(no subject)
I got through a good chunk of my Book of Socialist Short Stories today. I found one passage particularly touching. I'm sure it's better in the original German, but the translation is pretty great, too.
From Werner Bräuning's "On the Way"
(It's only 5 pages, read the whole thing sometime.)
"His name was David Kroll, and what he wanted to achieve he achieved. And love, people say, has no end. David Kroll and Sabine Bach did not announce their engagement, engagements are petty bourgeois; they just said, Hey everybody, this is how things stand with us. The autumn was the best ever, the winter was terrific, and only the spring was a little less great than before. Because now he was wrapping her in velvet and silk-- and there was nothing you could say against that. I love you. I need you. There was only one thing that he regrettably never asked, namely what she needed, what she expected from life, where she wanted to go in the world. Imperceptibly but relentlessly, she saw that he did not challenge her but took her over. He arranged her life, he protected her, left her standing there with her arms dangling. He thought that nothing was too good for her, and his steep, straight path began to look different to her when she observed that his father, a national laureate and builder of cities, had inexhaustible funds at his disposal. The summer was cool. He heaped her with attention and marks of tenderness, he wanted her all to himself, and he lost her."
From Werner Bräuning's "On the Way"
(It's only 5 pages, read the whole thing sometime.)
"His name was David Kroll, and what he wanted to achieve he achieved. And love, people say, has no end. David Kroll and Sabine Bach did not announce their engagement, engagements are petty bourgeois; they just said, Hey everybody, this is how things stand with us. The autumn was the best ever, the winter was terrific, and only the spring was a little less great than before. Because now he was wrapping her in velvet and silk-- and there was nothing you could say against that. I love you. I need you. There was only one thing that he regrettably never asked, namely what she needed, what she expected from life, where she wanted to go in the world. Imperceptibly but relentlessly, she saw that he did not challenge her but took her over. He arranged her life, he protected her, left her standing there with her arms dangling. He thought that nothing was too good for her, and his steep, straight path began to look different to her when she observed that his father, a national laureate and builder of cities, had inexhaustible funds at his disposal. The summer was cool. He heaped her with attention and marks of tenderness, he wanted her all to himself, and he lost her."