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The Key to Sudermann

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Ernst Koch
Ernst Koch*
Affiliation:
New York University
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Extract

Biographers and commentators are still at variance over so elementary a problem as the elements of actual experience that have gone into Sudermann's first important work, Frau Sorge. Jung, Axelrod, Soergel, and Mahrholz subscribe to the opinion that in this work Sudermann has given us something enduring and representative because he here fashioned a work “aus eigenem Erleben, aus der Stimmung seiner ostpreussischen Heimat.” This is the view held by the majority of literary critics though it has never been substantiated in detail.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 1936 , pp. 851 - 862
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1936

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References

1 H. Jung, Hermann Sudermann (Minden i.W., 1902), p. 7 f.

2 I. Axelrod, Herman Sudermann (Stuttgart u. Berlin, 1907), p. 11.

3 A. Soergel, Dichtung und Dichter der Zeit, 21. Aufl. (Leipzig, 1928), p. 381.

4 W. Mahrholz, Deutsche Dichtung der Gegenwart (Berlin, 1931), p. 81.

5 K. Busse, Hermann Sudermann: Sein Werk und sein Wesen (Stuttgart u. Berlin, 1927), p. 40 f.

6 Ibid., p. 40.

7 Jung, p. 8.

8 Bilderbuch (henceforth BB), p. 24 (all page indications to Sudermann's works refer to the “Gesamt-Ausgabe” of his novels and short stories, published by Cotta, Stuttgart u. Berlin). The “Geleitverse” here referred to are the introductory lines to Frau Sorge: “Frau Sorge, die graue, verschleierte Frau,/ Herzliebe Eltern, Ihr kennt sie genau,” etc. Cf. Busse's protest (p. 40 f.), noted above.

9 BB, p. 51. Cf. also the words of Steffen Tromholt: “Wir waren Kinder der Not. Mutter wie ich” (Die Frau des Steffen Tromholt, p. 24).

10 BB, p. 188. Professor Ernst Feise recognized the importance that Sudermann ascribed to autobiographical material “in dieser Zeit der documents humains” (“Stilverwirrung in Sudermanns Frau Sorge,” Germanic Review, v [1930], 227 f.). He fails to point out, however, how fortunate Sudermann was in having such an “Erlebnisstoff” to give to such a public—a public that had just enthusiastically received the first edition of Hebbel's diaries, with its truly naturalistic description of the poet's early surroundings.

11 All of Sudermann's letters and diaries, with the exception of a collection of letters to his wife (covering only the period 1891–1924 and containing a relatively small number of the 2500-odd letters extant), will remain unavailable until thirty years after the author's death. The letters to his wife (also containing some of hers) have been published by Cotta, Stuttgart u. Berlin, 1932: Briefe Hermann Sudermanns an seine Frau, edited by Irmgard Leux. All letters cited in this study refer to this collection.

12 This reliability is attested to by Sudermann himself when he, in speaking of the cool reception the public had accorded it, said: “Ich werde den zweiten Band nicht schreiben. Publikus will keine Wahrheit” (letter of May 16, 1922). Furthermore, the attacks of despondency that again and again forced him to lay the material aside (cf. letter of May 13, 1920) tend to show the suffering that these reminiscences caused him.

13 The dramas have been excluded since we feel that Sudermann's real talent lay rather in the field of the epic. But every reader of Ehre, Heimat, Schmetterlingsschlacht, and Johannisfeuer will immediately be conscious of parallels, direct and indirect.

14 Owing to the sealed preservation of Sudermann's “Nachlass” this remains conjectural. But strongly supporting such a theory is the deep love of homeland and mother that remained with Sudermann throughout his life and lends to even the meagre material of the Bilderbuch and of his published letters a gripping intensity. Cf. also Jung's statement: “Ob nicht dem Dichter ein Erinnern mit tätig war, ein Gedenken sorgenvoller Jugend, als er seinen Paul schuf?” Jung, p. 8.

15 Henceforth FS.

16 The author naturally had to use darker colors to heighten the contrast.

17 The heath, the moor, the struggles of the farmers against adversity of all sorts are elements common to three of Sudermann's most personal works: Frau Sorge, Litauische Geschichten, and Bilderbuch.

18 Cf. BB, p. 160. This theme of the hard father, the silent, maltreated mother, and the misunderstood son occurs again in “Die Geschichte der stillen Mühle” and Der Katzensteg.

19 FS, p. 154. Cf. Clara Sudermann's letter of Dec. 22, 1891.

20 For counterparts of Meyhöfer cf. Baron von Schrandern and Lt. Merckel (Der Katzensteg), Iolanthe's father (Iolanthe's Hochzeit), and Leo Sellenthin's good-for-nothing uncle (Es War).

21 Cf. BB, p. 9; letter of Clara Sudermann, Dec. 22, 1891; letters of Sudermann, July 5, 1892; September 24, 1902.

22 BB, p. 10. Cf. also BB, pp. 22, 98, 165, 167, and Sudermann's letter of Oct. 5, 1892.

23 Cf. BB, pp. 95, 291.

24 BB, pp. 53, 54, 124, 226. Both Boleslav von Schrandern and Leo Sellenthin have this characteristic to a marked degree.

25 BB, pp. 23, 25.

26 Kurt Heinemann, Deutsche Dichtung, 8. Aufl., Leipzig, 1930, p. 280.

27 Sudermann's feeling for the heath finds strong expression in “Jons und Erdme” (Litauische Geschichten), p. 152 f.

28 Cf. BB, p. 19. The warmth, kindness, and generosity of these people is again expressed in “Die Magd” (Litauische Geschichten), pp. 225, 228, 265 f.

29 Cf. BB, p. 118. Felshammer (“Geschichte der stillen Mühle”), Robert Hellinger (“Der Wunsch”), Baron Hanckel (Iolanthes Hochzeit), Leo Sellenthin (Es War), Westphal (“Die Magd”), Kittel (“Jons und Erdme”) are all characters of this type.

30 Cf. BB, p. 42; FS, p. 89; “Die Magd,” pp. 276, 299. The same character appears in Katzensteg as Helene.

31 A similar relationship exists between Helene and Boleslav (Katzensteg).

32 Cf. BB, p. 52. This aunt also appears in Katzensteg, chap. 2.

33 Cf. BB, pp. 49, 125. Young Felix Merckel (Katzensteg) has very similar characteristics.

34 Cf. BB, p. 51. In 1900 Sudermann wrote to his wife: “Ich habe in ihr [der Heimat] viel Trübes erlebt. … Viel Trübes, Schweres, Ängstliches in meinem Wesen stammt aus den gedrückten, kümmerlichen Verhältnissen, die ich vorfand, wenn ich in meinen zwanziger Jahren daheim eine Zufluchtsstätte fand. Und Gott sei Dank, dass ich sie fand. Sonst wär' es mir noch schlimmer gegangen” (letter of Feb. 10, 1900). Twenty years later, while working on his Bilderbuch, he wrote: “Die Kleinbürgermisere, aus der ich stamme und der ich letzten Endes die Verdüsterung meines ganzen Daseins zu verdanken habe, legte sich von Tag zu Tag lähmender auf mein Gemüt … .” (letter of May 13, 1920).

35 Cf. BB, p. 51. This struggle for existence is reflected again in the early struggles of Boleslav von Schrandern on his Lithuanian estate, of Robert Hellinger Jr., of Leo Sellenthin.

36 The coquetry of Elsbeth and her finishing-school experiences are also expressed in Katzensteg, chap. 2.

37 A. Kerr, Das neue Drama (Berlin, n.d.), p. 263 and passim.

38 Die Frau des Steffen Tromholt, Bk. i, chap. 2, reviews these early struggles.

39 Cf. footnote 34.

40 Letter of Nov. 15, 1912.