The Excursion to Tilsit

Last updated
The Excursion to Tilsit
The Excursion to Tilsit.jpg
Author Hermann Sudermann
Original titleLitauische Geschichten
TranslatorLewis Galantière
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
PublisherJ.G. Cotta
Publication date
1917
Published in English
1930
Pages488

The Excursion to Tilsit is a 1917 collection of short stories or novellas by the German writer Hermann Sudermann. Its German title is Litauische Geschichten, which means "Lithuanian stories". The book consists of four stories set in rural Lithuania in the mid 19th century. It was published in English in 1930, translated by Lewis Galantière. [1]

Contents

Several stories from the book have been adapted for film. Most famously, F. W. Murnau's 1927 film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is loosely based on the titular story. [2]

Stories and plots

The Excursion to Tilsit (Die Reise nach Tilsit)
A married man is in love with his mistress and plans to drown his wife on the way back from a trip to Tilsit. During the trip he reconciles with his wife, changes his mind and tells her about his now abandoned plan. In a fatal accident the man drowns and the wife is saved through the means the man had prepared for his own escape.
Miks Bumbullis
A murderer needs to visit the grave of his daughter to please the goddess of death, despite knowing that the police will be there waiting for him.
Jons and Erdma (Jons und Erdme)
A couple become wealthy by the means of tricks and foul play. Eventually they are in turn tricked by their daughters and have to start again from zero.
The Hired Girl (Die Magd)

Reception

Margaret Wallace of The Bookman wrote:

Like Selma Lagerlöf, and many other novelists whose material is national and even provincial, Sudermann by his very unconcern with cosmopolitan values gives a deeper truth and meaning to the lives of his characters. Of these four stories of Lithuanian peasants, only one, "Miks Bumbullis", depends for its effect upon purely national traits and circumstances. They are, for the most part, founded solidly upon the fundamental and inescapable human facts of birth and love and death. They are moving and tragic and, above all, intensely and vividly alive. [3]

The Outlook reviewed the book:

Excursion to Tilsit by Hermann Sudermann is a collection of powerful short stories dealing with the life of Lithuanian peasants. The author has observed them sympathetically and at first hand. Nominal Catholics, they still live in fear of pagan gods, giving even their lives to propitiate them. ... Among the stories, that of Jons and Erdma who, having built a home by tricks and cunning are tricked out of it at last by their daughters, compares favorably with Turgeniev's Lear of the Steppes as a story of faith and treachery. [4]

Film adaptations

Related Research Articles

<i>The Last Laugh</i> (1924 film) 1924 film directed by F. W. Murnau

The Last Laugh is a 1924 German silent film directed by German director F. W. Murnau from a screenplay written by Carl Mayer. The film stars Emil Jannings and Maly Delschaft.

<i>Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans</i> 1927 film

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a 1927 American synchronized sound romantic drama directed by German director F. W. Murnau and starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, and Margaret Livingston. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Movietone sound-on-film process. The story was adapted by Carl Mayer from the short story "The Excursion to Tilsit", from the 1917 collection with the same title by Hermann Sudermann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. W. Murnau</span> German film director (1888–1931)

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era.

<i>Nosferatu</i> 1922 silent film by F. W. Murnau

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is a 1922 silent German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife of his estate agent and brings the plague to their town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolf children</span> German street children that existed in East Prussia at the end of World War II

Wolf children or Little Germans were German and Prussian Lithuanian street children that existed in East Prussia at the end of World War II. Wolf children were mostly orphans left behind in the Evacuation of East Prussia and Red Army invasion in early 1945, with many living homeless in the forests of East Prussia or adopted by Lithuanian families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Sudermann</span> German dramatist and novelist (1857–1928)

Hermann Sudermann was a German dramatist and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolph Freiherr Knigge</span> German writer, Freemason, and leading member of the Order of the Illuminati

Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Freiherr Knigge was a German writer, Freemason, and a leading member of the Order of the Illuminati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Wegener</span> German actor, writer, and film director

Paul Wegener was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinrich Seidel</span> German engineer, poet and writer

Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Seidel was a German engineer, poet and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania</span>

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania is a Lutheran church body comprising congregations in Lithuania. The ELCL is a member of the Porvoo Communion and the Lutheran World Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Mayer</span> Austrian screenwriter

Carl Mayer was an Austrian screenwriter who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Head of Janus (1920), The Haunted Castle (1921), Der Letzte Mann (1924), Tartuffe (1926), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and 4 Devils (1928), most of them being films directed by F. W. Murnau. Mayer was a fundamental figure in the dramatic and narrative establishment of both German expressionist cinema and Kammerspielfilm.

<i>Tartuffe</i> (1926 film) 1925 film by F. W. Murnau

Tartuffe is a German silent film produced by Erich Pommer for UFA and released in 1926. It was directed by F. W. Murnau, photographed by Karl Freund and written by Carl Mayer from Molière's original play. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. Set design and costumes were by Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Wichert</span>

Ernst Alexander August George Wichert was a German lawyer, judge, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Thimig</span> Austrian actor

Hermann Thimig was an Austrian stage and film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1916 and 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottilie Wildermuth</span> German Swabian author and childrens writer of the 19th century

Ottilie Wildermuth was a German writer, particularly notable for her children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast</span> Town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Sovetsk is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.

<i>The Journey to Tilsit</i> 1939 film by Veit Harlan

The Journey to Tilsit is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann.

The Cats' Bridge is an 1889 novel by the German writer Hermann Sudermann. It was published in English in 1898 as Regina, or The Sins of the Fathers, translated by Beatrice Marshall.

Honour is an 1889 play by the German writer Hermann Sudermann. It tells the story of the conflicts and love affairs between two families, one wealthy and one poor. When the wealthy father has an affair with a daughter in the poor family, her brother challenges the rich man to a duel, only to be laughed off.

Jons und Erdme is a 1959 West German drama film directed by Victor Vicas, starring Giulietta Masina and Carl Raddatz. It is based on the story "Jons and Erdma" from Hermann Sudermann's 1917 short story collection The Excursion to Tilsit.

References

  1. The excursion to Tilsit. OCLC   1474999 . Retrieved 2015-09-25 via WorldCat.
  2. Fischer, Lucy (2003). "Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans". In White, Rob; Buscombe, Edward (eds.). British Film Institute Film Classics, Volume 1. London; New York: British Film Institute; Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 75. ISBN   1-57958-328-8.
  3. Wallace, Margaret (April 1930). "The Excursion to Tilsit by Hermann Sudermann". The Bookman : 214-215.
  4. "The Leisure Arts: The Week's Reading". The Outlook : 546. 1930-04-02.