Hanns Heinz Ewers Alraune
Read Hanns Heinz Ewers Alraune Online
Authors: Joe Bandel
Tags: #alraune, #decadence, #german, #gothic, #hanns heinz ewers, #horror, #literature, #translations
Joe Bandel
Published by Joe Bandel at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 Joe Bandel
Hanns Heinz Ewers Alraune story copyright
Wilfried Kugel
Galeotto poem copyright Wilfried Kugel
Translations copyright Joe Bandel
In cooperation with the Hanns Heinz Ewers
estate
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Written by Hanns Heinz Ewers and
translated
By
Joe E. Bandel
Illustrations by Mahlon Blaine
Other Titles In Print
Alraune
Anarchist Knight:Apprentice
Magister Templi
Modern Survivalism
Hanns Heinz Ewers Volume I
Coming Soon!
Vampire
Fundvogel
Hanns Heinz Ewers Volume II
This book is dedicated to my children and
step-children., Lyssa, Crystal, Whitney, Dylan, Sarah and Jason.
Dreams can come true. Even if it is four pages at a time. Don’t
ever give up! Thanks to Dr. Kugel for permissions.
Visit
Anarchist World
on the web at
“
Deine Tage sind wie die schweren Trauben
blauer Glyzenen, tropfen hinab zum weichen Teppich: so schreitet
mein leichter Fuss weich dahin durch die sonnenglitzernden
Laubengänge deiner sanften Tage.”
Your days are like the heavy
(grapes/bunches/clusters) blue Glyzenen, dropping down to soft
carpet: so stride my light feet softly in them through the sun
glistening arbor your gentle days.
What the hell does “Glyzenen” mean? Look it
up in the dictionary; it’s not there. Google it on the internet;
it’s not there. Try some online German-English dictionaries; it’s
not there…
What did Endore’s write? “glycinias” Well,
what does that mean? Look it up in the dictionary; it’s not there.
Google it on the internet; ah, there it is–Archaic German word for
wisteria–not used anymore–Maybe back when he translated it some old
Germans were still alive that knew the meaning of the word.
[Editor’s note. S. Guy Endore translated a
1929 version of Alraune for John Day Publishing Company]
What is “Wisteria”? Google it on the
internet–Oh, what beautiful thick flowers. We don’t have those here
in northern Minnesota. Now let’s get back to the translation.
“Dropping down to soft carpet?” That can’t be right. Wisteria grows
outside and doesn’t fall onto the carpet! When those thick blossoms
fall they will form a carpet on the ground though! Let’s try it
like this:
Your days are like the heavy blue clusters of
wisteria dropping down to form a soft carpet. My feet stride
lightly and softly through them as I enter the glittering sunlight
in the arbor of your gentle days.
Just for grins lets see what Endore came up
with.
“
Your days drop out of your life even as
the heavy clusters of blue glycinias shed their blossoms one by one
upon the soft carpet. And I tread lightly through the long, sunny
arbors of your mild existence.”
What the hell! That’s not even close! Where
did he come up with that “days dropping” and “blossoms one by one”
bit? None of that is in the text at all. Obviously he was
embellishing a bit. (Something that Endore did quite a bit of.)
Such was my experience with the very first
page of Alraune. But it was not my last. The John Day version of
Alraune turned out to be very mangled and censored to boot. There
are different types of censorship and I ran into most of them.
Let’s take chapter five to give some brief examples.
Now in the story Alraune’s father agrees to
cooperate with the experiment in exchange for a couple bottles of
whiskey the night before he is executed. Thus he is so drunk the
next morning that they have to help him walk up to where the
sentence of death is read to him. Suddenly he realizes what is
about to happen, sobers up immediately, says “something” and begins
to fight back. But first he utters a word–What is that word? It may
give a clue to the entire incident. Let’s see how it really
goes:
She laughed, “No, certainly not. Well then
–but reach me another slice of lemon. Thank you. Put it right there
in the cup! Well then –he said, no –I can’t say it.”
“
Highness,” said the Professor with mild
reproof.
She said, “You must close your eyes
first.”
The Privy Councilor thought, “Old monkey!”
but he closed his eyes. “Now?” he asked.
She still hesitated, “I –I will say it in
French –”
“
That’s fine, in French then!” He cried
impatiently.
Then she pressed her lips together, bent
forward and whispered in his ear, “Merde!”
Of course “Merde!” means “Shit!” in French.
He said “Shit!”, sobered up and started fighting for his life!
Let’s see what the John Day version did with it.
She laughed. “Of course not. How silly. Well
–just let me have a piece of lemon. Thanks –put it right into the
cup! –Well, then, as I was saying –but no, really, I can’t tell
you.”
“
Your Highness!” the Professor said in a
tone of genial reproach.
Then she said: “You’ll have to shut your
eyes.”
The Councilor thought to himself, “What an
old ass.” But he closed his eyes. “Well,” he asked.
But she resisted coyly. “I’ll –I’ll tell it
to you in French.”
“
Very well then, Let it be –French!” he
cried impatiently.
She pursed her lips, bent her head to his and
whispered the offending word into his ear.
As you see, we don’t even get to know what
the word was in the John Day edition and a subtle nuance has been
lost. Still, you might think I am making mountains out of
molehills. What difference does that little bit have to do with the
story? Well let’s take a more substantial piece of censorship.
Later in the same chapter almost one entire page of text has been
censored. I won’t share it here because it will spoil the story but
this entire section was omitted from the John Day version.
Curiously enough Mahlon Blaine illustrated a portion of it which
shows that he was familiar with it. It was translated but didn’t
make it into the book.
Something that is also missing in the John
Day edition is much of the emotional content and beauty of the
writing itself. Consider this paragraph at the end of chapter
five:
There is one other curious thing that remains
in the story of these two people that without ever seeing each
other became Alraune’s father and mother, how they were brought
together in a strange manner even after their death. The Anatomy
building janitor, Knoblauch, threw out the remaining bones and
tatters of flesh into a common shallow grave in the gardens of the
Anatomy building. It was behind the wall where the white roses
climb and grow so abundantly –
How heart wrenching and touching in its own
way! Let’s see how the Endore’s version handles it:
Again the bodies of these two, who, though
they had never seen each other, yet became Alraune ten Brinken’s
father and mother, were most curiously joined in still another
manner after their death. Knoblauch, the old servant who cleaned
out the dissecting rooms, threw the remaining bones and bits of
flesh into a hastily prepared shallow ditch in the rear of the
anatomy garden, back there against the wall, where the white
hedge-roses grow so rankly.
When you consider that nearly every single
chapter of the John Day version has been gutted of its emotional
content in one way or another, it is not surprising that it never
became as popular with the reading public as it did it Germany.
There it could be read in its entirety as the author intended. For
the first time Alraune is now available to the English speaking
world in an uncensored version that brings the life and emotion
back into the story. I am proud to have been able to be a part in
the restoration of this classic work of horror.
A final note for those that have read the
John Day version:
What I read then is different, entirely
different, has different meaning and I present her again like I
find her, wild, hot –like someone that is full of all passions!
Describes the house on the Rhine before the
thought of Alraune came into the world.
Expains how the idea for Alraune came
about.
Informs how Frank Braun persuaded the Privy
Councilor to create Alraune
Gives the particulars of how they found
Alraune’s mother
Informs about her father and how Death stood
as Godfather when Alraune came to life.
Deals with how the child Alraune grew up.
Shares the things that occurred when Alraune
was a young girl.
Details how Alraune became Mistress of the
House of Brinken.
Speaks of Alraune’s lovers and what happened
to them.
Describes how Wolf Gontram was put into the
ground because of Alraune.
Renders to the reader the end of the Privy
Councilor through Alraune.
Gives an account of how Frank Braun stepped
into Alraune’s world.
Mentions how Princess Wolkonski told Alraune
the truth.
Describes how Frank Braun played with fire
and how Alraune awoke.
Tells how Alraune lived in the park.
Proclaims how Alraune came to an end.
Hanns Heinz Ewers was born in Dusseldorf
Germany on 3 November 1871. Both of his parents were artists. His
father was a painter and a singer. His mother was a painter and a
gifted storyteller. He, himself, was a writer, poet, playwright,
filmmaker and comedian.
His film,
The Student of Prague
, was
the first film ever to make use of a double. His most famous novel,
Alraune
, has been translated into twenty languages and made
into a film five times. He is mostly known as a horror writer in
the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe.
Why then have most people not heard of
him?
The easy answer is that he was a strong
supporter of German nationalism during the Second World War even
though he was also a strong supporter of the Jewish cause as well.
In the end Ewers books were banned in Nazi Germany and he died in
1943 persona non grata in poverty.
After the war his Nazi affiliation caused his
literary works to be shunned and he has been largely forgotten.
This is the easy answer. The harder and more
accurate answer is very complex because he was a very complex
person. As I translate more of his material I will try to find more
answers to the life of this very interesting person as well.
