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The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries novel. A total of 990 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The German Cla.s.sics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.Volume I.by Editor-in-Ch
The German Cla.s.sics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.Volume I.by Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke.PREFACE It is surprising how little the English-speaking world knows of German literature of the nineteenth century. Goethe and Schiller found their
- 990 On both sides and all about the iron beasts were lying, lurking immovable, their merciless limbs lazily stretched. In their beautiful brutal bodies a sustained glow seemed to flicker. As at all times the vicious graceful forms lay there and shone with a l
- 989 Victor would have liked, with his glowing gaze, to hide her in a burning bush, so that n.o.body else could approach her. One evening he forgot himself in Hoflinger's presence. Spiele had teased him about his red necktie, which began to look black with we
- 988 THE IRON IDOL TRANSLATED BY AMELIA VON ENDE In one of our great industrial centres lived a childless couple, a workingman and his wife, by the name of Hoflinger. They had been married ten years and had become resigned and accustomed to their solitude. The
- 987 He stopped suddenly. Then he reached out his hand, because he could not find the right words, and his face blazed scarlet. It came over him that he was like a beggar. Simmen looked silently at the floor. He was a reasonable man, and he saw what his words
- 986 It was the evening of the day when the landlord had scolded his daughter on Cain's account.Simmen looked very much displeased.Fausch had come just as he was, dirty, and leaning a little forward, as if he had to thrust his great head through a wall. S
- 985 Chapter VIII Fausch's ill temper that evening did not hinder Cain and Vincenza from enjoying each other's company as before. They were too young and too thoughtless to think very much about others, and Cain did not suspect the feeling that his f
- 984 The morning was warm, for it was summer, and the sunlight was already flooding the meadow from which the young man was approaching. He was barefooted, like the Alpine peasants, indeed he had been used to run barefooted as a child. His well worn trousers w
- 983 "Good-by!" said the smith. But as the other turned toward his wagon, Fausch came slowly and clumsily out of the workshop and motioned to him. The trader's horse had already started. Hallheimer reined him in sharply. Fausch came over to him
- 982 One can, very likely, shut the mouths of the boys in the village."Cain started to turn away. Then he changed his mind. Some idea seemed to calm him. He put his clothes in order and sat down at his own place.His big strong father meant to take his par
- 981 The stuff was rough and homely, but the coa.r.s.e s.h.i.+rt that showed at the neck and wrists was of a glistening white, that looked so strangely clean in the dirty blacksmith shop, that its color seemed, as it were, to stab through the darkness. But tha
- 980 "You're like a bull," said the doctor angrily. "You have a right to send the child out of the house, but you have no right to disgrace it."A sound of sobbing was heard from the bedroom. The doctor called the maid, who hurried in."You're like a bull
- 979 The woman scolded and swore. "What kind of behavior is that! Do you think I have stolen my time? Are you going to let me take my turn or not?""After I've done with this, or not at all," said Fausch, and as she came up close to him, he turned his back
- 978 The smith sat erect, and his hairy right hand lay on the well-worn old Bible, from which he read every evening before supper. His two companions at table sat with strange humility at each side of the smith. Even now when the maid had left the room, all wa
- 977 From time to time Finkenbein, who from some hidden source or other had now and then a little money in his pocket, proposed another secret excursion to the tavern. But Hurlin, strong as the temptation was for him, kept a stiff front and never went with the
- 976 "Both?""Yes, you old simpleton, both.""Both at once?""No, you fool, first one and then the other.""Is that true?" "Why shouldn't it be true?""Well," said the sailmaker, who did not believe the story, quickly, "then I'll tell you something
- 975 "Have you got any childen?""One boy--in America.""Sensible fellow--a man's better off there.""You'd think so--but he's always writing for money, the rascal! He's married, too. When he went away, I said to him, 'Friedel,' I said, 'good luck t
- 974 He did not see how the valley grew paler and filled with soft shadows, and how the clouds took on a rosy tint; he was blind to the mild, sweet evening colors of the sky and the mysterious blue that came over the distant mountains. He saw nothing but that
- 973 Oppressed with eagerness I circled the pool and searched at the erythrina. Here my footstep roused her; like a gray moth she fled to the bamboo alley, and through the nocturnal vault farther and farther away. I could not overtake her; and when we were onc
- 972 I grew impatient and said, "I am thinking; excuse me!" and went on quickly, paying no more attention to what she called after me.I entered the gate of the park, and stopped. My eye took in the welcome sight of all the familiar things, the sparkling sand
- 971 I grew impatient. She is not coming! Mayhap she will come as soon as I am gone, and when I return I shall find an answer. I stood up, stretched myself, and walked slowly toward the bamboo alley.In pa.s.sing, I glanced once more at the place of the inscrip
- 970 And she told what she had purchased for her father, and what her sister-in-law had got for her husband, named the prices, and praised the quality of the goods. I gazed first at her eyes, then at the glowing coals within the flat-iron, listened to the tone
- 969 It is intolerable. If this pillow were saturated with mortal poison, you would take the corner between your lips as the infant takes his mother's breast, and would drink release from your troubles. But if the poison stood over there in the other corn
- 968 As for Florian Hausbaum, he became a driver for the Ox Inn at Volkermarkt; that was a little consolation, at least; to settle down here on the scene of former triumphs, and ever and again to be able to drive at least a little load of grain or wood over th
- 967 For they will never again enjoy the prospect of having a corporal of the Bavarian Royal Grenadiers come out to them as a missionary.RUDOLF HANS BARTSCH THE STYRIAN WINE-CARTER TRANSLATED BY BAYARD QUINCY MORGAN, PH.D.a.s.sistant Professor of German, Unive
- 966 "Oh, but are you quite sure of that? I wouldn't want to have all those big expenses again and then have it turn out only a half-way business.""It is certain and indisputable, for the messengers of the faith were always most highly hono
- 965 But to be sure, given such a point of view, the end was easy to foresee, and in August the Bridge Farmer faced the same choice as two years before, whether or not to maintain his confidence in the Fottner youth.That is, he really no longer had any choice,
- 964 Because we know nothing for certain, and because the Almighty Judge perhaps thought differently about the lightning-rod oath, and did not observe the Eynhofen tradition.So he considered what and how much he must give in order to balance the account and ma
- 963 Now the music stopped, there was an intermission, and refreshments were served. The mail clerk hurried about in person with a tea-tray of herring salad, serving the ladies; but before Ingeborg Holm he actually dropped on one knee as he offered her the dis
- 962 "But you are right," said the young man; "G.o.d knows you are right about melancholy. I am almost always melancholy, but especially on such evenings as dis, when de stars are in de sky." And again he propped up his chin on thumb and fo
- 961 Upstairs in the great rooms beyond the colonnade there were strangers living, he could see; for the head of the stairs was shut off by a gla.s.s door which had not formerly been there, and some name-plate or other was on it. He went away, down the stairs
- 960 "Nor do you need to.--Do you expect an answer?""Have you any?""I should think I had.--I have listened closely to you, Tonio, from beginning to end, and I will give you the answer which fits everything you have said this afternoon,
- 959 She sharpened his eyes and made him see through and through the big words that swell men's bosoms, she unlocked for him the souls of men and his own soul, made him a seer, and showed him the heart of the world and every first cause hidden behind word
- 958 "Yes, it is a silly name, and Heaven knows I wish I were named Heinrich or Wilhelm, you can take my word for that. But the reason is that a brother of my mother, for whom I was christened, is named Antonio; for you know my mother came from over there
- 957 TONIO KRoGER (1902) TRANSLATED BY BAYARD QUINCY MORGAN, PH.D.a.s.sistant Professor of German, University of Wisconsin The winter sun, only a poor make-believe, hung milky pale behind cloud strata above the cramped city. Wet and draughty were the gable-fri
- 956 "I was very sorry for it," answered the housekeeper coldly and formally."Why?"Runtze turned to the wooden frame on which the sausages hung, and began to stroke one of them gently with her hand. "Why, it's this way," she
- 955 Countess Betty softly left the room, and outside she said to Madame Bonnechose, much troubled, "_Chere amie_, my brother requires of us that we have devotions; there is nothing to be done, so please call the chamber-maids and the butler, _o ma chere,
- 954 "The wedding, well, that's all up now anyhow," said Lina, bustling back and forth between her chests and Billy. "There, this dress here, it's a bit tight for me, for the young lady it'll be all right. Nope, it's too big
- 953 When Boris did not answer, Billy repeated the question in a whimpering, wailing tone. Then she heard him sink down beside the bed. He flung his arms about her, she felt his face lying cold and heavy on her breast, and felt a strange quiver shake his body,
- 952 "Across the border, you say?" asked Billy.Boris's voice again took on a tortured accent as he replied, "Why--I don't know, don't ask me now--of course there's nothing else for you to do, everything will come out all righ
- 951 "Shall we sleep now?" asked Marion."How can you think of it?" replied Billy; "at twelve you must be at the linden. Come sit down beside me." She pulled up a chair for Marion; she herself climbed into bed, but sat up, leaning
- 950 "Sleep, why don't you?" said Moritz kindly."I can't," replied Boris; "as soon as I close my eyes, I feel as if those cursed smooth stems were winding around my legs again and dragging me under. The strangest feeling. I h
- 949 Billy was silent. She now let her arms hang limply, her eyes grew quite round and clear, and into them came the strangest expression of helplessness, even of fear. "Then--then--" she struggled to say, "then I don't know."A boundle
- 948 She was astonished to find Boris in the living-room as early as this.In his suit of cream-colored silk, with the carnation-red belt, he sat in a chair waiting, pale, very handsome, and a trifle solemn."What? Up already, my boy?" said the old lad
- 947 On the veranda, again, Countess Betty and Madame Bonnechose were sitting together, folding their hands in their laps and saying reverently, "_Ah, la jeunesse, la chere jeunesse._"Only the two children were dissatisfied. Bob and Erika stood on th
- 946 They had now reached the end of the garden path, stood still a moment, and looked out over the garden gate upon the stubble-fields and cropped meadows. Behind them the woods formed a blue-black frame about the picture, yellow in the suns.h.i.+ne--that den
- 945 "Holy Mary, Mother of G.o.d, have mercy! I will light thee a candle--so bright, so tall!--He is innocent! Help, have mercy, Holy Mary, Mother, help!"She babbled and sobbed and wrung her hands. On her knees she crept through the room and beat the
- 944 And had lashed his oxen which, head down under the yoke, were toiling and panting along; "Hey, you beasts, get up, get up!" Then quickening his pace, he had pa.s.sed on with his son and his farm-hand, and his little grandson high up on the sheav
- 943 He merely grunted; and when she urged him, saying, "Eat, my boy--your favorite supper: sc.r.a.ps and buckwheat porridge!"--he mechanically carried a spoonful to his lips and let it run out of the other corner of his mouth. His brow remained cont
- 942 "Then what did you mean, my girl, by what you said just now? You want to be alive as he is alive? And you want him to be your friend? What did it mean? Look, I'll set the thing all straight for you. You must know your mother was just such anothe
- 941 "It is very much less trouble to take things as simply and smoothly as most people do than to try to move huge blocks of thought. Thinking is like drinking--a man easily falls into it, if the shoe pinches anywhere. And what does he get out of it? An
- 940 Now, he thought, she would begin to tell him something of her life, of her parents, of her childhood--that she was tired of the country, or that she loved it. "They all do that; they talk of themselves and their memories as soon as they begin to get
- 939 When all had gone, she had a few short moments alone with him in the living-room. He stood with his back to the window and looked about the room. "What will these gentlemen say to your entertaining a chance stranger here? And what do _you_ think of i
- 938 Before it had died away, Beate said to the girl, "Bring him in and do what you can for him."The Raven-mother also rose, saying, "We'll have a look at him. Didn't he give his name?""Engraver Kosch, he said three times--an
- 937 The first suitors who presented themselves were the two boarders of the pretty little widow with the heart-shaped face, Herr Oehmchen and Herr Leinhose. They paid a visit to the Sperbers, but not together; neither knew of the other's intention. They
- 936 "The young rascal!" said old Sperber. She was often at their house, getting advice and meeting the young girls and their comrades, whom she had so long thought of and wished to know. Now that she was alone in the world, there was nothing any lon
- 935 But Beate's loneliness had been a wonderfully strenuous loneliness.Like a little wild animal she had lived in the shady garden, had slept under the trees or out in the full sunlight, and dug and planted and run about through field and wood without an
- 934 "Oh yes," said the neat little woman, making a charming gesture with her little heart-shaped head, about which she had tied a snow-white three-cornered piece of linen to give herself a tidy and almost nunlike appearance--"oh yes, I like tha
- 933 They came to the other side of the wood which lies like a broad band across the slope of the Ettersberg, where there was a very old wayside shrine without a saint. The saints had been too long exposed to the weather and to the onslaughts of Protestantism,
- 932 He was on specially good terms with old Sperber, because he too had a strong objection to the way things were going down in the town. "That's all silly impudence down there," he would say. "Well, we'll see how far they'll go
- 931 The German Cla.s.sics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.by Various.THE CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORY By Julius Petersen, Ph.D.Professor of German Literature, University of Basel TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM GUILD HOWARD The last two volumes of this comprehen
- 930 "Theres the bridge still," says Johnnie. "But thats all right, Well make it surely out of spite! A solid boiler and double steam Should win in such a fight, twould seem, Let it rave and rage and run at its bent, Well put it down: this eleme
- 929 As a matter of fact, I was not wild and venturesome, and all my escapades that were attributed to me as of such a nature were always undertaken after a wise estimate of my strength. Nevertheless I have, with respect to that period, a feeling that I was co
- 928 However, the spit resting upon the supports proved to be something more than a mere rod. In fact the spit itself was run lengthwise through a hollow wooden cone, which had a covering of greased paper over its outer surface, and the purpose of which was to
- 927 I have already remarked that such excursions to Berlin occurred frequently in those days, but still more frequent were journeys into the provinces, because it was inc.u.mbent upon my father to look about for a new apothecary's shop to buy. If he had
- 926 "Yes, I was, because you spoke of my still being so young. Certainly I am still young; but that makes no difference. During our happy days Innstetten used to read aloud to me in the evening. He had very good books, and in one of them there was a stor
- 925 "Dear Innstetten, are you going to a.s.sume the duties of a permanent secretary in this frame of mind?""Oh, bah! How can I help it? Read these lines I have just received."Wullersdorf took the second letter with the illegible postmark,
- 924 She busied herself with all sorts of things about the home and attended to the decorations and little improvements in the household.Her appreciation of the beautiful enabled her always to make the right choice. Reading and, above all, study of the arts sh
- 923 "And you all love him dearly?""Yes, and two of the girls in the highest cla.s.s are going to change their religion.""Oh, I understand; that is fine. And how is Johanna?""Johanna brought me to the door of the house."
- 922 Effi smiled. "You are probably right, Roswitha, but it is a bad sign that you should be right, and it shows me that I still have too much of the old Effi in me and that I am still too well off."Roswitha would not agree to that. "Anybody as
- 921 CHAPTER x.x.xII Three years had pa.s.sed and for almost that length of time Effi had been living in a small apartment on Koniggratz Street--a front room and back room, behind which was the kitchen with a servant's bedroom, everything as ordinary and
- 920 Johanna laid the letters Innstetten had given her upon the table, glanced over the addresses, or at least pretended to, for she knew very well to whom they were directed, and said with feigned composure: "One goes to Hohen-Cremmen.""I under
- 919 "Haughtily? frivolously?""Neither the one nor the other. I confess frankly, Innstetten, it staggered me. When I mentioned your name he turned as pale as death, but tried hard to compose himself, and I saw a twitching about the corners of hi
- 918 Wullersdorf entered and saw at a glance that something must have happened."Pardon me, Wullersdorf," said Innstetten, receiving him, "for having asked you to come at once to see me. I dislike to disturb anybody in his evening's repose,
- 917 "You were going to tell me about Effi.""Well, then, she confessed to me that this feeling of strangeness had left her and that had made her very happy. Kessin had not been the right place for her, the haunted house and the people there, som
- 916 Effi thought she had misunderstood him. "Crampas," she repeated, with an effort. "I never heard the word as the name of a place. Nothing else in the neighborhood?""No, most gracious Lady, nothing around here. But farther up, towar
- 915 CHAPTER XXIV Three days later, at nine o 'clock in the evening, Innstetten arrived in Berlin. Effi, her mother, and Cousin Briest were at the station.The reception was hearty, particularly on the part of Effi, and a world of things had been talked ab
- 914 "Well, that is enough, I should think. But it is not all." Then she summoned up her courage, looked at him, and said: "And then, Geert, I should not like to be separated from you again so soon.""You rogue, you just say that becaus
- 913 "But--""But he is a tomfool. And that is not the kind of a man we women love, not even when we are still half children, as you have always thought me and perhaps still do, in spite of my progress. Tomfoolery is not what we want. Men must be
- 912 "Nothing is supposed to come of it, your Ladys.h.i.+p.""If you think she is an invalid you are reckoning without your host.Invalids live the longest. Besides she has the black chicken. Beware of it. It knows everything and tattles everythin
- 911 Effi laughed more heartily than she had for a long time. But the mood was of short duration and when Innstetten went away and left her alone she sat down by the baby's cradle, and tears fell on the pillows. The old feeling came over her again that sh
- 910 "Isn't he one? You yourself called him a cavalier, a perfect cavalier, in fact.""Yes," continued Innstetten, his tone growing more friendly, though it still betrayed a slight shade of sarcasm. "A cavalier he is, and a perfect
- 909 "A kind of Bluebeard king.""That is fine. That is the kind girls like best to hear about, and I still remember we always said of my friend Hulda Niemeyer, whose name you have heard, I believe, that she knew no history, except the six wives
- 908 Crampas expressed his regret, perhaps just to say something, but perhaps with sincerity, for inconsiderate as he was in chivalrous love affairs, he was, on the other hand, equally a hale fellow well met. To be sure, only superficially. To help a friend an
- 907 "What?""There is something alluring about you.""Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is gladder than ever--Give me another half a cup--Do you know that that is what I have always desired? We women must be
- 906 All soon began to feel at home with one another, for Effi, like most country n.o.blewomen of Brandenburg, had the amiable characteristic of liking to listen to such little stories as those for which the deceased widow, with her avarice, her nephews and th
- 905 She could hardly wait for summer to come with its walks along the beach and its guests at the baths. * * * The months had been so monotonous that she once wrote: "Can you imagine, mama, that I have almost become reconciled to our ghost? Of course, th
- 904 "Trippel, you say? Then, I presume, there is some connection between him and the pastor's widow, Mrs. Trippel, whom we are to see this evening.""Certainly there is a connection. He was her husband, and the father of Miss Trippelli.&quo
- 903 "If it is possible because of such things it must also be possible here, where you are district councillor and the people are obliged to do your bidding and many even owe you a debt of grat.i.tude. Gieshubler would certainly help us, even if only for
- 902 Effi had slept quite soundly for a while, when all of a sudden she started up out of her sleep with a loud scream, indeed, she was able to hear the scream, as she awoke, and she also noticed Rollo's barking outside. His "bow-wow" went echoi
- 901 That was the first long separation, for almost twelve hours. Poor Effi! How was she to pa.s.s the evening? To go to bed early would be inadvisable, for she would wake up and not be able to go to sleep again, and would listen for every sound. No, it would
- 900 With that Innstetten went away and left his young wife alone. She sat, leaning back, in a quiet, snug corner by the window, and, as she looked out, rested her left arm on a small side leaf drawn out of the cylindrical desk. The street was the chief thorou
- 899 "Yes, I have. And his Lords.h.i.+p, is he always up so early?""Always, your Ladys.h.i.+p. On that point he is strict; he cannot endure late sleeping, and when he enters his room across the hall the stove must be warm, and the coffee must no
- 898 "You are quite right. We even have a captain who was once a pirate among the Black Flags.""I don't know what you mean. What are Black Flags?""They are people away off in Tonquin and the South Sea--But since he has been back a
- 897 "I understand him perfectly.""But he can't marry her.""No.""His purpose, then?""A wide field, Luise." This was the day after the wedding. Three days later came a scribbled little card from Munich, wit
- 896 "You see, mama, the fact that he is older than I does no harm. Perhaps that is a very good thing. After all he is not old and is well and strong and is so soldierly and so keen. And I might almost say I am altogether in favor of him, if he only--oh,
- 895 "Oh, how well I feel," said Effi, "so well and so happy! I can't think of heaven as more beautiful. And, after all, who knows whether they have such wonderful heliotrope in heaven?""Why, Effi, you must not talk like that. You
- 894 Later in the day Baron Innstetten was betrothed to Effi von Briest. At the dinner which followed, her jovial father found it no easy matter to adjust himself to the solemn role that had fallen to him. He proposed a toast to the health of the young couple,
- 893 "No, he didn't commit suicide, but it was something of that nature.""Did he make an unsuccessful attempt?""No, not that. But he didn't care to remain here in the neighborhood any longer, and he must have lost all taste f
- 892 a.s.sociate Professor of German, Leland Stanford Jr. University CHAPTER I In front of the old manor house occupied by the von Briest family since the days of Elector George William, the bright suns.h.i.+ne was pouring down upon the village road, at the qu
- 891 While still only a boy of twelve in the palace in Berlin, Frederick the Great had been reminded by his father's anger and sorrow that the kings of Prussia had a duty as protectors toward the German colonies on the Vistula. For in 1724 a loud call fro