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Theodor Storm's Schimmelreiter
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Theodor Storm's last and longest “Novelle,” Der Schimmelreiter, may be regarded as his masterpiece. Under the stress of experience, especially private sorrow, Storm's art matured and deepened toward the end of his life. The writer of soft, sentimental idylls, perfumed with faded flowers and blurred by hopeless reminiscence, became a tragic poet, coping in strong, sharp-lined, cogent “Novellen” with the bitter realities of life. Among these later works, again, there is observable both a deepening and a simplification. From the historical remoteness of the “Chroniknovellen,” the. stylized “Minnewelt” of Ein Fest auf Haderslevhuus or the artificial archaism of Aquis Submersus, the Schimmelreiter at length comes home to treat, unsentimentally and in timeless terms, the tragedy of a modern man.
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References
1 Theodor Storms sämtliche Werke in acht Bänden, ed. Albert Köster (Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1923), i, 50, 64. All subsequent references to Storm's works, unless otherwise noted, are to this edition—for the Schimmelreiter, to vol. vii of it—t., m., and b. signifying respectively top, middle, and bottom of page.
2 Hartwig Jess, Theodor Storm. Sein Leben und sein Schaffen (Braunschweig: Westermann, 1917), p. 42. The second (1931) edition of this has not been accessible to me.
3 Gertrud Storm, Theodor Storm. Ein Bild seines Lebens, 2. Aufl. (Berlin: Curtius, 1913), ii, 241. Briefwechsel zwischen Paul Heyse und Theodor Storm, ed. G. J. Plotke (München: Lehmann, 1917-18), ii, 198, 205.
4 Already in the case of Psyche (1875), Storm lamented irremediable weaknesses: “ich bin nicht mehr so jung, als da ich Immensee schrieb” (viii, 257). His misgivings about Carsten Curator ibid., 261 f. After Renate (1877-78), he writes to Heyse: “ich werde in den letzten Jahren immer misstrauischer gegen mein eigenes Können” (Heyse-Storm Bfw., i, 152).
5 Am Kamin, ii, 163, b. “Einsamkeit” of landscape and individual is one of the themes that repeat in the Schimmelreiter; cf., of numerous instances, 261, m.; 264, b.; 346, b.; 350, t.; 352, b.
6 See Hertel's biographical essay in Storms Werke (Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut [1936], ix, 70.
7 Of Storm's “Novellen,” especially Carsten Curator and John Riew' represent the inexorable power of heredity as a form of fate. The case of his own ill-starred son led Storm to brood over a culpa patris: see Heyse-Storm Bfw., i, 177 f.
8 Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor Storm und Gottfried Keller, ed. Albert Köster, 3. Aufl. (Berlin: Paetel, 1909), 10 f. Cf. also Gertrud Storm, Theodor Storm (1913), ii, 175 f.
9 The goal, to be sure, is clear from the beginning; and this circular movement, which makes a “frame” appropriate, may be a characteristic of the “Novelle” as distinguished from the novel, which normally begins without such “Zielsetzung.” Here, we start with the specter and then learn how it came to be; so in Ludwig's Zwischen Himmel und Erde we get first the present situation and then the action that produced it; and so Kleist “gives away” the end in the opening paragraph of Kohlhaas.
10 Of the “Chroniknovellen,” already Aquis Submersus (1875-76) does so.
11 Adolf Stern, Studien zur Literatur der Gegenwart, 3. Aufl. (Dresden and Leipzig: Koch, 1905), i, 111, considered that the material of a great novel had been compressed, with some violence, into this “Novelle.”
12 Storm-Keller Bfw., 1909, 192, 193, 251. Paul Schütze, Theodor Storm. Sein Leben und seine Dichtung, 4. Aufl. (Berlin: Paetel, 1925), p. 335.
13 Much later, at the zenith of his success, we see him, in statuesque and symbolic pose, on his dike, dominating for a space these two enemies: the storm-whipped sea on one side and reluctant men, bending to his iron will, on the other (341). The concluding “frame” reintroduces these two as the final victors: the dull mass, essentially unchanged since Hauke's time, and the sea, still destructive beneath its smiling surface (375-377).
14 The father-son solidarity, most poignantly expressed in the death-bed scene (294 f.), is the converse of the father-son conflicts which are one of Storm's obsessing themes (e.g. Carsten Curator, Eekenhof, Der Herr Etatsrat, Hans und Heinz Kirch). Hauke, as the man of superior mind who collides with the inert and superstitious crowd, is the continuation of his father, “der klügste Mann im Dorf” (282, b.; 299, t.), and of his grandfather, another prodigy who understood Euclid and Dutch (258, m.). The son's intolerance of human stupidity and sloth is found already in the father (cf. Tede's tirade on the Deichgraf, 270, t., and his mockery, 274, t.), and Hauke's opponents extend their enmity to his father (279, b.). To Storm, with his strong “Sippengefühl,” these generational continuities were doubtless important, and the fact that two families one declining, the other “coming up,” terminate in a feeble-minded girl, must have been for him a real part of the tragedy. It is characteristic of Storm that he should, in the opening paragraph, link with the narrator his ancient great-grandmother (actually Storm's own), and later on emphasize such symbols as the antique “Wandbett,” in which generations have slept and died (303, t.) and which the innovator Hauke dispenses with (313, m.).
15 The gesture “er streckte die Arme aus, als griffe er nach ihnen” (299, b.) is a typical repetition of that of the encounter with the cat (266, t.).
16 C. F. Meyer, Werke, Oktav-Ausgabe (Leipzig: Haessel, 1926), iii, 305.
17 In Raabe's Schüdderump, the words of the old Ritter von Glaubigern, who likewise grows weary of fighting a hostile world. Wilhelm Raabes sämtliche Werke (Berlin-Grunewald: Klemm, n. d.), 3. Serie, i, 186.
18 Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor Storm und Eduard Mörike, ed. H. W. Rath (Stuttgart: Hoffmann [1919]), 111.
19 In the poem Geh nicht hinein: i, 177.
20 Tiefe Schatten, 5: ibid., 109.
21 Ein Sterbender: ibid., 175.
22 Storm-Keller Bfw., 1909, 161. Cf. Raabe's conviction “dass wir aus dem Dunkeln kommen und in das Dunkle gehen” (Sämtl. Wke., Berlin-Grunewald: Klemm, n.d., 3. Serie, i, 247). There is a certain similarity between Raabe's pessimism and Storm's (both doubtless influenced by Schopenhauer); but Storm's is deeper-set and more metaphysical; see the present writer's article Pessimism in Raabe's Stuttgart Trilogy, in PMLA, xxxix (1925), esp. 703 f.
23 Storm-Keller Bfw. (1909), p. 77.
24 Aquis Submersus, iv, 311.
25 Zur Chronik von Grieskuus, vi, 293. Cf. the ending of the verses to Constanze, 2, (i, 112), and the words in Der Amtschirurgus.-Heimkehr: “Hu! Wie kommen und gehen die Menschen! Immer ein neuer Schub, und wieder: Fertig!—Rastlos kehrt und kehrt der unsichtbare Besen und kann kein Ende finden. Woher kommt all das immer wieder, und wohin geht der grause Kehricht?” (iii, 167).
26 Auf dem Staatshof, ii, 32, b.
27 Cf. Storm's Werke (Leipzig: Bibliog. Inst. [1936]), ix, 61.
28 Cf. his poem of this title. For the earliest poem, see Werke, Bibliog. Inst. [1936], viii, 231 f. Cf. also Alfred Biese, Theodor Storms Leben und Werke, 3. Aufl. (Leipzig: Hesse und Becker, 1921), p. 145.
28a Almost a decade later, Storm reacts in similar terms to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War: “Das Bestehen der Welt beruht darauf, daß alles sich gegenseitig frißt, oder vielmehr, der Mächtigere den Schwächeren. Den Menschen, als den Mächtigsten, vermag keiner zu fressen, also frißt er sich selbst … Dies ist die eigentliche Ursache der Kriege” (Gertrud Storm, op. cit., ii, 160). This is a characteristic thought of Schopenhauer's; cf. his Sämtl. Wke., ed. Grisebach (Leipzig: Reclam [1891]), i, 208, 430; ii, 416; iii, 245 f.
29 Cf. Plotke in Heyse-Storm Bfw., i, xvi.
30 See Köster's introduction, i, 64.
31 Cf. Jess, op. cit., pp. 63 f.
32 Letter of March 12, 1888, quoted by Hans Eichentopf, Theodor Storms Erzählungskunst in ihrer Entwicklung (Marburg: Elwert, 1908), p. 27.
33 Heyse-Storm Bfw., ii, 170, 198.
34 Cf. Storm's Werke, Bibliog. Inst. [1936], viii, 398 f. Just as one-sided, on the other hand, is the judgment of Willy Seidel, Die Natur als Darstellungsmittel in den Erzählungen Theodor Storms (München: Oldenbourg, 1911), 17, that the entire action of the Schimmelreiter consists in a battle of man against Nature.
35 The rationalistic Schoolmaster at once accepts him as a kindred mind: 257, t.
36 Later on, two men who have been out on watch (255, b.) and therefore have not heard the discussion, independently report the same observation (297, b.). They, to be sure, may be assumed to be familiar with the local legend; but not so the Traveller.
37 The coarse horse-trader standing “sperrbeinig” on the road has a little similarity to the Abdecker von Döbbeln in Kleist's story; also the remarkable restoration of the Schimmel reminds one of that of Kohlhaas' “Rappen.” There is perhaps also a reminiscence of the miraculous way in which Bertrand comes by Johanna's helmet, and Schiller's “braun Bohemerweib” is a sister to Storm's swarthy Slovak.
38 Paul Schütze, op. cit., p. 203; Gertrud Storm, op. cit., ii, 101.
39 Cf. Constanze “ein Opfer der Heimkehr,” Heyse-Storm Bfw., i, 13.
40 In the latter respect, Der Schimmelreiter differs greatly from Ludwig's Zwischen Himmel und Erde, which it resembles in the use of individual dramatic scenes, technical details (slate-roofing and dike-building), and repetitive “Leitmotive.”
41 The same business is used to indicate unconcern on the part of the burly laborer who defies Hauke (343, t.).
42 The use of colors, while not so striking as that of sounds, is noteworthy. The blue binding of the magazine (252, t.) and Trin's red kerchief and blue-checked pillowcase (266 f.) are typical of many instances of specific application of color. Especially effective and appropriate is the use of black and white: white-crested waves against the night sky, white wings of gulls on dark backgrounds (a singularly artistic example 289, t.), human figures silhouetted on snow (the “Eisboseln” scene, 285 ff.), and the eerie “Helldunkel” of moonlit nights.
43 Storm-Keller Bfw., 1909, 262. As his letters testify, Storm grew very fond of reading aloud in social gatherings, and one may safely assume that he “heard” what he wrote.
44 Even so, a few have remained, e.g. “die Hände hab ich im Gebet zerrungen” (vii, 20, m.), “als sei auch sie unhaltbar auf der Erde,” “wir werden nimmermehr vom Tod geheilet” lvii, 37, t.).
45 Alliterations are frequent—as is inevitable in a writer of Storm's antecedents—: “Meer und Marsch” (339, m.), “Dunst und Duft” (355, m.), “Haus und Hof” (267, m.), “Hauke Haiens Hofstatt” (375, b.),“Ross und Reiter” (254, t.; 334, m.; 369, t., b.; 371, t.; extended: “Ross und Reiter wussten, wo sie ritten,” 371, m.), “Schärfen und Spitzen” (286, m.; 299, m.), “salzen schäumende Gischt” (358, m.), “heisser Schauer überrieselte den Reiter” (358, t.), “sah von seinem Schimmel in die Schlucht hinab, wie sie dort schaufelten und stürzten” (341, m.), “Klatschen der Kleimassen” (341, b.), “scholl ein Schrei aus der Schlucht” (342, t.). Alliterations on w are the most frequent of all: “Wind und Wasser” (253, t.; 264, b.), “Wind und Wetter” (333, m.), “die wilden Wasser” (375, m.), “die weite, wilde Wasserwüste” (259, b.), “wahr und weise” (306, b.), “Wesen auf den Watten” (263, b.), “das weite Wattenmeer” (317, t.), “wie die Wellen sich noch höher hoben” (341, b.), “Widerschein der Sonne von dem weiten Wasser … Wirbelwind trieb die Wellen” (351, t.), “wie eine wilde Jagd trieben die Wolken … unten lag die weite Marsch wie eine Wüste” (368, b.). Alliterations on vowels can also be observed, e.g. “bis er einsam in der Öde stand” (262, m.).
46 Herein, of course, Storm has a great predecessor in Otto Ludwig (Zwischen Bimmel und Erde) and successors such as Thomas Mann (especially Tonio Kröger).
47 Hauke shares his “zwei brennende Augen in einem bleichen Antlitz” (354, t.) with Renate, another superior intellect who becomes a ghost in the popular mind: “das blasse Gesicht mit den grossen brennenden Augen” (v, 71, b.).
48 The gesture of a very old woman stroking the head of a child is repeated: 252, t.; 355, b. It is interesting to observe how Storm uses such simple “business” over again, e.g. that of a man leaning in a doorway: 273, m.; 290, m.; 331, b.; 354, b.
49 Throughout Hauke's life and Elke's runs the theme of “Arbeit” (cf. 269, b.; 299, m.; 307, b.; 313, t.; 314, t.; 322, t.; 331, t.; 338, m.). These two, like the father in Hans und Heinz Kirch, exemplify a sort of “Tragik der Arbeit.”
50 Im Schloss, Renate, Im Brauerhause, Ein Doppelgänger, even, to some extent, Pole Poppenspäler.
51 In this view, Storm's last story returns to his first in which the ocean figures, Auf dem Staatshof (1857-58): cf. ii, 32, m.; 35, m.
52 More than a score of instances of each could be cited. Their themes, of course, are frequently connected with that of the ocean. At one point, where it blinds Hauke to the extent of the damage to the dike, the sunlight has a decisive influence on the action (360, b.).
53 E.g. 257, b.; 268, m.; 340, b.; 345, m.; 361, b.; 366, b. The “northwest corner” recurs as the critical place in the dike.
54 The lark-motif, on the other hand, is concomitant with smiling summer skies: 339, m.; 353, m.; 360, m.; once, however, it is used to point up Nature's rapacity: 325, m.
55 With the light-motif is combined a verbal motif of security: Hauke feels reassured about wife and child, for “auf unsre Werfte steigt das Wasser nicht” (369, m.); again “sein Weib, sein Kind, sie sassen sicher auf der hohen Werfte” (370 t.); “Weib und Kind, gottlob, sie sassen sicher auf der hohen Werfte” (373, t.); “der Lichtschein … noch immer brannte der auf seiner Werfte” (3741.); “noch immer ragte die Werfte … aus dem Schwall hervor, noch immer schimmerte von dort der Lichtschein” (375, b.).
56 The mothers, curiously enough, Storm omits altogether—perhaps an instance of the economy of the “Novelle” in contrast to the “Roman.”
57 Storm shows a pronounced fondness for such symbolic objects as the Esche. Another one is the “Lehnstuhl,” the curule chair of Elke's father, with whom it is associated through several mentions (272, b.; 276, m.; 296, b.; 297, t.). It is no mere chance that Hauke is first shown sitting down in it on the occasion when he broaches to Elke the great new project which is to prove that he deserves his office; and now he grips both its arms with characteristic tenacity (312, t.). Later, after winning his fight in the council, he sits down again in the armchair of his predecessor (330, m.). Still later, distraught with cares concerning his dike, he throws himself into the armchair but immediately quits it again, as though he felt uncertain of his tenancy (358, m.).
58 In this last “Novelle” of Storm's we hear a slight echo of his earliest one: the Schoolmaster (256, m.), like the old Reinhard in Immensee, has eyes that have remained younger than the rest of his person.