Das Gänsemännschen: Roman.

by Jakob Wassermann

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Das Gänsemä Roman

Jakob Wassermann

S. Fischer, 1916

Genres: Novels, Germany

612 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

Jakob Wassermann (1873 – 1934) was a German writer and novelist of Jewish descent.

Born in Fürth, he was the son of a shopkeeper and lost his mother at an early age. He showed literary interest early and published various pieces in small newspapers. Because his father was reluctant to support his literary ambitions, he began a short-lived apprenticeship with a businessman in Vienna after graduation.

He completed his military service in Nuremberg. Afterward, he stayed in southern Germany and in Switzerland. In 1894 he moved to Munich. Here he worked as a secretary and later as a copy editor at the paper Simplicissimus. Around this time he also became acquainted with other writers Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Thomas Mann.
In 1896 he released his first novel, Melusine. Interestingly, his last name (Wassermann) means "water-man" in German; a "Melusine" (or "Melusina") is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.
From 1898 he was a theater critic in Vienna. In 1901 he married Julie Speyer, whom he divorced in 1915. Three years later he was married again to Marta Karlweis.

After 1906, he lived alternatively in Vienna or at Altaussee in der Steiermark where he died in 1934 after a severe illness.

In 1926, he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Art. He resigned in 1933, narrowly avoiding an expulsion by the Nazis. In the same year, his books were banned in Germany owing to his Jewish ancestry.

Wassermann's work includes poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. His most important works are considered the novel Der Fall Maurizius (1928) and the autobiography, My Life as German and Jew (Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude) (1921), in which he discussed the tense relationship between his German and Jewish identities.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

The rating, any status updates, and those bookshelves, indicate my feelings for this book.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this author when I read Irving Stone's great book about Sigmund Freud, The Passions of the Mind. At one point in the book, Stone mentions that the Freuds were reading the newest novel by Jakob Wassermann. I became curious and found him listed on one of the websites where I read online.
At first it was hard to keep the characters straight, and I wondered if I would be able to keep going, but I did and I ended up loving the story. It is dramatic, passionate,complex and never boring. Highly recommend it!!

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das Gänsemännchen war das erste Werk, das ich von ihm gelesen habe aber sicher nicht das letzte. Jakob Wassermann ist definitiv ein leider viel zu wenig gewürdigter Schriftsteller im deutschen Literatur-Kanon.

Er erzählt in diesem 1915 erschienen Roman die Geschichte des fiktiven Musikers und Komponisten Daniel Nothafft, geboren in Eschenbach bei Ansbach und als Erwachsener dann überwiegend in Nürnberg wirkend. Interessant ist die Einordnung in den jeweiligen historischen gesellschaftlichen und politischen Kontext von der Biedermeierzeit über die frühe Kaiserzeit bis zur jahrhundertwende. Thematisiert werden neben dem Haupterzählstrang des künstlerisch überwiegend unverstandenen und im täglichen Leben unbeholfenenen Musik-Genies zum Beispiel auch die politischen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Sozialisten, Liberalen und Konservativen, die gesellschaftliche Situation der Juden und das Rollenverständnis der Frauen in dieser Zeit.

Das besondere an Wassermanns Erzählstil ist die sehr blumige, gerne ironische Sprache, die sehr tiefgehende Betrachtung des Innenlebens der Protagonisten (auch der Nebenfiguren wie etwa der soziopathisch anmutende Herr Carovius oder die von Daniel besessene Philippine) und die gnadenlose Hochtaktung der Erzählung vor den relevanten Wendepunkten der Geschichte, die mir als Leser selbst den Herzschlag nach oben trieben. Das Buch hat zwar manchmal tatsächlich eher komödienhafte Züge, die tragischen Ereignisse lassen einem aber immer wieder das Lachen ersticken.

Insgesamt ein außergewöhnlicher Lesegenuss.

[John Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

"El hombrecillo de los gansos"