Elderflowers: A German Tale of Love, Loss, and Redemption in 19th-Century Setting

by Wilhelm Raabe, Michael Wooff (translator)

This work is a translation of popular German fiction that is presented brilliantly as a personal memoir of a doctor who delivers an account of his experiences in the famous city Prague of the Chezch Republic, where he went to study Medicine. The memoirs focus on his mysterious and strange curiosity about the famous Jewish cemetery. The writer has made excellent use of imagery and symbolism throughout the work, which keeps the reader engrossed till the end. Raabe wanted to show the readers what an incredible thing the human soul is through this work.The author, Wilhelm Raabe, was a German novelist who was best known for writing realistic novels on the middle-class life during his era.Excerpt from "It was a clear, cold day in January. The sun was shining and packed snow crackled underfoot as people went past while the wheels of carts made a shrill, squealing sound as they turned. The weather was healthy and invigorating and I filled my lungs once more with a deep breath before ringing, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the doorbell of one of the stateliest mansions in one of the stateliest streets in the town."

Genres: Classics

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 1863

About the author

Wilhelm Raabe (1831 - 1910) was a German novelist. His early works were published under the pseudonym of Jakob Corvinus.

Reviews

[Armin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Kommentar bzw. das ausführliche Nachwort zur Wirkungsgeschichte, gerade im Hinblick auf den Antisemitismus des Hungerpastors sind die Hauptattraktion dieser Ausgabe.
Meine Rezi befindet sich hier: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die kurze Novella von Raabe handelt von der Liebe zwischen einem Medizinstudenten und einem jüdischen Mädchen. Handlungsort ist Prag um 1820. Ich bin sehr beeindruckt von Raabes Schreibstil, welcher sehr realistisch und bildlich ist. Auch die Liebesgeschichte hat eine viel tiefere Bedeutung. Eine empfehlenswerte Kurzgeschichte von einem wenig bekannten Autor.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 3 out of 5]

This charming, elegiac tale is well worth the time required to read it for anyone anxious to become better acquainted with nineteenth century Prussian literature. Elderflowers is a tender reflection on the pain that when experiences when a loved one dies. Published seven years before Jews were emancipated in the Prussian Empire it is also a call for an end to social and legal discrimination against Jews.

Noticing elder flowers in the home where a young girl has recently died, the protagonist a Medical Doctor in his fifties thinks back to the elder flowers of the Jewish cemetery of Prague and Jemimah the niece of the cemetery's caretaker. Jemimah teaches the young medical student about the richness of her religion and inspires him to abandon his dissipated lifestyle so as to thoroughly dedicate himself to his profession. She then conveniently dies of an unnamed illness so as to spare the hero of having to terminate a relationship which society would never has accepted.

This story contains many beautifully written passages that describe the legendary cemetery. Jemimah is a truly enchanting heroine. The reader should well forgive Raabe for resorting in several places to heavily used devices from the canon of sentimental literarue.