t doch s ic h e r . Aber er braucht
s ie gewiB mehr a ls du. Und du tau gst gar n ich t fur s ie ,
du b is t v i e l zu gut und v i e l zu a lt fur s i e . Das, hab'
109
ich gem eint, w ir st du doch ein se h e n . (p. 57)
As th is p lea , to o , had no e f f e c t on H einrich, she made one
la s t attempt to convince him to leave, "und a lle S e lb s t-
j
jbeherrschung vergessend, stiirzte s ie vor ihm nieder und hob
i
|b itte r schluchzend beide Hande im Jammer zu ihm auf" (p.
I
5 8 ) . H einrich was unable to r e s is t h is mother's h y ste r ic a l j
p leas and he f in a lly consented to depart. His fin a l words,
|
1 "Du h a st mir arg wehgetan, Mutter" (p. 59), although h arsh,
ir e a lis t ic a lly convey the tragedy of Frau Katherina. This
!
|devoted mother, who sought nothing more than the w ell-b ein g j
| s
of her son s, was to su ffer immeasurably for her a c ts . She
|
'wanted to preserve the weak, y et in so doing she had ca st
out the stron g.
In both Das Hoferecht and Die Schwachen David has
focused h is a tten tio n on the mother figu re and the tra g ic
Ioutcome of her manipulations of her so n s. Frau Marianne
jLohner is by far the more tra g ic fig u re, sin ce her son lo s t
|his life. Furthermore, in both N ovellen David has created
I
i
young g ir ls who act as o b stacles or d isru p tive forces and
serve to compound the already strain ed r e la tio n s between
the b roth ers. In both in stan ces, the mothers must be deemed
g u ilty of having shown favoritism to one son in the hope of
1 1 0
p rotectin g him. Their g u ilt , and i t s tra g ic consequences,
is a force w ith which they must come to term s.
CHAPTER V II
I
i T H E TRAGIC QUEST FOR L O V E !
I J
| I
Love and i t s tra g ic consequences appear as a cen tra l
theme in sev era l of David's N ovellen . The love th at the
(author creates for h is protagonists is usu ally reserved and i
i J
(restrained, and deemphas izes the sexual aspects (see pp.
i
139-40 above), focusing more on the quest for s p ir itu a l and ;
( I
!
imoral g r a t if ic a tio n . This love u ltim ately becomes u n attain
able and in the knowledge th at the quest is f u t i l e , the
i
jfemale characters s a c r if ic e themselves in one way or an
oth er. I t is th is s e l f - s a c r i f i c e as w e ll as the stru ggle
which precedes i t th at c o n stitu te the tragedy of the woman
character .
I
Hanka Jerab in Die Hanna had been su c c e ssfu lly con-
i
ivinced by her husband to pose in the nude for h is p a in tin g .
This f i r s t s a c r ific e for h is a r t i s t i c s a tis fa c tio n had l e f t
her with the fe e lin g th at she had sinned and she was, in
deed, troubled. When she expressed her deep fe e lin g s of
111
g u ilt to her husband, he merely laughed and advised her to
go to co n fessio n . This remark served only to in te n sify her
jfeelin g s of wrongdoing and she was aghast at h is in s e n s i-
i
jt iv it y and at the thought th at "noch einer s o i l es wissen"
' (G W , VI, 176). Her action in locking and rechecking the
I
!
door in d ica tes more than ju st fear: "irgendwie sch lieftt ihr
Sein damit ab" (Kloos, p. 119). Hanka's s e n s itiv e s p ir it
began to wither away.
; !
! As the narrator, F lorian Peters ilk a , rela ted the sto ry ,
j
ihe co n tin u a lly made reference to h is past behavior and one
i |
has the fe e lin g th at he is c a stig a tin g him self for h is |
I i
i !
le r r o r s. He r e c a lle d v iv id ly the day th at he fin ish ed the
I painting and u n in ten tio n a lly to ld h is w ife th at he did not
need her any longer. Hanka m isinterpreted these poorly
chosen words and murmured sad ly, "Ja, du brauchst mich nicht
imehr" (p. 180) . Her s e n s itiv e sou l regarded th is as the end
of h is love, that h is need for her was purely a r t i s t i c and
I
|th is function was now f u l f i l l e d .
In many Novellen the author makes use of symbols which
r e la te to death. These symbols not only jar the reader into
the inescapable conclusion th at death is imminent, but a lso
act as the impetus which s e ts the p ro ta g o n ist's thoughts
moving in th at very d ir e c tio n . In Die Hanna, the most
113
obvious symbol was the sp e c ia l crate th at F lorian Peters ilk a
had ordered for the shipping of the p a in tin g . In a joking
!
|fashion, he beckoned to h is w ife and said* "Hanka, kom m und
I
I
jh ilf m ir. Wir packen dich ein" (p. 181) . What appeared to
I
be a harmless play on words became a grotesque r e a lit y for j
i |
jHanka. In her ir r a tio n a l s ta te , she must have envisioned
1
i
jherself as entombed in the cra te, thus being unable to d i s
tin gu ish between her own being and the p a in tin g . In addi- !
I
I
tio n , she appeared t o t a lly nonplussed by h is d esire to have i
i
|the painting exh ib ited and she was h o r r ifie d th at her image |
i I
would decorate someone's w a ll. "Und du mochtest mich h er-
; geben, Florian? Einem fremden Mannsbild? Damit e r 's in
I
iein Zimmer hangt, in welches es ihm paftt und mich an sieh t,
wenn und wie es ihm beliebt?" (p. 183). In her eyes F lorian
was transformed from the loving su ito r she knew in to a
flaming a r t is t seeking rich es and reco g n itio n . She con
tinued to beg him to give up the idea of showing the p a in t-
jing, but he was impervious to her p le a s.
As Florian continued to pack the p ictu re, H arika f in a lly
arrived at the tra g ic r e a liz a tio n th at her love for him was
imeaningless when compared to h is a r t i s t i c d e m a n d s S h e
^Kloos observes : "Die Liebe i s t ihre Erfullung und
Volle n dung" (p. 118) .______ ____________________ ___________________
I 114
I
j s imply could not compete with h is crea tiv e s p i r i t which
isubordinated everything but h is a r t. Thus her l i f e ceased
i
|to have any meaning. In fa c t, she even helped F lorian n a il
jthe cra te, sym bolically sea lin g her own doom. The next j
i |
(morning she took her own l i f e by drowning h e r s e lf in the
!
(river. According to Kloos, "Ihr Tod im FluB . . . i s t nur
|
jdie SuBere Form ihres inneren Sterbens" (p. 120).
i
| In retro sp ect, Florian saw th at Hanka's l i f e had become;
jthe s a c r ific e which was e s s e n t ia l for the creation of an j
( |
jenduring work of a r t. "Soil ein groBer Bau gelin gen , so !
( |
m uB in den Grundstein etwas Lebendiges mitvermauert werden"
; (p. 186). F lorian f in a lly came to the r e a liz a tio n that
IHanka's love for him could not be recon ciled with h is a r
t i s t i c drives . He became aware th at her su icid e was an act
of love in that i t endowed him with even greater creative
Ipowers . According to F lorian, "die Seele der Hanka i s t in
i
t
mir und sc h a fft aus m ir" (p. 186).
i
i
The fa te of Margaret (Die s t i l l e Margaret) , the inno
cent g i r l who became infatuated with a p r ie s t, is very
sim ilar to that of Hanka. Margaret, too, threw h e r s e lf in to
the riv er in the knowledge th at a union with Pater F e lic ia n
115
jwould be im p ossib le. Only Margaret's mother was aware of
!the magnitude of th is a ct, for she rea lized th at Margaret
|
!"starb, w e il s ie nich t siindigen w ollte" (G W , I I I , 143).
IWhile M argaret's su icid e was in i t s e l f an act of tra g ic
I
Idimensions, her mother's b a ttle w ith the Church to have her
daughter receiv e the la s t r ite s became the fulcrum of the
tragedy. Margaret had sa c r ific e d her l i f e in order to p re-
i
■elude the p o s s ib ilit y of entering into a s in fu l relationship!
! i
i !
jwith the p r ie s t . Yet in her desperate attempt to avoid one
i
|sin , she committed the mortal sin in the eyes of the Church.
| !
!ln th is resp ect, David, through the words of the mother, j
! |
iobliquely c r it ic iz e s the Church for the p ractice of refu sin g
i
jfin a l absolution to su icid e v ic tim s.
I
i When Frau Pelar was advised of Pater F e lic ia n 's r e
fu sa l to adm inister the la s t r ite s to her daughter she b e
came enraged and was determined to seek ju stic e for Margaret
i
in the h e r e a fte r . Frau Pelar sta ted th at Margaret "hat h ier
!
genug ausgestanden, ich weifl es . S ie s o i l driiben ihre Ruhe
I
haben und in geweihter Erde schlafen" (p. 141) . Frau
P elar's im plication was th at Margaret's su fferin g s were two
fo ld ; she su ffered both from m aterial deprivations and from
torments of the sou l in her unrequited lo v e . The mother
h e r s e lf confronted the p r ie s t; he could do nothing but
116
r e ite r a te the Church's p o sitio n in th is m atter—Margaret's
*death was a s in f u l act and nothing could be done for her
so u l. Frau Pelar could not accept th is as fin a l and she
ifirmly to ld Pater F e lic ia n that he must administer the fin a l
j
i
[blessing. The p r ie s t, surprised by her commanding tone,
rep lied : "Ich muB? Und warum? . . . M ufi i s t e in strengerer
Herr, a ls ich d a r f" (p. 143). I t was obvious from the
p r ie s t 's undaunted posture that he was s t i l l com pletely un- '
!
jaware of the reasons for Margaret's s u ic id e . Frau Pelar saw
i
'that she had no recourse but to divulge the truth in one j
| |
ilast e ffo r t to seek ju s tic e for her daughter. "Ihr mufit— j
■ j
jsie i s t urn Euch gestorben" (p. 143), she d eclared.
Frau P ela r's d eclaration opened the p r i e s t ’s eyes to
the events o f the immediate p a st. Here David has used Frau
Pelar as a v e h ic le which causes Pater F e lic ia n to examine
h is past and question h is r e la tio n sh ip with the Church. He
i
jbegan to r e c a ll Margaret's v i s i t to the parish, her awkward,
I
I
jsheepish approach, and even her f in a l c o n fessio n . He saw
I
I
that h is g rea test fa ilu r e both as a p r ie s t and as a human
being had been h is in a b ility to comprehend the s itu a tio n .
"Ein gutes Wort—und s ie lebte v i e l l e i c h t noch" (p. 144),
he thought to h im se lf. Pater F e lic ia n 's newly found f e e l
ings of remorse enabled him to show compassion for the
117
p arents. Now he even found h im self questioning the ten ets
of the very Church to which he had pledged h is l i f e . H e
I
i
f e l t "den Schmerz ihrer E ltern, denen das Kind, das im Leben
so v i e l duldend in sic h versch lo ssen , nun auch im Tode nicht
Idie gebuhrende Weihe und k e in e r le i Ehrung empfangen s o llte "
(p. 147).
j Pater F e lic ia n 's personal in ten tio n to seek permission
'from h is superiors for Margaret's la s t r it e s was, however, j
i
f r u it le s s . He soon learned that he him self was nothing more
than an expendable to o l of an exten sive hierarchy. I t was
I i
ith is r e a liz a tio n and perhaps the fa c t th at he considered
ihim self the cause of Margaret's death th at prompted him to j
iignore the Church's ru les and bestow upon Margaret the la s t
j
jr ite s . However, th is step represented a c r u c ia l act against
the ten ets of the Church and h is vows to obey the law s. He
imust, of n e c e ssity , leave the Church. Ir o n ic a lly , he moved
I
jaway to another country and converted to P rotestantism .
Both Margaret and Hanka Jerab sought a love th at was
unattainable in th at n eith er could compete with the pursuits
2
Caspary has made the follow ing observation: "Erst die
to te Liebe leh rt ihn das und noch manches andere dazu. Mit
ein er Art von Ironie . . . gewinnt die Tote Gewalt fiber den
Lebenden und er wird ihr Eigentum" (p. 27 ).
118
iof th e ir loved ones. Just as Hanka's love was secondary to
j
;Florian's c r e a tiv ity , Margaret too rea lized th at her love
was f u t ile when matched with Pater F e lic ia n 's devotion to
jthe Church. Ir o n ic a lly , M argaret's "Liebe s ie g t e r s t im
! j
!Tode" (Kloos, p. 9 7 ). These women were m ajestic in th at j
i
!
jthey loved u n til the la s t moment of th e ir liv e s . Their
i
Isa crifice in the name of love was undoubtedly a supreme
: i
a c t. Kloos has observed very ap tly th at "der Drang zum |
I i
jGluck . . .ein W eg zum Tode ist" (p. 99) . j
] i
j I
I
] The tragedy of Renata Malespina (Die Tochter F ortunats)
j
is very d iffe r e n t from that of Hanka and Margaret, although
Renata too lo ses her l i f e . Renata's tragedy resid es b a s i
c a lly in her ir r a tio n a l fear of en tering in to a love r e la
tio n sh ip , a fear which was an outgrowth of her d isastrou s
j
jmarriage to Dr. Andrea and the notion th at a fam ily curse
i
had been v is it e d upon h er. In ad d ition , Renata was a ctu a lly
jconvinced that she was doomed to unhappiness . "Auch safi der
Glaube an ihre G lu ck losigk eit zu t i e f in ihrer Seele" (G W ,
3
I I , 146). Renata Malespina resolved to liv e as a reclu se
3
In th is regard, Caspary has made the observation:
"Nun wird d iese M alespina—Ravenna; das S chick sal der e in s t
119
in the hope th at any p o ssib le consequences brought about by
the fam ily curse would die with her . For th is reason she
j
con sciou sly avoided Renatus Spada, the young man to whom she
i
was so a ttr a c te d .
The e lig ib le men of the town regarded Renata very
i
h ig h ly , for she was quite b e a u tifu l and was the in h eritor of
her fa m ily 's fortu n e. In sp ite of th eir a tten tio n , she
j
labsolutely rejected th e ir advances and was determined not toj
im plicate h e r s e lf . "Alle die urn Liebe b e tte lte n , erschienenj
I
ihr verachtlich " (p. 142). The c it y e ld e r s, on the other j
ihand, who were in to x ica ted with the idea that her fortune j
j |
jcould f a l l into th eir midst, seized the opportunity to ac-
j
quire i t by other, more devious means. They claimed to have
heard a rumor th at Renata "hie I t zu Nacht geheime Zwiege-
sprache" (p. 148). Although the truth was simply that she
read Dante aloud in the evenings, the c ity eld ers seized
j
iupon th is spurious rumor to le v e l a charge of heresy against
her. In order to su b stan tiate th is accusation, they ques
tioned the servan ts, who r e c a lled th at they had never seen
a cro ss, "oder sonst ein Sinnbild des c h r istlic h e n Glaubens
so glSnzenden Stadt i s t das ih r e : Eine g efa llen e Grofie die
le b t von Erinnerungen, unnahbar vornehm und von auBerm un-
beschreibbarem Charme" (p. 2 0) .
12 0
junter dem Schmuck, den s ie an ihrem Leibe zu tragen pflegte"
'(p. 149). The eld ers so cunningly aroused the townspeople
th at everyone became convinced th at Renata was in league
iwith the d e v il. "Nicht umsonst verarmte Ravenna" (p. 149).
Renata knew th at her a rrest and t r i a l would culminate |
! I
j i
I in her being condemned as a witch and that she would be j
i
! I
iburned at the sta k e. She did not make any attempts to r e - j
; i
s i s t or even defend h e r s e lf . She knew that the exten t of j
I |
;the in trigu e against her would render f u t ile any action she j
1 |
! I
imight tak e. In a se n se , she welcomed the thought of death; j
| i
she regarded i t as a r elea se from the burdens of the curse
land l i f e . |
| Als ein Opfer b etrach tete s ie s ic h , das die endlose
Reihe der Verschu Id ungen der Malespina biiften miisse .
| S elb st mit dem Heiland, dem W eltenerloser, v e r g lic h s ie
sich auf jenem wege, und ihr S to lz sog aus diesem Ge-
danken so sufie Nahrung, daft s ie dafiir noch ganz andere
Qualen auf sic h genommen h S tte, a ls die ihrer warten
I muftten. Wie Christus w o llte s ie f r e iw illig auf sich
I nehmen, was ihr beschieden war; denen, die s ie immer
I gehaftt und v e r fo lg t, noch eine le t z t e Freude verderben:
' s ie s o llt e n Renata Malespina nich t peinigen durfen, die
i W ollust nicht haben, s ie v i e l l e i c h t unter den Qualen
|
I der F olter schwach werden zu sehen; s ie s o llt e n ihr die
| Schonheit n icht zerstoren durfen, die ihre beste Freude
und dennoch wieder ihr grofttes Ungliick gewesen war, u rn
d ie s ie a lle g e lie b t und dann wieder gehaftt h atten .
Niemand s o l l t e s ie zur Marter entbloftt sehen durfen.
(pp. 152-153)
The c it y eld ers allowed themselves to be t o t a lly corrupted
1 2 1
in order to secure her fortu n e. By unmasking th e ir p lo t and
d escrib ing th e ir in trig u e , David p ictu res them as t o t a lly
je v il. At the same time he con trasts them w ith Renata. Her
jmoral and s p ir itu a l a ttrib u tes are thus h ig h lig h ted .
! When Renata was brought to prison , her thoughts turned
I
continuously to Renatus Spada, whose proposal she had ea r
lie r r e je c te d . U nfortunately, Renatus had committed a crime
w hile attem pting to defend Renata's honor and he was given
|the choice of paying w ith h is l i f e or becoming the town
execu tion er. Renata was soon entrusted to h is keeping.
I !
! "Als er s ie dann hart anfaSte, da s tie g . . . ein heifier
Strom t i e f aus ihrem Innersten auf: die Gewalt der Mann- |
I
i
jlic h k e it und der Kraft beruhrte zum erstenm al das ahnende
jweib" (p. 156). Thus, in the la s t few hours before Renata's
i
I
I
execu tion , the young couple r e a liz e d th at they were in lo v e.
Facing death, Renata ca st aside her fears of love and for
I
jthe f i r s t time f e l t free to express her em otions. "Sie
jhorten n ich ts; a ls g e lte es fur Ewigkeiten, so f e s t urn-
I
jschlossen s ie s ic h . Bis zur Neige leerten s ie den Taumel-
trank, nach den es s ie so lange gediirstet h a t t e " (p. 160).
! Renata went to her death m a jestica lly without fear or
r e g r e t. She had f in a lly experienced love and knew i t to be
e te r n a l. Renatus, on the other hand, regarded th is
122
execution as sheer to r tu r e . He h im self was obliged to
I
k in d le the flames which would engulf h is beloved. Once more
he wanted to touch her before she died: "Er konnte nicht
I
anders, er muflte noch einmal ihre Lippen kiissen, ihr Knie
umschlingen" (p. 161). The crowd, impatient to see the
j
i
(Spectacle, urged Renatus to proceed. He was deaf to th eir
ica lls . F in a lly the c it y eld ers threw the torch and Renata
i
• |
land Renatus perished in the co n fla g ra tio n .
I Perhaps David intended to present the idea th at l i f e
j i
jis meaningless without love . With death imminent, Renata |
i I
iwas free to love because she knew that the curse would end i
i
! i
;with h er. "Siegreich le id e t s i e , s t ir b t s i e . Doch n ich t, j
ium die tragisch e Erschiitterung zu vollenden, eher, als b is
jihre Seele sic h geoffenbart hat der L iebe" (Caspary, p. 21 ).
While Hanka and Margaret s a c r ific e d themselves because they
loved in vain , Renata died in the knowledge th at her l i f e
|was com plete—she had loved and was loved in return. She
I
Iwas com pletely f u l f i l l e d .
CHAPTER V I I I
TEM PTATION A N D ITS CO NSEQ UENCES
The universal desire of a l l human beings to achieve a
degree of m aterial comfort and to fin d happiness in th eir
liv e s is uniquely treated in the N o v elle, Woran starb S io -
nida? The main character, Olga Michailowna, is faced with
the unhappy choice of continuing her poor, d u ll, and r e
clu siv e ex isten ce or engaging in an i l l i c i t rela tio n sh ip
which would undoubtedly bring excitem ent and fin a n c ia l r e
ward to her otherwise drab l i f e . The in ev ita b le tragedy
occurs, not as a r e s u lt of any overt a ct, but merely as a
consequence of the ir r e s is t ib le temptations which confront
Olga in her qu est. I t is probable th at David's in sp ira tio n
for th is story was rooted in h is poverty-ridden ex isten ce
as w e ll as h is great admiration for Goethe,^ as th is
■*"Schruf makes the follow ing point: "Fur Goethe, den
groftten unserer D ichter, hegte David ehrfurchtige Bewunde-
rung" (p. 8 7 ).
123
124
N o v e lle , in one resp ect, bears a resemblance to Goethe's
I
■ Die Wahlverwandschaf t e n . This chapter w i l l tr e a t the
jtragedy of the female character, as a r e su lt of the stru ggle
ibetween tem ptation and v ir tu e , in only one Novelie .
Marriage did not improve Olga's l i f e at a l l , as her
i i
i i
husband's meager salary merely supplied the n e c e s s itie s of
l i f e and allowed nothing for luxury. As a b rid e, she had
i
undoubtedly envisioned a comfortable and p restig io u s l i f e
jas the w ife of a government o f f i c i a l . The fa c t that her j
Ihusband's promised promotion was long overdue only added to j
;Olga's d is s a tis fa c tio n with th e ir prospects for the fu tu re.
jShe wanted desperately to liv e l i f e to i t s f u l l e s t now and i
,the im p o ssib ility of th is caused her to become obsessed with
the notion of poverty and d eprivation.
i
Olga's unfortunate circumstances began to appear even
jmore fru stra tin g a fter she met her old friend Eudoxia
IPrussow. Eudoxia was surrounded by an aura of luxury, wear-
i
|ing b e a u tifu l garments and bedecked with jew els. Neverthe
le s s , Olga soon became puzzled by the r e a liz a tio n th at th eir
jencounter was not a ccid en ta l. This fe e lin g was heightened
|by Eudoxia's clumsy attempts to convey to Olga the idea that
l
she too could acquire these outward signs of r ic h e s. In
what seemed to be a most innocent v ein , Eudoxia asked Olga:
125
"Weiftt du, wer dein Nachbar ist?" (G W , I I I , 2 1 ). This ques
tio n referred to Kamenski, the neighbor, who had apparently
j
jtaken a fancy to Olga and was rely in g on Eudoxia to arrange
i
ia rendezvous. Eudoxia began to laud Kamenski's q u a litie s
i
I
i
[and em phatically mentioned h is gen erosity toward h is
i i
Ifriends. Olga, who was innocent and inexperienced, was |
! I
jaghast when she perceived the im plications of her fr ie n d 's j
l j
statem ents and asked Eudoxia to le a v e .
; i
j
; Although Olga Michailowna's reaction in d icated her j
j I
jstrong fe e lin g s of m orality, the author allu des to her over-
ipowering d esire for a more e x c itin g and luxurious e x iste n c e .
J
| I
|At th is point Olga resembles Madlena Zapleta (C y r ill Wal-
! !
1 le n ta )j n eith er could contemplate entering in to an a d u lter
ous r e la tio n sh ip . For Olga i t was unthinkable, as she had
not even met Kamenski.
W hen Eudoxia Prussow reappeared, Olga Michailowna was
jcalmer and gave the impression th at she could be persuaded
i
|to fin d out more about her frie n d 's p rop o sitio n . She con
tinued to e x h ib it a d e fin ite fear as i f she were torn b e
tween her ingrained p rin cip les of m orality and her strong
jdesire to enjoy l i f e . Apparently Eudoxia was aware of th is
c o n flic t and she cunningly seized the moment to present
Kamenski's o ffer and r e ite r a te the b e n e fits which would be
126
d eriv ed .
|
Du k la g st, wie sch lech t du es h a st, und es i s t so in
Wahrheit. Ich z e i g 1 d ir , wie du d ir h elfen kannst.
Genieflt du deine Jugend?— . . . Nun, da i s t ja dein
! Mann. Gibt er d ir , was du brauchst? . . . Ja, aber
I wie einer Magd, und w e il du ihn die s p a r s t. Aber sonst
| —hast du K leider, wie sic h gehoren? . . . Denkst du,
; ich habe meine Sachen von meinem? Und keine Furstin
I konnte b esser leben, a ls ich . Und ich habe M itleiden j
mit d ir . Da i s t e in Herr, e in w irk lich grofier Herr, I
den die schonsten Frauen von Petersburg g e lie b t haben.
i Er aber lie b t nur dich, i s t ganz v o l l von d ir , gabe
d ir , was du begehren kannst: Diamanten, a lle Unter-
haltung, daft du keine Sorge mehr h a t t e s t . (p. 23) j
i I
Eudoxia even reprimanded Olga for rebuffing Kamenski, who I
j i
jhad e a r lie r attempted to ta lk to h er. Eudoxia preyed on !
i
(Olga's weakness by s p e llin g out the luxuries Kamenski could
■ i
| I
provide, a p e r siste n t and convincing argument which almost
(weakened Olga's r e s o lv e . When Olga pointed out very m ildly
|
th at th is would be "ein Unrecht. Eine grofte Siind" (p. 24),
Eudoxia was quick to reply: "Sunde? Kann s e in . Unrecht?
!
iWieso? Nimmst du deinem Manne was? Nein. Du g ib s t nur
|einem anderen auch etw as" (p. 2 4 ). I t is apparent that
|
jEudoxia had become confident th at her friend would succumb.
i
jW hen Olga innocently asked: "W enn aber Hermann dahinter
kommt, es m erkt," Eudoxia only laughed, revealin g her true
character. "Habe noch keinen gesehen, der etwas gemerkt
h a tte , Seelchen. Du glaubst n ich t, wie dumm s ie sind" (p.
127
24). In a b u sin esslik e tone she im patiently asked: "W illst
i
mit Kamenski sprechen? S ag's, wo und w ie. Ich b e s t e lle 's
ihm" (p. 24).
I In th is story David has again employed contrasting
I
j
Icharacters as a means of enhancing and in te n sify in g th e ir
I I
fa u lts and v ir t u e s . By portraying Eudoxia as a debased
creatu re, the author is able to focus the reader's a tten tio n
on Olga's moral dilemma. Furthermore, David uses Olga's i
j |
; I
jplight to make a very t e l l i n g statem ent on man's vu ln era- j
| |
jb ility in the grips of poverty and d esp air. There is no j
i !
idoubt th at u tter hopelessness renders lo g ic a l d e c isio n -
jmaking almost im possible and lessen s man's a b ilit y to cope
with tem ptation. Eudoxia's poisoned seeds seem to have
taken root in Olga's thoughts. "In der Seele aber wachst
mir die Sehnsucht nach GenieSen; ich glaube, ich ware g e -
i
'storben in d ieser Z eit fur einen t o lle n Tanz, fur eine
Fahrt, wie man's nur in RuSland kennt" (p. 24).
| One day, as Olga was returning home, she was greeted
I
by Kamenski, who had been w aiting for h er. Her r e c o lle c tio n
of th at grievous encounter r e f le c t s the torment th at she
underwent in her stru ggle not to succumb to Kamenski.
Er griiSt mich, ich danke; danach geht er auf mich zu
und h a lt mir die Hand h in . Ich spure ein e dumpfe Angst—
aber bin ich e in k le in e s Kind? Ich schlage e in , und er
128
schaut mich dann an: h e l l , fr o h lic h , iibermutig, dafl
ich verlegen werde und zu Boden sehe . Er h a lt meine
Hand f e s t ; ich glaube, ich w ill s ie losmachen, und kann
es n ic h t. So, neben ihm s t e ig ' ich die Stufen aufwSrts,
bemerke, die vierzeh nte i s t schon ausgetreten, und ang-
| s tig e mich: da kann Andrej f a lle n , t o l l wie er i s t .
Und der Weg dauert lang und w i l l gar kein Ende nehmen;
mir i s t , a ls schleppte ich mich nur so, und wie eine
! Flamme zungelt es von Kamenski zu mir. Ich zahle jede
F lie s e und weiB doch n i e : Was wird? W o bin ich? W as
| dann? Sein Mund v erzieh t sic h sp o ttisc h ; es kocht in
mir vor Wut. Da h o r' ich: "Miitterchen, h i l f mir, s ie
erschlagen michI" g e lle n d . Das i s t E lisab eth ; ich mache
! einen Ruck—meine Hand i s t f r e i , das ganze Wiiste, was
mich beklemmt, i s t wie weggeblasen; ich sturze durch die
’ Kuche ins Zimmer. (p. 25)
F ate, in the form of her c h ild 's c a l l , intervened and r e -
I 3 3
solved her precarious s itu a tio n . U ltim ately, her lo y a lty
|to her ch ild ren , which appeared to be even stronger than
|her moral v ir tu e , gave her the courage to r e s i s t . At that
very moment, her husband burst in to the house with the news
|that he had f in a lly received h is long-awaited promotion.
I
i
| In a lo g ic a l sen se, the Novelle could have ended on
ith is very happy n ote. However, the actual tragedy would
jthen be n o n ex isten t. Ihe author continued the N o v elie,
I
presenting the tragedy as an outgrowth of the previous
even t. Olga confessed to the narrator th at "die Furcht von
jener Stunde kann ich nicht loswerden" (p. 26). Although
the incid en t had not shamed her in any manner, i t s very
memory continued to plague h e r . The fa c t that she even
129
considered adultery weighed h ea v ily upon her. "Mir i s t ,
jwie wenn man mit dem G esicht in e in Spinnennetz geraten i s t .
'M an fiih lt die FMden iib erall, und lange noch, nachdem man sie
i
I
jlos h at, i s t dort etwas Fremdes, Unangenehmes" (pp. 26-27).
i
|At the time of that f a t e f u l event, Olga Michailowna was
I
pregnant. She was t o t a lly unable to erase from her memory
the fr ig h t th at her daughter's cry caused. Olga acknowl
edged th at "der Schrecken hat sich mir in die Seele g e - j
jschlagen; da s i t z t er manchmal s t i l l , und danach f l a t t e r t
!
ler wieder in mir" (p. 27) . j
j l
i After the b irth of her ch ild Olga r eca lled th at a
istrange fe e lin g p e r siste d .
I
Vom ersten Tage an, wo mich Sionide anschaut, spiire
ich: etwas stoftt mich zuriick von ih r. Ihr B lick e r in -
nert mich an etwas; ich weifi nicht gewifi, was es i s t ,
aber ich empfinde dunkel, an etwas, das ich gerne v e r -
gessen mochte. (pp. 27-28)
:Perhaps she suspected that her experience had had an e f f e c t
2
jon her unborn c h ild . Although she subconsciously refused
i
|to admit th is p o s s ib ilit y , the in fa n t's frigh ten in g and
I
penetrating sta res made her r e a liz e that something was
2
E lla Spiero makes a sim ilar observation: "Aber die
Tochter, die s ie in jener Z eit unter dem Herzen trug, hat in
den Augen e in eigentum liches Leuchten, das die Mutter e r -
schreckt wie ein e Mahnung an die Sunde" (p. 73).
130
amiss . "Hatte ich mich vergangen und gesiindigt, wie ich
nahe daran war, a ls ich s ie trug, dann muftte ich s ie lieben
Oder hassen" (p. 28). No one could explain the reason for
the in fa n t's subsequent death.
I
| The tragedy th at occurred was caused s o le ly by g u ilt .
P aradoxically, th is g u ilt was not the r e s u lt of an ad u lter
ous r e la tio n sh ip , but the r e s u lt of the tem ptations and
i
'desires which possessed Olga Michailowna. Insofar as both j
I
circum stances render the in d ivid u al g u ilty , David regards j
i
i
the mere thought of a s in f u l act as comparable to the act i
! i
i i t s e l f . "Nicht die Tat, sondern das Motiv der Tat e n t- j
Ischeidet uber schuldig und unschuldig, wie dann b e i David
i
jiiberhaupt das Vergehen mehr im G e dank lich en zu suchen ist"
| (Schruf, p. 27). As the c h ild of Eduard and Charlotte in
I
Goethe's Wahlverwandschaften was born with the features of
O t t ilie and the Captain, S ion id a's eyes mirrored her moth-
'er's fr ig h t and g u i l t . Perhaps S ion id a's death served a
|dual fu n ctio n . On the one hand, Sionida was the innocent
!
i
w itness of her mother's tem ptation, and on the other hand
she atoned for her mother's g u ilt through her death.
CHAPTER IX
T H E TR A G ED Y O F SIN
I
I
i David has used the question of sin as another point of
l
[departure in h is portrayal of the stru ggle and torments of
i
t i
ihis ch aracters. I t appears that the author views sin as !
i
the co lla p se or absence of moral and s p ir it u a l values rather
than as the product of e v il. In th is sen se, the s in fu l acts
j
iare inadvertent or predestined and u su ally not planned. In j
! !
(themselves they engender chaos and u ltim a tely create the
I
(tragedy. In most ca ses, the s in fu l act and ensuing tragedy
appear to be the r e s u lt of an uncontrollable force which is
not inspired by lic e n tio u s thoughts, but by an abiding de-
isire for independence. Some of these characters become a l l
!
|the more tr a g ic , not because of th e ir unorthodox acts or
behavior, but through the r e a liz a tio n th at they have sinned.
In cest, one of the most abhorrent crimes again st na
tu re, is the sin which leads to the tra g ic ending in Ver-
sto r te Z e it . While Lois H irschvogel was t o t a lly unaware
131
132
th at she had engaged in a s in fu l rela tio n sh ip , her h a lf-
I
I
'brother Gregor purposefully ignored the immensity of h is
a c tio n s. In fa c t, " h att' irgend wer diesen zweien gesagt,
)
Idafi s ie in ein er in der gesamten C hristenheit unerhorten
!
jsiinde dahinlebten, s ie hatten sic h ganz verdutzt gewundert.
i
ilhnen namlich schien es n ich t also."'*' Their old fath er,
j
j
ihowever, was p a in fu lly aware of the s itu a tio n , y et equally
! I
I relu ctan t to in te r fe r e . As the rela tio n sh ip took on more ,
[serious proportions, he began to f e e l h e lp le ss and a ctu a lly
i I
j i
!fe a r fu l of the consequences. j
D avid's ch aracterization of the old H irschvogel is thatj
j
;of a m an tir e d of the many years of war. Yet in sp ite of
|h is p h ysical posture, he is depicted as the only one who
s t i l l reta in s the remnants of the forgotten mores of the
p a st. H e is w ell aware th at the situ a tio n is already beyond
any sa lv a tio n : "Denn kam e r s t wieder der Fruhling ins Land,
!
I
Idann m uB sich das n icht langer mehr verhehlen lassen , was
das Licht der Sonne niemals erblicken durfte" (p. 315).
Iwhen he f in a lly gathered h is courage and approached h is son
^G W , III, 307. Furthermore, E lla Spiero has made the
observation that the two lovers "geben sich ihren Trieben
h in , unbekummert, ob s ie damit menschliches oder g o ttlic h e s
Recht verletzen" (p. 43).
133
to plead with him to end th is in sa n ity , the fa th e r 's words
were almost b ib lic a l: "Zum Himmel s c h r e it 's , was sic h da
tut. Nicht erhort is t's worden, s e i t die Welt steht" (p.
i317) . Gregor, whose fa ith in r e lig io n and mankind were lo s t
I
|
i
las a r e s u lt of the war, d efied h is fa th er. In fa c t, h is
I
remark to h is father seemed almost to deny old H irsch vogel1 s
jm orality. When the father to ld him th at th is rela tio n sh ip
I
was s in fu l, Gregor answered: "Kann s e in . Nur muBt man's
j in sic h spiiren, wenns eine w ar', mein ic h . Ich verspiir'
!
jnix d ergleich en . Die Lois auch nix. W o i s t denn die
iSund'?" (p. 317) .
This N ovelie seems to amplify David's strong views on
i
I
m orality and h is b e lie f in the v irtu es of a proper upbring-
2
in g . Perhaps David used an in cest p lo t to demonstrate the
horrors produced by a breakdown of m orality and tr a d itio n .
|In more than one instance, David has d irected the reader's
a tten tio n to L ois' lack of education and formal r e lig io u s
tra in in g , thus emphasizing in d ir e c tly the strong need of
I
these th in g s. The author has emphasized equally the d is
illusionm ent and malaise th at the war produced. The c o l-
i
2
Compare, for example, N eunteufel's pride m h is family
(Der Talisman, G W , V, 87).
lapse of a s o c ia l and p o l i t i c a l order is usually accompa
nied by a sim ilar c o lla p se of moral and e th ic a l v a lu e s. In
th is r e sp e c t, the narrator points out: "W o niemand R ich ter,
dort i s t jeder Richter" (p. 32 0) . Thus old H irschvogel, the!
la s t b astion of a dying m orality, had to assume the ro le of |
judge, jury, and execu tion er. He s e t a fir e the house in
which these lo v e r s—h is own ch ild ren —were liv in g , at the ;
same time announcing to God: "Herrgott! Ich hab1 das Mei-
3
nige getan, nun i s t 's an dir!"
I t is through the eyes of the father th at the reader
views and comprehends the tragedy of Lois and Gregor. In a
sen se, the author p laces the burden of g u ilt on the sh ou l
ders of th is weary old man. I t was h is upbringing th at J
i
helped to mold Lois in to the innocent being th at she was. |
i
Her rela tio n sh ip w ith Gregor was ju st an adventure in to I
t
I
m aturity, in to the unknown world of human s e x u a lity . Love j
l
" ist in der Lois das ahnungsvolle Gewahrwerden ihres Weib- j
4 I
turns." i
1
I
i
•^P. 321. Furthermore, in th is regard Groeneweg made
th is remark: "Davids Sprache b rin gt . . . die Angst vor dem
fin ste r e n Gott des a lten Testaments zum Ausdruck" (p. 135).
^Kloos, p. 105. Furthermore, B ienenstein made th is
observation: "Wohl i s t die Liebe der beiden Halbgeschwister
. . . noch eine siindige, aber das innige A neinanderschlie-
Sen zweier Seelen i s t doch e in F ruhlingszeichen" (p. 333).
135
Graf in Adrienne Oudenweerde (Das T oten lied ) , in sharp
contrast to L ois, is presented as a character very much
aware of her sin. There is no question at a l l th at Grafin
Adrienne has b la ta n tly murdered her own husband. The memory
of th is crime has so embedded i t s e l f in her consciousness
th at she seems seized by ir r a tio n a l thoughts and fears .
"Die Einsamkeit hatte ihren Zauberspruch iiber Adriana
|Oudenweerdes Herz hingehaucht; verfangen in ihrem Netze was i
die Frau und wuftte n ich t, wie daraus entrinnen, versuchte es
5
s e lb s t kaum mehr ." Grafin Adrienne's fears seem to have
i
i
!paralyzed her in her attempt to leave the scene of the crime
iand return to the home of her people.
!
Gradually her fears began to coalesce as she sta rted
to feel th at her husband's sou l was haunting h er. She b e
came so distraught th at she a ctu a lly fe lt the need to purge
h e r s e lf of her g u ilt. She e n lis te d the aid of "einem un-
i
jheimlichen G esellen aus dem fernen Norden" (F a r in e lli, p.
243) in order to conjure her dead husband's s p ir it. During
the attempt to confront her husband's image and perhaps
5
G W , III, 364. In ad d ition , F a r in e lli made th is
point: "Hochst s e lte n hat auch David dem geheim nisvoll
Spukhaften der romantischen M itternachtsschauder gehuldigt"
(p. 243).
136
atone for her sin through confession* Grafin Adrienne u l t i
m ately met with an unfortunate accident which caused her
jd e a th .
| The d isto r tio n s of the period in which Grafin Adrienne
I
joudenweerde liv e d were the driving force which le ft her
i
l i t t l e choice but to murder her husband. Her tragedy was
heightened by her g u ilt-r id d e n conscience which plagued her
!u n ceasin gly. The fa c t th at she lo s t her life was almost i
incidental^ but what is important is th at the r e a liz a tio n j
i |
jof the magnitude of her sin caused her to seek relea se from j
i I
ithis bondage. Thus Grafin Adrienne's actions were powered j
; |
jby two uncontrollable forces : first* the need to be free
jof the tyranny of her mate and second* the drive to be free
|
jof the burden of g u ilt.
| While Grafin Adrienne's murder of her husband was a
icalculated act* i t s ju stific a tio n --w h e n viewed from her
isid e—was a r elea se from the fear and tyranny she endured.
i
!
Compared to Ruzena Sapek's crime (Ruzena Capek) , i t assumes
d iffe r e n t proportions and must be viewed as an act of v io
lence for which she paid with her l i f e . Ruzena's p lig h t is
sim ilar in nature. She* too* k ills her husband* but the
137
narrator s ta te s at the very beginning of the N o v elle:
i Hatten wir franzosische Geschworene, so miifite man sich
J liber ihr Schicksal k e in e r le i Gedahken machen. Denn ihr
j eigenes Gewissen hat die Ruzena durchaus n icht zu fiirch-
| ten. Was s ie getan h at, kann davor bestehen und war
hochst notwendig, n icht nut entschuldbar nach ihren Be-
griffen. (G W , VI, 61)
I
jFrom the very beginning of the N o v elle, David manages to
l
jconvey to the reader the fe e lin g that Ruzena's crime, r e -
i
jgardless of the circum stances, was not only ju s tifia b le but,!
in a manner of speaking, excu sab le.
Ruzena Capek, who had married la te in l i f e , was d eter-
I
jmined to make the b est of the s itu a tio n . As time passed,
jher worries centered on the fa c t th at "Es w o llte kein Kind
i
kommen. Und daS ihrer Ehe d ieser le tz te und wahrste Segen
vorenthalten b leiben mufite, das frafi zu ihrem eigenen
Erstaunen, die vordem Kinder n ich t eben gemocht, t i e f an
ihr" (p. 97). Her continued fa ilu r e to conceive a ch ild
jbrought her to question whether God had a ctu a lly approved
i
;of th is union. These preoccupations were soon replaced by
other worries of a more seriou s nature. She began to hear
rumors to the effect that her husband, Wojtech, was con
sortin g with other women, drinking h ea v ily , and even b e
l i t t l i n g h is w ife in front of stran gers. RuSena's so le
reaction was to shrug her shoulders, for she had l i t t l e
138
fa ith in the id le tongues of g o ssip e r s. "W as sich die Leute
|nur inuner und ewig um andere zu bekiimmern h atten , die ihnen
i
igar keinen Dank darum wuftten, s t a t t um die eigenen Sachen"
i
| (p. 98). Yet, indeed, what she regarded as mere ta lk
I
jstarted to plague her consciousness u n til she fin a lly r e a l-
I
ized th at the love she f e lt for Wojtech was com pletely un
rewarded. Ruzena perceived that Wojtech had transferred h is
j
ia ffeetio n s to her younger s is t e r , Teresa. Thus RuSena's
I
life became one of constant v ig ila n c e and su sp icio n . She j
I
gradually r e a liz e d th at her influence on Wojtech was waning j
j j
land consequently j
i |
kam ihr manchmal wohl der Gedanke, dem e in Ende zu ma-
chen, das s i e so v ersto rte und ihr jede ruhige Stunde
nahm. Die March war nahe und t i e f genug. Davor aber
schreckte nicht nur ihre grofte und au frich tig e Frommig-
k e it zuruck. Auch das Gefuhl der V erantw ortlichkeit in
ihr war zu machtig. Was wurde ohne s ie aus dem armen
. . . [Bruder] , an dem ihre Seele hing? (p. 104)
| David presents Ruzena's stru ggle as caused by forces
I
iboth w ithin and outside of her home. The in sid iou s rumors
I
Ibegan to penetrate her being at the same time that she b e-
i
|
came susp iciou s of Wojtech's advances toward Teresa. These
were the f ir s t steps toward the impending tragedy. In sp ite
of her su sp icio n s, the author continued to depict Ruzena as
the epitome of moral and s p ir itu a l strength holding fast "an
139
ihrem Glauben an das Gute im Menschen" (p. 106). She was
com pletely unaware th at Teresa had become an object of con-
|
suming passion for Wojtech. "Das Frauenzimmer machte ihn
i
t o l l . Er konnte sic h nich t s a t t sehen an der Teresa. Aus
jeder ihrer Bewegungen floB fur ihn ein unerschopflicher
!
|Reiz" (p. 106).
I
|
! One day, when Wojtech discovered Teresa alone in a
j
Ibarn, he decided to force her to submit to h is advances .
! i
I
Willem, the paralyzed brother, w itnessed the ensuing str u g
g le and screamed in te r r o r . Like a lio n e ss defending her
cub, RuSena approached the barn, k n ife in hand, and plunged
|
th is weapon repeatedly into Wojtech, as i f venting her
accumulated anger in th is horrendous a c t. She was obliged
to murder her husband in order to preserve her s i s t e r ' s
honor. Here David has presented Rufcena as a character la r
ger than l i f e . She reesta b lish ed her sense of independence
jas the strength to control events seemed to surge back. She
jwas s t i l l the old Ruzena, accustomed to taking charge of
every s itu a tio n . Thus she addressed Teresa: "Gib acht auf
den Hof. Geh zum Biirgermeister und zum Herrn Dechanten.
Ich m uB in die Stadt, aufs G ericht. U m mein Recht" (p.
116) .
Ruzena's l i f e was marked by a s e r ie s of c r ise s in which
1 4 0
she had, of n e c e ssity , to b a ttle to preserve her indepen
dence and moral v ir t u e s . After the murder Rufcena found
h e r se lf again in the p o sitio n of having to stru ggle to r e
ta in her freedom before the law. The author, in an iro n ic
v ein , d ep icts Rufcena as the instrument of the very thing the
i
v illa g e r s had attempted to bring about—Wojtech's death.
The tragedy of th is Novelle r e sts in the fa c t th at RuSena,
|who had once nursed Wojtech back to l i f e , even tu ally mur-
i
dered him.
CHAPTER X
j
CONCLUSION
From a cursory reading of Jakob Ju liu s David's Novellen
the reader is somehow l e f t with the general impression that
|a ll of these works were cut from the same mold; th at i s ,
they a l l focus on characters who are involved in apparently
sen se le ss attempts to reso lv e th e ir f a t e . However, these
characters do make attempts to fin d meaningful so lu tio n s to
th eir dilemmas. A deeper reading w i l l reveal th at David has
[su ccin ctly, y et dram atically, presented a s e r ie s of problems
of human re la tio n s which are not unique to any so c ie ty or
c la ss of people. Within the confines of h is N ovelien , he
has s u c c e ssfu lly described the gamut of human emotion,
!str u g g le , and tragedy.
What is uncommon in David's Novellen is th at the con
f l i c t s and tragedy which ensue from these u n iversal dilemmas
are unfolded with the emphasis on the female ch a ra cters.
David has portrayed women characters of various ages and
141
142
from d iffe r e n t geographical areas and sta tio n s in l i f e , a l l
seeking fu lfillm e n t of th eir p h ysical or s p ir itu a l d r iv e s.
|
jln each case, he has taken pains to describe the m ilieu and
background of the female character so th at the reader w ill
comprehend the fo r c e s —often uncontrollable--and the power
i
of fa te which meets with unyielding circumstances to cause
the c o n f lic t . U ltim ately, the female character is forced to
iact in an attempt to resolve the problem.
| David's l i f e was a composite of tragedy, stru g g le, and
jfailu re with very l i t t l e recogn ition to in d icate th at h is
|e ffo r ts had borne f r u i t . At an ea rly age he was separated
|
I from h is mother and spent years liv in g in the homes of r e la
t i v e s and strangers who did very l i t t l e to s a t is f y h is
s p ir itu a l needs . In ad d ition , seriou s illn e s s e s a ffected
h is sig h t and h earing. His u n iv ersity years were a constant
stru ggle for su rv iv a l in the face of almost insurmountable
|ob stacles which did not abate even a fte r he attained h is
|
Ifin al degree. In s p ite of h is problems, David managed to
have continued fa ith in h is a b ilit y as a w riter, a fe e lin g
which p e r siste d u n til sh o rtly before h is death when he
f in a lly reached the inescapable conclusion th at fame had
eluded him. Although David's works are d e f in it e ly not auto
biographical in nature, the traged ies in h is life tim e seem
143
|to have l e f t an in d e lib le mark on him which he unconsciously
japplied to the crea tio n of h is characters . Most of them
face tragedy in one aspect or another.
I
I
I
I In Das H oferecht, David's f i r s t N ovelle, the a tten tio n
i ----------------------------
paid to the creation of outstanding female characters became
j
Ireadily apparent through h is poignant portrayals and in -
: i
Idepth stu d ies of the p ro ta g o n ists. The d escrip tiv e elements
I
jare heightened through the use of con trastin g features in
i |
the liv e s and environments of these mothers.
! I
I
Frau Marianne Lohner had to resolve the c o n flic t which
developed between her sons as a r e s u lt of the knowledge th at
the e ld e s t would in h e r it the fam ily e s t a t e . She attempted
to compensate the younger son through her e ffo r ts to create
a secure future for him in the form of a v ia b le p ro fessio n ,
'in sp ite of her in ten tio n s and obvious good q u a lit ie s , i t
ibecame immediately obvious that success was not w ithin her
|
I
grasp and th at seriou s consequences were bound to r e s u lt .
In the second Novelle trea ted (Die Schwachen) , David created
a mother whose problem was almost id e n tic a l to th at of Frau
Marianne Lohner. Frau Katharina Grenzer, too, was obliged
to summon a l l her resources to keep peace w ithin her fam ily.
144
In both s t o r i e s , one of the sons had spent a period of
time away from home, liv in g in the grip of a large c it y
i
jwhich became a dem oralizing force in the development of
jcharacter. A recurring m otif appears in which the mother
i
|figure and the Heimat become one and the same, the hearth
where the prodigal sons should fin d s o la c e . Because neither
of the sons, Heinrich (Die Schwachen) or Gustav (Das Hofe-
r e c h t) , found comfort or peace upon h is return, David ob
v io u sly intended to rebuke those who do leave the He im at.
I As the d ifferen ces between the brothers in both sto r ie s
|
Ibecame ir r e c o n c ila b le , the presence of fa te loomed on the
I
jhorizon as the so le force instrum ental in bringing the con
f l i c t s to th eir ultim ate con clu sion . These mothers, power
le ss to a lte r the course of d estin y , n everth eless did not
f a l l prey to the lurking pessimism but continued to defy
|fate in th e ir s o lita r y stru ggle to am eliorate the e x is tin g
i
\problems .
|
j During h is life tim e David seemed to require a clo se
i
i
i
a sso cia tio n with women, who served both as a sounding board
for h is ideas and often as d ir e c t in sp ira tio n for h is a r
t i s t i c crea tio n . These rela tio n sh ip s must have enabled him
to even tu ally create s to r ie s with women as the main charac
te r s , p a rticu la rly in th eir ro les as w ives. In Die Hanna,
145"]
David created a character who was the quintessence of w ife ly
I
v ir tu e s: devoted, s e n s it iv e , and tru ly in love with her j
!
husband. Her fin a l submission to h is demands th at she pose |
I
in the nude, which was in r e a lit y a s a c r ific e for her hus
band's a r t i s t i c needs, shows David's deep in sig h t in to the ;
workings of the female mind. Hanka had been elevated to an ,
eth erea l plane which tr u ly s e t her apart from other women asi
w e ll as her husband. In fa c t, her s p ir itu a l and moral
strengths were juxtaposed with those of her husband, serving
to place in r e l i e f her outstanding q u a l i t i e s . In addition,
in numerous instances the ca refu l reader w i l l perceive that i
the male and female characters are contrasted as to th eir
innate stren gth s; i t is always the women character who j
i
i
emerges v ic to r io u s in the sense that she is both morally andi
I
J
s p ir it u a lly stron ger.
Although David has created many love re la tio n sh ip s,
p a r tic u la r ly in Die Hanna, he has purposefully omitted the
sensual a sp ects. At the very most, he intim ates or alludes
i
to what has tran sp ired . This allows the reader to concen- i
|
tr a te on the actual c o n flic t or dilemma at hand, rather than
lo sin g him self in d igression s and m inutiae.
Another example of a strong woman figure is Madlena in
C y r ill W allenta. Although Madlena Zapleta became a victim
146
of her d u ll marriage, her need for companionship, and the
i
jhaughty challenge presented to her by Wallenta, she emerged
as a truly noble character. In th is Nove l i e , David has p ic
tured the male as enjoying a degree of sa tisfa ctio n and
i
I
^superiority in seeing the weaker sex cower and become power-
i
less when confronted with the male ego. Again, the male has
been contrasted with the female and in th is instance he
[emerges in fin ite ly weaker and in ferio r. The confrontation j
between Madlena and Wallenta was highlighted in th is story
|
jthrough the use of exterior objects, in th is case a vivid
!
I
[description of a stormy evening.
Through David's recounting of the events in a ll of his
Novelien, he was successfu l in remaining aloof and impas
s iv e . He never interceded or ventured opinions, nor did he
r e fle c t upon the characters' dilemmas or offer moral judg
ments on th eir action s. He simply created the ta le and
1
jrelated i t , at the same time investigating the motives and
[passions of the protagonists through the action and dialogue
i
of the story.
In two N ovelien, Das Totenlied and Die Tochter Fortu-
n a ts, i t is incumbent upon the reader to be aware of the
influence of the past as w ell as the prevailing atmosphere
of the period in order to render a moral judgment. O n the
147
su rface, Grafin Adrienne Oudenweerde1s murder of her husband
(Das T oten lied ) appeared to be a despicable a c t. In actu
a l i t y , i t was the only option l e f t to her i f she was to be
free of the burden of a tyrant whose treatment of her was
j
|not at a l l uncommon in th at era . In Die Tochter Fortunats
i
the past is even more powerful in shaping the events of the
p resen t. Renata Malespina, a stro n g -w illed and proud in
d iv id u a l, spent her l i f e su fferin g for the sin s of her
ifath er. Although David has endowed her with a l l the char
a c t e r is t ic s an in d ivid u al must possess in order to cope with
iadversity, the force of past events p r a c tic a lly extinguished
I
her freedom o f a c tio n . She was forced to enter in to an un
wanted marriage and was doomed to lead a d u ll and empty
e x isten ce . E ventually, she became convinced that a fam ily
curse was being v is it e d upon h er. In both of these Nove1-
len , David c le v e r ly demonstrated how the past becomes in te r -
jtwined with the present and how fa te becomes a mechanism in
the determ ination of one's d e stin y .
Ru&ena Capek (Ruzena Capek) , on the other hand, was not
bound by str ic tu r e s of the p ast, but motivated by the forces
of the p resen t. David created, in th is sto ry , a ty p ic a l
Moravian woman who is d istin g u ish ed by her goodness, s e l f -
r e lia n c e , and independence of a c tio n . When the community
1 4 8
gossiped about her relationship with Wojtech, whom she had
brought into her home, she resolved to marry him to end the
scurrilous rumors. Regardless of the pressures of the p res
ent or past, a ll of these women assume majestic proportions
jthrough their actions in the face of their individual prob-
t
lems .
Another group of David's Nove lien deals with the prob-
!
jlems of the single woman, s p e c ific a lly her quest for a j
sa tisfy in g relationship with a male. In Ruth, David has
portrayed a character, B rigitta, whose beauty and goodness
j
ibecome powerful enough to convince the proverbial warrior
that he must abandon his arms. She succeeded in persuading
him to spare the very c ity which had banished her. By por
traying Iskra, the warrior, as a follower of John Huss,
|
David was able to in terject in d irectly his views on the
Catholic Church and its needed reforms.
j
i In a second N ovelie, David has presented a relationship
i
ibetween a young g ir l and a man, also referring to the r e
str ic tio n s of Catholicism. What makes th is Novelie unique
is it s monumental problem; that is , Margaret, in her blind
innocence, had the temerity to f a l l in love with a p r ie st.
Pater F elician , in his zeal to succeed where others fa ile d ,
was to ta lly oblivious of the depths of Margaret's fe e lin g s.
149
Even when Margaret expressed her love in the c o n fe ssio n a l,
Pater F e lic ia n could not r e a liz e th at he was the focus of
her f e e lin g s . David has portrayed Margaret as a v ic tim of
two forces: her c lo is te r e d upbringing which made her un
aware of the im plications of her love and the r ig id r e l i -
Jgious in s titu tio n which was interposed between h e r s e lf and
I
I
jthe object of her a ffe c tio n s .
1 A much more su p e r fic ia l c o n f lic t is depicted in Die
j Muhle von Wranowitz. The main ch aracter, Hanka DworSak, the
i
[Moravian m ille r 's daughter, is a t o t a lly independent crea -
[ !
iture liv in g on a purely in stin c tu a l p lan e. Her natural
[compassion led her to o ffer her ser v ic es to the gravely i l l
i
[Baron Braniky. Through the long hours spent with him, she
gradually developed a deep a ffe c tio n for th is young man.
Yet she knew th at the rela tio n sh ip was tru ly not in her b est
[in te r e sts. David's aim was to show the role of fa te through
I
I
,the magnetism which developed between Hanka and the Baron,
while emphasizing the c o n flic t which arose w ithin Hanka.
I
I
[She wanted only to be free; however, her natural in s tin c ts
i
engendered deep fe e lin g s of sympathy for the Baron.
David's most penetrating study of a young woman is th at
!
i
of Fanny Bermann in Das H oferecht. This was more than a
mere in v e stig a tio n into the psyche of an in d iv id u a l, for in
th is portrayal David has seized the opportunity to chastise
jthe Gentile society for its blunt acceptance of anti-Sem itic
b ia s. Indeed, Fanny was characterized as sly and devoid of
Ifeelingj yet these were simply normal reactions to her
Ipoverty-ridden, loveless existen ce. Eventually she fled
the confining atmosphere of her v illa g e to seek her fortune
|in Vienna. The big c ity played upon her senses, dazzled and
!
i i
;intoxicated her. Again, the c ity is pictured as a corrup- i
I !
jtive force .
I
t
I
I Into th is Nove lie David has introduced a leitm otiv
i
^linking Fanny and the notion that money can be all-pow erful.
I
tin fact, Fanny realized that she had a d istin c t value in the
i
i
{marketplace. Thus she resolved to accept her fate and s e l l
h erself for the highest p rice.
David viewed war, in particular, as the most demoraliz-
! ing force in so ciety . Its e ffe c t had a direct bearing on
!
the relationship which developed between Lois Hirschvogel
I
|and her half-brother Gregor (Verstdrte Z e it) . Lois, unaware
of the role of woman in society and to ta lly innocent in
regard to her sexual powers, entered into an incestuous
relationship with Gregor. Gregor, although older and more
mature, had rejected a l l moral and eth ica l values as a
resu lt of h is involvement in the Thirty Years' War. Thus
1 51
both characters j in David's view, are the products of a
distorted era in which a ll values have been cast asid e.
Lois' actions, in contrast to Fanny Bermann's, are viewed
as the resu lt of natural forces which erupted in the atmos
phere of that period. Yet i t cannot be denied that their
i
d estin ies were determined by forces over which they had no
co n tro l.
I
i
i
| The f ir s t part of th is study has been devoted to pres -
i
ientations of the roles of the women characters and in v e sti-
I
j
igations of th eir problems as w ell as the forces which create
I
I
! them. Through reading these Novelien, i t becomes very clear
that there are no ready solutions for these dilemmas; in
fa ct, they in ten sify with the progression of the story and
the outcome is unavoidably tra g ic . The second part of th is
study was devoted to the actual tragedies which ensue . W hen
jfaced with the knowledge of impending tragedy, David's women
jcharacters display unusual strength, both sp iritu a l and
moral, and become heroic both as individuals and in compar
ison with their male counterparts. Oftentimes they must
come to terms with th eir consciences or try to adjust to the
g u ilt caused by their action s. Other women characters view
s e lf -s a c r ific e as the only avenue of escape from the cruel
forces of l i f e and f a t e .
It has been observed that both Frau Marianne Lohner
(Das Hoferecht) and Frau Katharina Grenzer (Die Schwachen)
were faced with sim ilar problems; that is , animosity between
|their sons. In Das Hoferecht the c o n flic t which David pre-
i
i
sented assumed even greater proportions as both sons set
their sights on the same g ir l. This factor magnified Frau
ILohner's ever-present fears and she unhappily realized that
i
I
ia confrontation was bound to occur. Gustav, who returned
I
ifrom Vienna in disillusionm ent, went to work for h is brother
j
jas a laborer. During a party an argument erupted and, in a
jmoment of madness, Gustav k ille d his older brother. Thus
Frau Lohner's premonitions changed into stark r e a lity . Her
tragedy can be traced d irectly to the manifestation of her
love for her sons; she inadvertently gave more of h erself
i
i
to one son. With the rea liza tion of her past errors, Frau
i
iLohner did not succumb to g rief and despair, but emerged
sp ir itu a lly strong and turned her attention to saving Gustav
from the consequences. David even in ten sified the aura of
tragedy by contrasting the scenes in which Frau Lohner pre
pared her son's body for burial and Fanny Bermann performed
a sim ilar task.
153
Frau Katharina Grenzer (Die Schwachen) , in contrast to
Frau Marianne Lohner, was not beset by fears as to her in -
I
lab ility to cope with the situ a tio n ; instead, she was certain
that she would be able to reconcile the differences between
!
|her sons. This illu sio n was quickly shattered when Heinrich
f e l l in love with his brother's intended. David has por-
!
Itrayed Frau Katharina as a mother who was determined to go
i
to any length to resolve her dilemma. Her tragedy lie s in j
the fact that she had to cast out her beloved son a second
time in order to save the other son. While Frau Grenzer's
sense of loss is not at a ll as grotesque as Frau Marianne
jLohner's, she nevertheless suffered immeasurably from her
iactions .
|
David's concept of love and the tragic consequences of
the quest serve as a point of departure in the study of the
female characters in several N ovelien. In both Die Hanna
i
land Die s t i l l e Margaret, the protagonists ultim ately s a c n -
i
fic e themselves in the knowledge that the quest for love has
become f u t ile . After Hanka Jerab posed in the nude for her
a r tis t husband, she realized that she had simply served his
a r tis t ic needs. This feelin g was amplified as a resu lt of
h is in se n sitiv ity toward her fe e lin g s . In her view, h is
a r tis tic drive le f t no room for the love that she expected
154
to receive. Her suicide became the supreme sa c r ific e , an
act of love in that i t could serve only to enhance her hus
band's c r e a tiv ity .
Margaret (Die s t i l l e Margaret) , on the other hand,
committed suicide because she knew that i t would be impos
sib le for her love to come to fru itio n . Yet th is act became
(secondary to the fact that the p rie st was forced to refuse
i
(to administer the fin a l b lessin g , a v eiled criticism by
David of one of the Church's p ractices. Thus Margaret, by
taking her l i f e , also became in the author's eyes a person
if ic a t io n of the view that love is supreme.
i
1
Although Renata Malespina (Die Tochter Fortunats) lo st
(her li f e in a horrible fashion, she died secure in the
knowledge that love had fin a lly f u lf ille d her barren e x is
tence. Convinced that a curse plagued her family and f i
nally branded as a witch, she looked upon death as a release
j
(from these horrendous burdens. Only with death imminent did
i
(Renata fe e l free to express her love; consequently, she
|
(approached the end m ajestically and h ero ica lly . What was
I
important in David's view is the notion that love is an
integral part of li f e ; Renata Malespina's tragedy was mini
mized in order to maximize her sense of to ta l fu lfillm en t.
In one N ovelie, Woran starb Sionida?, David treated
155
the common d esire of a l l people to find happiness and s a t
i s f y th e ir m aterial needs. The main character, Olga
Michailowna, faced with tem ptation, r e s is te d only to d i s
cover th at the mere d esire to s a t is f y her needs i l l i c i t l y
caused tragedy. The notion of poverty in th is story was
jprobably inspired by David's own p o v e r ty -fille d l i f e .
j
j Olga Michailowna had been persuaded to enter upon an
j
Jaffair with a wealthy neighbor. She was stron gly tempted,
but f in a lly r e s is te d when her c h ild 's need intervened. At
the time of th is encounter she was pregnant. Later she
I
[became firm ly convinced th at her g u ilt had become imprinted
in the eyes of the newborn c h ild , who even tu ally d ied . In
David's view, g u ilt is the product of a s in f u l act as w ell
as the tem ptation to commit such an a c t. Thus the infant
(Sionida) bore w itness to her mother's moment of d esire and
atoned for her mother's g u ilt through her death.
i
! David has paid p articu lar a tten tio n to sin in h is
!N ovelien, not in the sense that i t is equated with e v i l but
iin the sense th at sin is the r e su lt of an absence of moral
i
and s p ir itu a l v a lu e s. David's characters in ev ita b ly arrive
at a s in fu l s ta te because of the action of uncontrollable
f o r c e s .
For example, Lois Hirschvoge1 's incestuous rela tio n sh ip
156
with her half-brother (Verstorte z e i t ) engendered enormous
feelin g s of g u ilt on the part of her father, who tru ly be-
i
jlieved that i t was hig upbringing of h is daughter that was
I
Iresponsible . In David's view, the burden of blame was too
great to be placed so le ly on the shoulders of the old man.
|
|Nevertheless, old Hirschvogel k ille d both of his children,
|
not rea lizin g that the breakdown of so ciety combined with
iLois' budding sexual drives caused th is tragedy.
| Two female characters in David's Novelien murdered
l
i
jtheir husbands. Grafin Adrienne Oudenweerde's tragedy (Das
I
j
iT otenlied) springs from the fact that she lo st her own lif e
S
|in an attempt to atone for her act of murder. In the case
i
!of RuSena Capek (Ruzena Capek) , on the other hand, the
reader emerges with the feelin g that the murder of her hus
band was not only ju s tifia b le , but that Ruzena Capek su f
fered no g u ilt knowing that her action was the only righ t-
i
jeous course. Her g u ilt did li e in the fa ct, however, that
!
|she k ille d the very man whose l i f e she had once saved.
If one attempts to speak of a common denominator in
David's Nove l i e n , i t must be, with a ll certain ty, h is ex
ceptional characterizations of women of a l l ages and many
157
sta tio n s in l i f e . However,, David's ta le n t rested in h is
a b ilit y to create a large number of diverse s itu a tio n s , each
describing an intense c o n f lic t in human r e la t io n s . I t is
the unfolding drama produced by the attempts to resolve
these problems th at c o n stitu te the essence of David's s k i l l
as a s t o r y t e lle r .
I
I
I
158
APPEND IX
I
APPENDIX
Some c r i t i c s have sta ted th at David had, for a period
I
of tim e, been influenced by the works of C. F. Meyer and had
even attempted to emulate h is works (see p. 60 above).
Other lite r a r y c r i t i c s , not n e cessa rily convinced th at David
I
had im itated C. F. Meyer to any degree, were s a t is f ie d by
I
merely alluding to the supposed s im ila r ity . Adolf B a rtels,
for example, does not mention C. F. Meyer, but refers to a
c h a r a c te r istic of both authors' works: "Mancherlei Ein-
fliisse a lte r e r Kunst verrat die Dichtung Davids."'*' I t is
indeed true th at some of David's s to r ie s have been s e t in
the Renaissance period . However, David's primary concern
was not the d ep iction of events of h isto r y or the d escrip
t io n of so c ie ty of a bygone era . The s e ttin g s are almost
I
|in cid en tal to the development of the sto r y . What is of
!
jutmost importance to David are h is ch a ra cteriza tio n s—the
j
^Geschichte der deutschen L iteratur (Leipzig: H aessel,
1928), I I I , 574.
159
160
inner c o n f lic t s , d riv es, and emotions of the ch aracters.
There is a kind of u n iv e r sa lity to these characters, since
i
th e ir p lig h ts are common to any period of mankind.
Erich Schmidt, David's professor and frien d , made a
jrevealing statement with regard to the apparent s im ila r ity
i
between David's works and those of C. F. Meyer. He stated :
"Vorerst uberlieB David sich mit der 'Tochter F ortu n ats' so
Ischiilerhaft dem grofien und gefah rlich en Muster C. F. Meyers,
|daB ich immer wieder ihn w arnte: Sie meyern! Bis er nach
jgeraumer Z eit f r e i erk lS rte, die 'Meyerei' lie g e nun da-
i
jhinter" (p. x iv ) . Perhaps Schmidt's numerous a llu sio n s to
th is fa c t had prompted David to begin to accept i t s c r e d i
b i l i t y . Apparently David's lack of success forced him
ev en tu a lly to c la r if y th is q u estion . "Eine Z eit stand ich
I
junter dem E in flu sse C. F. Meyers. Es hat mir Miihe genug
Igekostet, ihn zu uberwinden. Sonst wuGt' ich keinen, der
i
i
|bestimmend auf mich gewirkt" ("Im S p iegel," p. 530). I t is
i
evident that David had indeed su ffered from the repeated
attempts to c la s s if y him as an im itator of C. F. Meyer.
Herman Groeneweg used David's statement as a point of
departure to p ostu late th at the Meyer connection was rooted
in an "unbewuflte Suggestion Davids" (p. 189). In a very
p la u sib le observation, Groeneweg continued:
r
1 6 1
Meyer war in seinen [Davids] Augen der bedeutendste
Erzahler der le tz te n L iteraturperiod e, a ls dessen F ort-
se tzer er s e lb s t gerne b etrach tet werden w o llte . Nun
i s t aber die Renaissance, zu der Meyer in so naher Be-
ziehung s te h t, in Davids Schaffen nichts W esentliches,
was zum Kern sein er dichterisch en P erson lich k eit g e-
horte . Denn auch ohne Renaissance b le ib t er der ty p isc h -
mahrische D ichter. (p. 190)
j
(O n the other hand, Anna Caspary has c a te g o r ic a lly denied
th at Meyer influenced David. She f e l t th at "Da David sein
Talent hierzu entdeckte, konnte er den groBen Schweizer
2
;nicht umgehen." Furthermore, she sta te d that s im ila r it ie s
I
I
Jin th e ir ch aracterization s were v ir tu a lly n on existen t.
Arturo F a r in e lli attempted to resolve the d ifferen ces
of opinion by sta tin g that the whole question of influence
is immaterial. He wrote th at "es i s t sc h lie B lic h e in e r le i,
|
i
woher die Kunst ihre Anregung und die zu formenden S to ffe
s c h o p ft. Auf die E chtheit, Lebendigkeit und A nschaulichkeit
kommt es an" (p. 219). One can only hope th a t th is c a l l to
Jreason w i l l s u ffic e for the future .
2
P . 15. I t should be pointed out th at B a rtels, too,
f e e ls th at David is "ein Talent selb stan d iger PrSgung"
( p . 5 7 4 ) .
i
i
I
BIBLIOGRAPHY
162
BIBLIOGRAPHY
i
I
i
j
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i
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|
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|
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i
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i
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Creator Resnik, Bramy (author)

Core Title The role of women in Jakob Julius David's Novellen

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program German

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Literature, Modern,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Von Hofe, Harold (committee chair), McMahon, Dorothy Elizabeth (committee member), Schnauber, Cornelius (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-765783

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