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Die Ratten. Berliner Tragikomödie
"Einhundertdreiundzwanzig Mark" - so viel ist in Hauptmanns 1911 uraufgeführter Tragikomödie ein Säugling wert. Der "Handel" mit dem Kind lässt zwei Frauen in unerbittlichen Streit geraten, und die Katastrophe nimmt ihren Lauf.
Der hier vorlegte Text folgt der Centenar-Ausgabe unter Einbezug aller relevanten Drucke zu Hauptmanns Lebzeiten.
Der hier vorlegte Text folgt der Centenar-Ausgabe unter Einbezug aller relevanten Drucke zu Hauptmanns Lebzeiten.
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
6 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Gerhart Hauptmann
960 books77 followersGerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.
Life Hauptmann's first drama, Before Dawn (1889) inaugurated the naturalistic movement in modern German literature. It was followed by The Reconciliation (1890), Lonely People (1891) and The Weavers (1892), a powerful drama depicting the rising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 for which he is best known outside of Germany.
Hauptmann's subsequent work includes the comedies Colleague Crampton (1892), The Beaver Coat (1893), and The Conflagration (1901), the symbolist dream play The Assumption of Hannele (1893), and an historical drama Florian Geyer (1895). He also wrote two tragedies of Silesian peasant life, Drayman Henschel (1898) and Rose Bernd (1903), and the dramatic fairy-tales The Sunken Bell (1896) and And Pippa Dances (1906).
Hauptmann's marital life was difficult and in 1904 he divorced his wife. That same year he married the actress Margarete Marschalk, who had borne him a son four years earlier. The following year he had an affair with the 17-year-old Austrian actress Ida Orloff, whom he met in Berlin when she performed in his play The Assumption of Hannele. Orloff inspired characters in several of Hauptmann's works and he later referred to her as his muse.
In 1911 he wrote The Rats. In 1912, Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art."
During the First World War Hauptmann was a pacifist. In this period of his career he wrote several gloomy historical-allegorical plays, such as The Bow of Odysseus (1914), The White Saviour (1912–17), and Winter Ballade (1917). After the war, his dramatic abilities appeared to diminish. He wrote two full-length plays that are similar to the early successes: Dorothea Angermann (1926) and Before Sunset (1932). He remained in Germany after Hitler's Machtergreifung and survived the bombing of Dresden. His last work was the Atriden-Tetralogie (1942–46). His works in German were published by S. Fischer Verlag.
Hauptmann died at the age of 83 at his home in Agnetendorf (now Jagniątków, Poland) in 1946. Since the Polish communist administration did not allow Hauptmann's relatives to bury him in Agnetendorf (although even the Soviet military government had recommended this), his body was transported in an old cattle wagon to occupied Germany more than a month after his death. He was buried near his cottage on Hiddensee.
Under Wilhelm II Hauptmann enjoyed the reputation of a radical writer, on the side of the poor and outcasts. During the Weimar Republic (1918–33) he enjoyed the status of the literary figurehead of the new order, and was even considered for the post of state president. Under Hitler he kept his distance from the regime, but never publicly criticized it. This, and the fact that (unlike so many writers and academics) he stayed in Germany, was strongly held against him after the war. A superb collected edition of his works appeared in the 1960s, and stimulated some impressive studies of his work (e.g. those by Peter Sprengel), but the tide of critical and public opinion remained negative. A few of his plays are still revived from time to time, but otherwise he is neglected. He was certainly an uneven writer, but at his best (as in 'The Weavers', his novel 'The Fool in Christ Emmanuel Quint', and the Novellen 'The Heretic of Soana' and 'Das Meerwunder') he can arguably rank with the best of his German contemporaries.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_...
Life Hauptmann's first drama, Before Dawn (1889) inaugurated the naturalistic movement in modern German literature. It was followed by The Reconciliation (1890), Lonely People (1891) and The Weavers (1892), a powerful drama depicting the rising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 for which he is best known outside of Germany.
Hauptmann's subsequent work includes the comedies Colleague Crampton (1892), The Beaver Coat (1893), and The Conflagration (1901), the symbolist dream play The Assumption of Hannele (1893), and an historical drama Florian Geyer (1895). He also wrote two tragedies of Silesian peasant life, Drayman Henschel (1898) and Rose Bernd (1903), and the dramatic fairy-tales The Sunken Bell (1896) and And Pippa Dances (1906).
Hauptmann's marital life was difficult and in 1904 he divorced his wife. That same year he married the actress Margarete Marschalk, who had borne him a son four years earlier. The following year he had an affair with the 17-year-old Austrian actress Ida Orloff, whom he met in Berlin when she performed in his play The Assumption of Hannele. Orloff inspired characters in several of Hauptmann's works and he later referred to her as his muse.
In 1911 he wrote The Rats. In 1912, Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art."
During the First World War Hauptmann was a pacifist. In this period of his career he wrote several gloomy historical-allegorical plays, such as The Bow of Odysseus (1914), The White Saviour (1912–17), and Winter Ballade (1917). After the war, his dramatic abilities appeared to diminish. He wrote two full-length plays that are similar to the early successes: Dorothea Angermann (1926) and Before Sunset (1932). He remained in Germany after Hitler's Machtergreifung and survived the bombing of Dresden. His last work was the Atriden-Tetralogie (1942–46). His works in German were published by S. Fischer Verlag.
Hauptmann died at the age of 83 at his home in Agnetendorf (now Jagniątków, Poland) in 1946. Since the Polish communist administration did not allow Hauptmann's relatives to bury him in Agnetendorf (although even the Soviet military government had recommended this), his body was transported in an old cattle wagon to occupied Germany more than a month after his death. He was buried near his cottage on Hiddensee.
Under Wilhelm II Hauptmann enjoyed the reputation of a radical writer, on the side of the poor and outcasts. During the Weimar Republic (1918–33) he enjoyed the status of the literary figurehead of the new order, and was even considered for the post of state president. Under Hitler he kept his distance from the regime, but never publicly criticized it. This, and the fact that (unlike so many writers and academics) he stayed in Germany, was strongly held against him after the war. A superb collected edition of his works appeared in the 1960s, and stimulated some impressive studies of his work (e.g. those by Peter Sprengel), but the tide of critical and public opinion remained negative. A few of his plays are still revived from time to time, but otherwise he is neglected. He was certainly an uneven writer, but at his best (as in 'The Weavers', his novel 'The Fool in Christ Emmanuel Quint', and the Novellen 'The Heretic of Soana' and 'Das Meerwunder') he can arguably rank with the best of his German contemporaries.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_...
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 30, 2022
"Horchen Se ma, wie det knackt, wie Putz hinter de Tapete runterjeschoddert kommt! Allens is hier morsch! Allens faulet Holz! Allens unterminiert, von Ungeziefer, von Ratten und Mäuse zerfressen!"
October 24, 2018
Mal wieder ein Drama, das ich für die Uni gelesenen habe und ich war echt überrascht, dass es mir so gut gefallen hat, obwohl ich einige Probleme mit dem Berliner Dialekt hatte.
Ich mochte die Figur des Erich Spitta sehr gerne, komisch aber gleichzeitig auch sehr nachvollziehbar.
„Dass ich vorläufig arm bin [...] untergräbt meinen Glauben an mich und eine bessere Zukunft nicht.“
Ich mochte die Figur des Erich Spitta sehr gerne, komisch aber gleichzeitig auch sehr nachvollziehbar.
„Dass ich vorläufig arm bin [...] untergräbt meinen Glauben an mich und eine bessere Zukunft nicht.“
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February 18, 2015I don't think I'll ever be a fan of plays
January 11, 2025
3,5 (2nd read)
September 19, 2022
Noch eene scheene altberlina Azählung ooßm Naturalismus, aber bisken zu troorich für mir :-(
November 3, 2022
wenn ich weniger als einen stern geben könnte würde ich, ich danke gerhard hauptmann dafür das ich mich wegen ihn durch solch ein schreckliches buch quälen musste
January 28, 2025
106 Seiten Berliner Metrolekt (eine in grossstädtischen Zentren aus einer Mischung vieler unterschiedlicher Mundarten entstehende Stadtsprache).
Literaturkanon von Marcel Reich-Ranicki
58/180
Literaturkanon von Marcel Reich-Ranicki
58/180
September 26, 2016
1,5 Sterne
Keine Ahnung, was ich grad gelesen hab. Ehrlich, ich hab null aufgepasst. Ich hab das Buch zwar gelesen, aber nichts davon ist in meinem Gehirn angekommen. So langweilig ist das. Und der Berliner Dialekt, der von einigen Charakteren gesprochen wird, ist so anstrengend zu lesen.
Keine Ahnung, was ich grad gelesen hab. Ehrlich, ich hab null aufgepasst. Ich hab das Buch zwar gelesen, aber nichts davon ist in meinem Gehirn angekommen. So langweilig ist das. Und der Berliner Dialekt, der von einigen Charakteren gesprochen wird, ist so anstrengend zu lesen.
September 4, 2017
Es geht um ein Ehepaar deren erstes Kind kurz nach der Geburt gestorben ist. Die Frau drängt eine mittellose Schwangere ihr Kind nach der Entbindung an sie zu verkaufen. Als die Mutter es sich kurz nach der Entbindung anders überlegt, nimmt das Drama seinen Lauf.
Diese Problematik besteht heute noch immer, mit Adaption von Kindern aus armen Ländern oder Leihmutterschaft. Der unerfüllte Traum vom eigenen Kind hat schon lange viel Leid verursacht und Menschen legale und illegale Wege finden lassen, um diesen Traum zu erfüllen.
Insofern ist das Drama recht aktuell geblieben, trotz einiger geänderter Umstände.
Diese Problematik besteht heute noch immer, mit Adaption von Kindern aus armen Ländern oder Leihmutterschaft. Der unerfüllte Traum vom eigenen Kind hat schon lange viel Leid verursacht und Menschen legale und illegale Wege finden lassen, um diesen Traum zu erfüllen.
Insofern ist das Drama recht aktuell geblieben, trotz einiger geänderter Umstände.
July 24, 2025
Ich wollte schon seit einer Weile Gerhart Hauptmanns "Die Ratten" lesen. Einerseits, da die Metapher der Ratten auch heutzutage noch aktuell ist und andererseits, da ich mich mehr mit dem Naturalismus beschäftigen wollte.
Die Ratten habe ich jetzt innerhalb von 3 Tagen Roadtrip fertig gelesen und meine Erwartungen wurden positiv übertroffen
Die Ratten habe ich jetzt innerhalb von 3 Tagen Roadtrip fertig gelesen und meine Erwartungen wurden positiv übertroffen
September 18, 2018
Plattdeutsch war ein wenig gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber ganz schön mal zu sehen wie man Platt- und Hochdeutsch dramaturgisch anwenden kann. Die Story fand ich persönlich ein wenig 0815, aber ist sicherlich Geschmackssache. Ansonsten ganz gute Buslektüre, nichts, was man unbedingt gelesen haben muss...
February 18, 2019
Post hoc ergo propter hoc! Natura non facit saltus!
Wegen des Dialektes ist es nicht so leicht zu lesen, aber ein gutes Werk.
Wegen des Dialektes ist es nicht so leicht zu lesen, aber ein gutes Werk.
December 16, 2020
Good book, too dramatic for me.
August 2, 2022
the way dialect is used in this so show the different social classes and character is truly such a nice way to make this story even more interesting than it already is.
October 12, 2025
berlinerisch ist wirklich der schlimmste dialekt
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October 12, 2025ih Schullektüre
October 30, 2025
Keine Worte für diesen Müll.
December 25, 2025
warum hat jeder einen Akzent 😭 gottlos
October 30, 2025
Ich sah es zum ersten mal im Theater und bin seitdem davon fasziniert. Ich lese es gerne mit viel Humor für den Berliner Dialekt und besonders Spittas Meinungen über die Literatur vor seiner Zeit finde ich sehr interessant. Ich empfehle es sehr für Leute de etwas lustiges, trauriges und in sich verwirrtes Werk zum lesen wollen.
May 25, 2017
**** 4 stars ****
May 25, 2017
**** 4 stars ****
October 25, 2023
(Schullektüre, 12.Klasse)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews