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Fürstinnen
by
Eduard von Keyserling
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | Fürstinnen |
| Author: | Eduard von Keyserling |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Written: | 1917 |
| Length: | 315 pages |
| Original in: | German |
| Availability: | Fürstinnen - Deutschland |
| Altesses - France | |
| Principesse - Italia | |
| Princesas - España |
- Fürstinnen has not yet been published in an English translation
- With an Afterword by Jens Malte Fischer
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Our Assessment:
B+ : very effectively steeped in languorous atmosphere
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| FAZ | . | 7/8/2017 | Rose-Maria Gropp |
From the Reviews:
- "Keyserlings letzter Roman ist das Zeugnis einer tiefen Resignation. Seine Hellsicht brilliert in den atmosphärischen Schilderungen der immergleichen öden Vergnügungen, ohne denunziatorisch zu sein, und blitzt auf in den Dialogen seiner Personen. (...) Eduard von Keyserlings Sprache ist pure Modernität. Er spielte in seiner eigenen Liga, bestimmt nicht der Dekadenz seines eigenen Stands halber, sondern wegen seiner Beschreibungsintensität. Anders als sein, freilich zwei Jahrzehnte jüngerer, Zeitgenosse Hugo von Hofmannsthal, der die Sprachskepsis in seinen besten Werken zelebriert, vertraut Keyserling seiner Sprache völlig. Er nimmt sie her und blickt, selbst erblindet, in den Spiegel sinnentleerter Existenz. Ihm ist psychologische Tiefe attestiert worden. Aber seine Kunst besteht darin, maximale Distanz zu aller Psychologisierung zu halten. (...) Sein letzter Roman ist wie eine hauchdünne Haut, unter der das Aufbegehren drängt." - Rose-Maria Gropp, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
[Note: Fürstinnen has not yet been published in an English translation, and this review is based on the German original; all translations are mine.]
'Fürstinnen' were members of the German nobility -- 'princesses', in fact, though not of the (national) royal house. Noblesse did not just oblige, it also came with constraints, especially in dealing with the common folk; a princess could basically only think of marrying her social equal (of which there weren't all that many). As one of the older Prinzessinen in Eduard von Keyserling's novel notes about the alternative of marrying someone lesser:
Gab es keinen Prinzen, so blieb man unverheiratet wie ich. Was kommt auch bei solchen Heiraten heraus ? Bei Hof geht die Frau durch die eine Tür herein, und der Mann muß durch eine andere Tür. Was denkt sich solch ein Mann dabei ?Amazingly, Fürstinnen is a twentieth-century novel -- both written then (first published in 1917) and, with its automobiles, apparently also set then -- but such protocol-nonsense was still de rigueur. So also, among the revealing exchanges is one where teenage Princess Marie and a neighbor-girl of lesser nobility -- the daughter of a baron --, Hilda von Üchtlitz, profess friendship to one another, Marie going so far as to offer Hilda the 'Du' form of address (the German equivalent of tutoyer-ing):
[If there was no prince, one remained unmarried like me. What can come from such marriages anyway ? At court, the woman enters through one door and the man has to enter through another door. What can a man think at that?]
«Wir wollen Freundinnen sein», erwiderte Hilda ernst.Yet even as Keyserling chronicles these rigid, outdated ways, the novel drips with a sense of bygone eras -- the motions still clung to, but the purposes already far less clear in a modernizing world. Not that many of the trappings of modernity -- beyond the occasional car and the like -- intrudes on the setting of Fürstinnen, as it takes place almost entirely in rather isolated "ländlicher Stille" ('rural quiet') in the depths of eastern Prussia (now Poland), giving the novel a suspended-in-time (and, specifically, the past) feel, too.
«Und Du zueinander sagen», fuhr Marie fort.
«Wenn niemand es hört», ergänzte Hilda.
«Wenn niemand es hört», wiederholte Marie, und die beiden Mädchen umarmten und küßten sich.
["We are to be friends," Hilda replied seriously.
"And will address each other as 'you'," Marie continued.
"When no one can overhear it," Hilda added.
"When no one can overhear it," Marie repeated, and the two girls hugged and kissed each other.]
The novel is loosely centered around the widowed Princess Adelheid von Neustatt-Birkenstein, whose profligate husband had not left enough behind to allow her live in the style her position demanded if she remained near the Court and in the city. Instead, she has been forced to raise her three daughters -- princesses all -- in the boondocks -- and complains about how hard it is to raise them properly so far away from their natural environment (i.e. Court). As one Baron observes about Marie:
«Ja», meinte er, «ihr fehlt die Hofluft, es ist schwer, Kamelien in Spargelbeeten zu ziehen.»When the novel opens, the oldest of the three sisters, Roxane, is about to be married off to Russian Großfürst (Grand Duke) Dimitri, and next in line Eleonore is also soon engaged and then unhappily married. The youngest is both the wildest (everything being very relative here) and sickly (or at least considered so), Marie, almost sixteen -- and, raised in this ultra-protective environment, considered too young to go to the depths of Russia for the wedding of her sister (Russia being: "so dunkel und unbekannt wie -- wie das Jenseits" ('as dark and unknown as -- as the hereafter')).
["Yes," he said, "she lacks the refined Court air; it's difficult to grow camellias in asparagus beds."]
Much of the action revolves around Marie, who is often left behind, and naturally feels stifled in this rarefied atmosphere, with all the great limitations put on her. She struggles against her fate and destiny -- though with limited conviction: Marie is no great rebel, and besides, everyone else knows their place around her and acts accordingly (deferential and all), making rebellion nearly impossible. Just what she's up against is made clear by her mother early on, when it is suggested that Marie will 'go her own way':
Ihren eigenen Weg gehen ? Wie kann eine Prinzessin ihren eigenen Weg gehen ? Ihr Weg ist ihr vorgeschrieben, sie läuft wie auf Schienen, und kommt sie von denen ab, dann ist sie verloren.Marie has a dalliance of sorts with a neighbor, Felix, but it's barely much of a romance, just some youthful exploration -- and Felix easily moves on to other opportunities when they present themselves. A cadet her age, Felix is one of three brothers, the son of a Graf (count), but one who ultimately disappoints his father -- though the father philosophically notes that he has two more sons, making for two more chances to find one who can do right by the family. (Felix is undone by gambling debts -- just about the only form of rebellion available to him.)
[Go her own way ? How can a princess go her own way ? Her path is prescribed for her, she runs as if on rails, and if she strays from them, then she is lost.]
So world-apart and isolated is Marie that not only does she not send Felix the long letters she writes to him at one stage, but:
Bald jedoch genügte Marie das nicht mehr, sie wollte Antwort haben, und so schrieb sie denn in Felixens Namen auch die Antwort, Briefe voll zärtlicher Leidenschaft, und das war noch ergreifender, als die eigenen Briefe zu schreiben. War solch ein Brief fertig, dann steckte sie ihn zu sich, ging in den Park, setzte sich auf die Bank, auf der sie mit Felix gesessen, und las den Brief. Oder sie schlich zur Kiesgrube hinaus, lag dort, wo sie mit Felix gelegen hatte, die Wangen gerötet, die Augen schimmernd und weit offen, und in der fiebernden Mädchenphantasie bekamen Felix, sie selbst, ihre Liebe, ein seltsam unwirkliches, mythisches Leben, das weit ablag von dem stillen Getriebe des Gutheidener Alltags.Another significant figure in the novel is Graf Donalt von Streith: barely in his forties, he had left his duties at the Court and also retired in the same area as Fürstin Adelheid, a bit unsure of what to do with his life. The general thinking -- not least Fürstin Adelheid's -- is that she and he will eventually marry.
[Soon, however, that was no longer enough for Marie, she wanted replies, and so she wrote them in Felix's name, letters full of tender passion, and that was even more moving than writing her own letters. When such a letter was finished, she would take it, go into the park, sit down on the bench where she had had sat with Felix, and read the letter. Or she would sneak out to the gravel pit, lie there where she had lain with Felix, her cheeks flushed, her eyes shimmering and wide open, and in her feverish girlish fantasy, Felix, herself, her love, took on a strangely unreal, mythical life that was far removed from the quiet bustle of everyday life in Gutheiden.]
Finally there is Frau von Syrman, who has recently rented a house in the area; as one of the local nobles explains: "Sie soll eine geschiedene Frau sein, dunkle Verhältnisse, man verkehrt nicht mit ihr" ('She is said to be a divorcée, murky circumstances, one doesn't associate with her'). She also has a daughter who is Marie's age, Britta, and while they catch sight of each other at a theater-performance, it is unthinkable that there would be any contact between them (though Marie does fantasize about the possibilities, even imagining a name for her -- 'Armelia' -- before she learns her actual name). A true free spirit, Britta does befriend Streith, who is charmed by the girl's natural attitude and behavior: with her mother fallen from society, she can't be bothered by most of the usual restrictions expected of a young woman. Her relationship with Streith comes to be the most significant in the novel (not only because it really pisses off Fürstin Adelheid).
As is the case with many of Keyserling's works, Fürstinnen is one dripping in a heavy, melancholy atmosphere. The world seems to largely be elsewhere: certainly it is for Marie, who is kept from many things because it is thought they might be too much for her and her delicate constitution (though she isn't particularly sickly). Britta, too, struggles with being so far away from any sort of real life, but at least she ventures out and tries to shake things up -- not least in latching on to Streith. Britta is an inappropriate romantic partner for Streith -- in several respects, and only most obviously because she is young enough to be his (still-growing) daughter --, but she's looking for any kind of savior, and once the gossip starts in town -- unsurprisingly: soon -- there are few possible alternatives that allow them to be together. (Streith is old-school enough that he feels compelled to do the 'right thing' as soon as mere appearances give rise to talk.) Meanwhile, Marie's fantasies of Felix are truly schoolgirlishly innocent, and it's the more worldly Hilda who sacrifices herself for the silly cad; it's hardly a loss for Marie (though of course she takes it as such), but her life is so empty that it's one less straw for her to desperately cling to. Her mother, meanwhile, resigns herself to her fate as well -- just as Marie's two sister also had. Such is the life, and the sad and sorry lot, of a princess ....
The atmosphere is wonderfully presented, and goes very well with the story, all languor and tired motions, practically everything done by the (silly) rules. Keyserling truly chronicles a fin de siècle -- right from its very edge, as the novel was first published just as the German monarchy was teetering towards war-torn collapse -- pulling nobility, and all the nonsense that went with it, down with it. When Keyserling wrote the novel, it wasn't yet clear that it would all collapse so soon and so fast, but he portrays its enfeeblement vividly. (Keyserling never did witness the end of it all, passing away shortly beforehand, in September, 1918.)
Drifting a bit in focus -- Marie shifts in and out of the center, with Britta, and her relationship with Streith, coming much more to the fore in the later part of the novel --, and with an odd two-year leap from one point in the story to the next that seems somewhat underutilized (it allows for a summing up of Roxane's misfortunes, but little more), it at times seems unclear where Keyserling wanted to go with and in Fürstinnen -- but as a portrait of a particular slice- and way of life it is very good, and Keyserling's human portraits, of quite a few of the characters, are very good indeed.
- M.A.Orthofer, 30 November 2023
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Fürstinnen:
- Manesse publicity page
- dtv publicity page
- Actes Sud publicity page
- Adelphi publicity page
- Nocturna publicity page
- Deutschlandfunk Kultur (German)
- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German)
- Porto Franco (Italian)
- Der Standard (German)
- See Index of German literature
- See Index of Books Written Between 1900 and 1945
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German author Eduard von Keyserling lived 1855 to 1918.
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© 2023 the complete review
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