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Die gläsernen Ringe
Das Heranwachsen aus der Geborgenheit kindlichen Daseins ist das Thema dieser Erzählung: dem jungen Mädchen, das den schmerzvollen Reifegang an sich erfährt, werden seine Kinderjahre im verwunschenen Garten des Klosters St. Georgen zum Inbegriff verlorenen Glücks und erster Einsicht in eigenes Lebensschicksal. Erst nach Jahren - und nach ersten Erfahrungen mit Tod und Abschied - kehrt es in diesen Garten zurück, um in den Ringen auf dem Wasserspiegel des Klosterbrunnens die Gestalt der eigenen Existenz zu erblicken.
- GenresGerman Literature
187 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1941
About the author
Luise Rinser
148 books12 followersLuise Rinser (30 April 1911 in Pitzling, Landsberg am Lech, Upper Bavaria – 17 March 2002 in Unterhaching, Munich) was a German writer.
Luise Rinser was born on 30 April 1911 in Pitzling, a constituent community of Landsberg am Lech, in Upper Bavaria. Her birth house still exists. She was educated in a Volksschule in Munich, where she scored high marks on her exams. After the exams, she worked as an aide in various schools in Upper Bavaria, where she learned the reformed pedagogical style of Franz Seitz, who influenced her teaching and writing. During these years, she wrote her first short stories for the journal Herdfeuer. She refused to join the Nazi Party, but after 1936 belonged to the NS-Frauenschaft and until 1939 she also belonged to the Teacher's Association. In 1939, she resigned from teaching and was married. In 1944 she was denounced for undermining military morale, and imprisoned; the end of the war stopped the legal proceedings against her, which probably would have concluded with a death sentence. She described her experience in the Traunstein women's prison in her Prison Journals (Gefängnistagebuch) of 1946. She described herself in an ode to Adolf Hitler as opposed to the Nazis. Her first husband, and the father of both her sons, the composer and choir director Horst Günther Schnell, died on the Russian Front. Afterward, she married the communist writer Klaus Herrmann, but this marriage was annulled about 1952. From 1945 to 1953, she was a freelance writer for the New Daily News (Munich), and she established her residence in that city.
In 1954, she married the composer Carl Orff and they divorced in 1960. She formed a tight friendship with the Korean composer Isang Yun, with the abbot of a monastery, and with the theologian Karl Rahner. In 1959, she lived in Rome, and then in 1965 in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, where she was recognized as an honored resident in 1986. Afterward, she lived until her death at her apartment in Munich.
Rinser kept herself active in political and social discussions in Germany. She supported Willy Brandt in his 1971/72 campaign, and demonstrated with the writers Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass and many others against the retrofitting of Germany with Pershing rockets. She became a sharp critic of the Catholic Church, although she never left it and she was an accredited journalist at the Second Vatican Council. She also criticized, in open letters, the prosecution of Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, and others, and wrote to Ensslin's father: "Gudrun has a friend in me for life.". In 1972, she traveled to the Soviet Union, the USA Spain, India, Indonesia, South Korea, North Korea, and Iran – she saw the Revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini as "a shining model for the states of the Third World." – Japan, Colombia and many other countries. She engaged herself for the abolition of the Abortion paragraph § 218 in its current form. She served as a leading voice for the Catholic Left in Germany.
In 1984, she was proposed by the Grünen as a candidate for the office of federal president.
Luise Rinser was born on 30 April 1911 in Pitzling, a constituent community of Landsberg am Lech, in Upper Bavaria. Her birth house still exists. She was educated in a Volksschule in Munich, where she scored high marks on her exams. After the exams, she worked as an aide in various schools in Upper Bavaria, where she learned the reformed pedagogical style of Franz Seitz, who influenced her teaching and writing. During these years, she wrote her first short stories for the journal Herdfeuer. She refused to join the Nazi Party, but after 1936 belonged to the NS-Frauenschaft and until 1939 she also belonged to the Teacher's Association. In 1939, she resigned from teaching and was married. In 1944 she was denounced for undermining military morale, and imprisoned; the end of the war stopped the legal proceedings against her, which probably would have concluded with a death sentence. She described her experience in the Traunstein women's prison in her Prison Journals (Gefängnistagebuch) of 1946. She described herself in an ode to Adolf Hitler as opposed to the Nazis. Her first husband, and the father of both her sons, the composer and choir director Horst Günther Schnell, died on the Russian Front. Afterward, she married the communist writer Klaus Herrmann, but this marriage was annulled about 1952. From 1945 to 1953, she was a freelance writer for the New Daily News (Munich), and she established her residence in that city.
In 1954, she married the composer Carl Orff and they divorced in 1960. She formed a tight friendship with the Korean composer Isang Yun, with the abbot of a monastery, and with the theologian Karl Rahner. In 1959, she lived in Rome, and then in 1965 in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, where she was recognized as an honored resident in 1986. Afterward, she lived until her death at her apartment in Munich.
Rinser kept herself active in political and social discussions in Germany. She supported Willy Brandt in his 1971/72 campaign, and demonstrated with the writers Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass and many others against the retrofitting of Germany with Pershing rockets. She became a sharp critic of the Catholic Church, although she never left it and she was an accredited journalist at the Second Vatican Council. She also criticized, in open letters, the prosecution of Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, and others, and wrote to Ensslin's father: "Gudrun has a friend in me for life.". In 1972, she traveled to the Soviet Union, the USA Spain, India, Indonesia, South Korea, North Korea, and Iran – she saw the Revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini as "a shining model for the states of the Third World." – Japan, Colombia and many other countries. She engaged herself for the abolition of the Abortion paragraph § 218 in its current form. She served as a leading voice for the Catholic Left in Germany.
In 1984, she was proposed by the Grünen as a candidate for the office of federal president.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 13, 2013
Ich versuche zuerst, auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Weisst jemand, ob diese Novelle autobiographish ist? Ich denke doch. Die Glaeserne Ringe ist hoechstens ehrlich, innerlich und schoen geschrieben. Wir ehfahren die Aufwachsung eines Madchens in Bayern zwischen den Kriegen. Rinser schreibt mit grosser Respekt fuer die Einbildungskraft, starke Gefuehle, und Beobachtungen eines intelligenten Kindes. Nicht leicht zu lesen, aber lesenswert.
And now I'm repeating this in English! I think this novel must be autobiographical; does anyone know if it is? It tells the story of a young girl growing up in Bavaria between the wars. She is distant from her parents, but finds a physical and spiritual home in the small village and convent where she and her mother live while her father is a soldier. Her aunt and great-Uncle are like parents to her, and a neighbor on a nearby farm a big sister. Rinser is notably honest and accurate about the depth of a child's emotions and imagination. Her work is introverted, sensual, and often difficult - but beautifully written. The intensity and sensuality weren't quite to my taste, but it is certainly a worthwhile book.
BTW, I'd be happy if any German speakers were willing to correct my short review above! I haven't written German in awhile.
And now I'm repeating this in English! I think this novel must be autobiographical; does anyone know if it is? It tells the story of a young girl growing up in Bavaria between the wars. She is distant from her parents, but finds a physical and spiritual home in the small village and convent where she and her mother live while her father is a soldier. Her aunt and great-Uncle are like parents to her, and a neighbor on a nearby farm a big sister. Rinser is notably honest and accurate about the depth of a child's emotions and imagination. Her work is introverted, sensual, and often difficult - but beautifully written. The intensity and sensuality weren't quite to my taste, but it is certainly a worthwhile book.
BTW, I'd be happy if any German speakers were willing to correct my short review above! I haven't written German in awhile.
September 23, 2014
This book reminds me how much I ADORE the German language. No wonder Herman Hesse loved, it too. The beauty and the power of the images conveyed by Luise Rinser's sentences are beyond words.
And the way we see this girl of 5 years discover the world (ignoring the war that is going on beyond the monastery she's living in), explore new territories and relationships and eventually grow until she reaches the end of her childhood is not only most eloquent and beautiful food for the mind but also touching the heart.
And the way we see this girl of 5 years discover the world (ignoring the war that is going on beyond the monastery she's living in), explore new territories and relationships and eventually grow until she reaches the end of her childhood is not only most eloquent and beautiful food for the mind but also touching the heart.
August 15, 2012
One of the very first Bildungsroman I've read in my life.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews