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Wie fünf Mädchen im Branntwein jämmerlich umkommen: Frauenschicksale aus dem 19. Jahrhundert
Zur Handlung: Der Ich-Erz�hler, ein "Gummi" - das ist ein Gesch�ftsreisender -, kehrt in einem Bauerndorf im Kanton Bern ein. In der Gaststube des Wirtshauses beobachtet er f�nf branntweins�chtige M�dchen. Anderntags begegnet er einem ortsans�ssigen Bauersmann. Der mitteilsame Alte erz�hlt dem Reisenden aus der Stadt w�hrend mehrerer Gespr�che vom klagvollen Schicksal der f�nf Alkoholikerinnen. Jeremias Gotthelf (1797-1854) war das Pseudonym des Schweizer Schriftstellers und Pfarrers Albert Bitzius. Seine Romane spiegeln in einem zum Teil erschreckenden Realismus das b�uerliche Leben im 19. Jahrhundert. Mit wenigen starken, wuchtigen Worten konnte er Menschen und Landschaften beschreiben. Gotthelf verstand es wie kaum ein anderer Schriftsteller seiner Zeit, die christlichen und die humanistischen Forderungen in seinem Werk zu verarbeiten.
48 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 2012
4 people want to read
About the author
Jeremias Gotthelf
468 books25 followersHe was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental. Here young Bitzius grew up, receiving his early education and consorting with the boys of the village, as well as helping his father to cultivate his glebe. In 1812 he went to complete his education at Bern. He was a founding member of the Student Society Zofingia, the second-oldest fraternity in Switzerland (founded in 1819).
In 1820 he was received as a pastor. In 1821 he visited the University of Göttingen, but returned home in 1822 to act as his father's assistant. On his father's death (1824) he went in the same capacity to Herzogenbuchsee, and later to Bern (1829). Early in 1831 he went as assistant to the aged pastor of the village of Lützelflüh, in the Lower Emmental (between Langnau and Burgdorf), being soon elected his successor (1832) and marrying one of his granddaughters (1833).
He spent the rest of his life in Lützelflüh, where he died, leaving three children (the son was a pastor, the two daughters married pastors). During the 1840s, he steadfastly opposed radicalism and secularism and placed a conservative emphasis on piety and ecclesiastical authority. There are lives of Bitzius by C. Manuel, in the Berlin edition of Bitzius's works (Berlin, 1861), and by J. Ammann in vol. i. (Bern, 1884) of the Sammlung Bernischer Biographien.
He started writing late in life. His first work, the Der Bauernspiegel, oder die Lebensgeschichte des Jeremias Gotthelf, appeared in 1837. It purported to be the life of Jeremias Gotthelf, narrated by himself, and this name was later adopted by the author as his pen name. It sketches the development of a poor country orphan boy, but is not an autobiography. It is a living picture of Bernese (or, strictly speaking, Emmental) village life, true to nature, and not attempting to gloss over its defects and failings. It is written (like the rest of his works) in German, but contains expressions from the Bernese dialect of the Emmental, though Bitzius was not (like Auerbach) a peasant by birth, but belonged to the educated classes, so that he reproduces what he had seen and learnt, and not what he had himself personally experienced. The book was a great success, as it was a picture of real life, and not of fancifully beribboned eighteenth-century villagers. Henceforth Bitzius was a prolific writer, and in the last 18 years of his life became one of the important novelists not only of Switzerland but of the German language in general.
Commemorative plaque at his birth house in Murten/Morat
His best known work is without doubt the short novel The Black Spider (Die schwarze Spinne), a semi-allegorical tale of the plague in form of the titular monster that devastates a Swiss valley community; first as a result of a pact with the devil born out of need and a second time due to the moral decay that releases the monster from its prison again.
Among his later tales are the Leiden und Freuden eines Schulmeisters (1838–1839), Uli der Knecht (The story of a poor peasant laborer who develops into the owner of a prosperous farm; 1841), with its continuation, Uli der Pächter (1849), Anne-Bäbi Jowäger (1843–1844), Käthi, die Großmutter (1846), Die Käserei in der Vehfreude (1850), and the Erlebnisse eines Schuldenbauers (1853). He also published several volumes of shorter tales.
His works were issued in 24 vols. at Berlin, 1856–1861, while 10 vols., giving the original text of each story, were issued at Bern, 1898–1900.
In 1820 he was received as a pastor. In 1821 he visited the University of Göttingen, but returned home in 1822 to act as his father's assistant. On his father's death (1824) he went in the same capacity to Herzogenbuchsee, and later to Bern (1829). Early in 1831 he went as assistant to the aged pastor of the village of Lützelflüh, in the Lower Emmental (between Langnau and Burgdorf), being soon elected his successor (1832) and marrying one of his granddaughters (1833).
He spent the rest of his life in Lützelflüh, where he died, leaving three children (the son was a pastor, the two daughters married pastors). During the 1840s, he steadfastly opposed radicalism and secularism and placed a conservative emphasis on piety and ecclesiastical authority. There are lives of Bitzius by C. Manuel, in the Berlin edition of Bitzius's works (Berlin, 1861), and by J. Ammann in vol. i. (Bern, 1884) of the Sammlung Bernischer Biographien.
He started writing late in life. His first work, the Der Bauernspiegel, oder die Lebensgeschichte des Jeremias Gotthelf, appeared in 1837. It purported to be the life of Jeremias Gotthelf, narrated by himself, and this name was later adopted by the author as his pen name. It sketches the development of a poor country orphan boy, but is not an autobiography. It is a living picture of Bernese (or, strictly speaking, Emmental) village life, true to nature, and not attempting to gloss over its defects and failings. It is written (like the rest of his works) in German, but contains expressions from the Bernese dialect of the Emmental, though Bitzius was not (like Auerbach) a peasant by birth, but belonged to the educated classes, so that he reproduces what he had seen and learnt, and not what he had himself personally experienced. The book was a great success, as it was a picture of real life, and not of fancifully beribboned eighteenth-century villagers. Henceforth Bitzius was a prolific writer, and in the last 18 years of his life became one of the important novelists not only of Switzerland but of the German language in general.
Commemorative plaque at his birth house in Murten/Morat
His best known work is without doubt the short novel The Black Spider (Die schwarze Spinne), a semi-allegorical tale of the plague in form of the titular monster that devastates a Swiss valley community; first as a result of a pact with the devil born out of need and a second time due to the moral decay that releases the monster from its prison again.
Among his later tales are the Leiden und Freuden eines Schulmeisters (1838–1839), Uli der Knecht (The story of a poor peasant laborer who develops into the owner of a prosperous farm; 1841), with its continuation, Uli der Pächter (1849), Anne-Bäbi Jowäger (1843–1844), Käthi, die Großmutter (1846), Die Käserei in der Vehfreude (1850), and the Erlebnisse eines Schuldenbauers (1853). He also published several volumes of shorter tales.
His works were issued in 24 vols. at Berlin, 1856–1861, while 10 vols., giving the original text of each story, were issued at Bern, 1898–1900.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 7, 2023
Die Erzählung aus dem Jahre 1838, basierend auf wahren Geschichten, ist eines der ersten Werke Gotthelfs, dem Pfarrer und Lehrer aus dem Emmental. Darin wird die Alkoholsucht, die anscheinend in der Zeit im Bernischen so prävalent war, dass selbst die Frauen bzw. Mädchen das Trinken anfingen.
Der Erzähler beobachtet in einem Gasthaus, wie fünf junge Frauen hemmungslos dem Branntwein zusprechen und auch ansonsten sich "wüst" benehmen. Gotthelf beschreibt in einem langen Lamento den Verfall der Sitten und gibt die Schuld daran denen, die ein Vorbild sein sollten, aber die Schwachen verführen. So sprächen die Reichen übermäßig dem Wein zu und verleiteten die Armen, den billigen Branntwein zu trinken und im Elend zu verkommen. Auch an den Eltern lässt er kein gutes Haar, die nach Gotthelf weitgehend am Abgleiten der Kinder Schuld seien, auch wenn sie selbst den Anschein aufrecht halten könnten.
Die Geschichte geht damit weiter, dass ein Häftlimacher dem Erzähler die Geschichte jedes der fünf Mädchen erzählt, woran es liegt, dass sie den Weg verloren haben. Danach erzählt er in einer zweiten Runde, wie und woran jedes der fünf Mädchen stirbt. Und im Finale wird es noch ganz ergreifend.
Der Erzähler beobachtet in einem Gasthaus, wie fünf junge Frauen hemmungslos dem Branntwein zusprechen und auch ansonsten sich "wüst" benehmen. Gotthelf beschreibt in einem langen Lamento den Verfall der Sitten und gibt die Schuld daran denen, die ein Vorbild sein sollten, aber die Schwachen verführen. So sprächen die Reichen übermäßig dem Wein zu und verleiteten die Armen, den billigen Branntwein zu trinken und im Elend zu verkommen. Auch an den Eltern lässt er kein gutes Haar, die nach Gotthelf weitgehend am Abgleiten der Kinder Schuld seien, auch wenn sie selbst den Anschein aufrecht halten könnten.
Die Geschichte geht damit weiter, dass ein Häftlimacher dem Erzähler die Geschichte jedes der fünf Mädchen erzählt, woran es liegt, dass sie den Weg verloren haben. Danach erzählt er in einer zweiten Runde, wie und woran jedes der fünf Mädchen stirbt. Und im Finale wird es noch ganz ergreifend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review