The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann
"The Song of Songs" by Hermann Sudermann is a naturalistic novel set in early twentieth-century Germany that explores the life of Lilly Czepanek, a young woman facing the harsh realities of her socio-economic environment. The story begins with Lilly's father, a music master, disappearing when she is just fourteen, leaving her and her mother in destitution. As the narrative unfolds, Lilly navigates a series of tumultuous relationships and societal expectations, attempting to find love and fulfillment while facing repeated personal and economic exploitation.
The novel delves into themes of class conflict and the despair inherent in lower-class life, illustrating how societal structures and personal vulnerabilities intersect. Lilly's father’s musical composition, "The Song of Songs," symbolizes her lost dreams of love and personal success, contrasting sharply with her lived reality. Sudermann employs a dialogue-rich style that captures the authenticity of his characters’ experiences, allowing their voices to reveal their struggles without judgment from the author. The narrative ultimately reflects on the disillusionment faced by individuals in a cruel society, making Lilly's journey one that resonates with broader themes of human experience and societal critique.
The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann
- FIRST PUBLISHED: Das hohe lied, 1908 (English translation, 1909)
- TYPE OF WORK: Novel
- TYPE OF PLOT: Naturalism
- TIME OF WORK: Early twentieth century
- LOCALE: Germany
The Story:
Lilly Czepanek was fourteen when her temperamental father, a music master, disappeared from home. The girl and her mother became destitute, but every day they looked forward to Czepanek’s return since he had left behind his cherished musical composition, The Song of Songs, around which the entire family had built its hopes for success.
Lilly grew into an attractive young woman. She attended school to prepare herself for a career as a governess. Meanwhile, Mrs. Czepanek’s mind deteriorated, and she projected mad schemes to regain her social position. One day, in a fit of rage, she attacked Lilly with a bread knife and was subsequently committed to an asylum. Lilly, now alone, took a job as a clerk in the circulating library of Mrs. Asmussen; she assuaged her loneliness by reading voraciously. During this time, she admired a high-minded young student, Fritz Redlich, who spurned her because he misunderstood her overtures of friendship.
Mrs. Asmussen’s two worldly daughters, home after having failed to find their fortunes elsewhere, coached Lilly in the ways of catching a man. Lieutenant von Prell, attached to the local regiment, came to the library, saw Lilly, and was overwhelmed by her simple charm. His visit was followed by the visits of many young officers and men of fashion of the town. The sisters, Lona and Mi, were jealous of Lilly and hated her for her ability to attract men without even venturing out of the Asmussen house.
When Colonel von Mertzbach, the regiment commander, offered Lilly a job as his secretary and reader to save her from such sordid surroundings, she declined because she was suspicious of his intentions. She received dozens of fine Christmas gifts from the colonel, but she returned them all. Lilly went to his quarters at the colonel's request, where he proposed marriage after revealing his passion for her. Seeing a chance for freedom and luxury, Lilly accepted and became his wife. Soon, however, she discovered that the colonel had only a physical attraction for her and that she was little more than his chattel. Their wedding trip to Italy was interrupted when the colonel, who was extremely jealous, saw Lilly take a passive interest in a young man who shared their compartment.
The couple went to East Prussia to the colonel’s castle. The colonel, retired from military service, devoted his time to molding Lilly into an aristocratic Junker lady, and in this task, he was assisted by the housekeeper, Miss von Schwertfeger.
Von Prell, who had resigned his commission, was now employed on the estate of his former commanding officer. He taught Lilly to ride, and she surrendered herself to him on one of their jaunts together in the countryside. Having access to the castle, he secretly made his way to her room at night. One night, the colonel returned home unexpectedly from one of his frequent trips to the nearby town and almost surprised the two together. Miss von Schwertfeger covered up Lilly’s infidelity, however, and later told her mistress that she hated von Mertzbach because he had forced her for years to be a party to mad orgies which had taken place in the castle. She nevertheless forbade any further relations between Lilly and von Prell.
Later, Lilly, hearing that von Prell was philandering in the town, went to his lodge. The colonel discovered them together and ordered Lilly off the estate. She went to Berlin; von Prell went to the United States.
Lilly, now divorced, assisted a maker of lampshades. When she became proficient in the trade, she opened her own shop. When her business venture proved unsuccessful, she went to Dehnicke, a friend of von Prell, who was a bronze statuary manufacturer and who, von Prell had assured her, would help any friend of his. To escape Dehnicke’s attentions, Lilly left him and went to Kellermann, a glass painter whom Dehnicke recommended to her. Kellermann made advances, but Lilly immediately made him understand that she was there only to learn glass painting. As she produced transparencies, Dehnicke took them and acted as her agent to sell them. One day, Dehnicke gave Lilly a large check drawn on an American bank and sent to her, he said, by von Prell. With her new wealth, Lilly established her studio in a fine apartment in a decent part of the city. Soon, however, she lost interest in her transparencies and began to live as Dehnicke’s creature. She toured the bronze factory but was barred from entering one small storeroom.
Lilly, now virtually a prisoner in the luxurious surroundings provided by Dehnicke, grew morose and melancholy. She and Dehnicke attended an elaborate carnival at Kellermann’s studio. There, she learned that none of her transparencies had sold and that the forbidden storeroom in the factory was their repository.
One day, Dehnicke, a bachelor and very much under the influence of his mother, announced to Lilly that he intended to marry an heiress at his mother's insistence. Lilly, confused and helpless, yielded herself to Kellermann. Dehnicke, however, gave up the heiress and returned to Lilly; their old way of life was resumed. Still, Lilly grew more lonely, and she waited for the one man in her life to appear.
After several years in Berlin, Lilly again met Fritz Redlich. Seeing that the former student was a failure and in extreme poverty, she prepared to dedicate her life to regenerating him. She fed and clothed him, made him a frequent guest at her table, and finally secured him a position as a tutor in another part of Germany. Still misunderstanding her interest in him, Fritz refused to have dinner with her the night before he was to leave for his new job.
Lilly next met Konrad Rennschmidt, a young student of art history. There was an immediate sympathy between the two, and Lilly finally knew what she thought was real happiness. Because Konrad did not know all the true facts of Lilly’s past, she told him many lies in her frantic desire to keep his friendship. At last, she surrendered herself to Konrad and drifted away from Dehnicke, whose mother still hoped her son would marry well.
Konrad's rich uncle came to Berlin to meet Lilly when he heard his nephew planned to marry her. The old uncle, an adventurer of sorts, tricked Lilly into disclosing her true tortured and fallen soul to him. Sure that Lilly would do Konrad no good and his family and friends would not accept her, he persuaded Lilly never to see Konrad again.
Having never been essentially evil and seeing little hope of happiness in her life, Lilly attempted to throw herself in the River Spree after her last great disappointment, but she failed even in that attempt. She did, however, throw The Song of Songs into the river. For years, she had guarded the musical composition as a symbol of all that was fine and good in life. At last, when his mother had resigned herself to the inevitable, Dehnicke again asked Lilly to marry him. She accepted. It seemed to her by this time that Dehnicke was her fate.
Critical Evaluation:
Hermann Sudermann belonged to the group of revolutionary young playwrights of the naturalist school, who outraged traditionalists by treating the most degraded and depraved aspects of human life in an uncompromising style. He was a rival of Gerhart Hauptmann in Berlin in the 1890s, and his skill at theatrical effect brought him great success. His plays were performed as far away as Japan.
The aims and style of his dramatic work gave form to his prose works, of which The Song of Songs is one of the most respected. Its themes of relentless sexual and economic exploitation, class conflict, and the despair of lower-class life are typical of naturalism and represent a political protest as well as an artistic stance. Lilly experiences repeated assaults on her integrity, couched in various terms, but all turning upon her economic and sexual vulnerability. The Song of Songs, her father’s composition, represents the ideal realm of love and personal fulfillment, which is denied to everyone in the novel, including the exploiters and the exploited.
Sudermann, likewise, transferred the technique of the stage to the composition of the novel, suppressing the narrator and allowing the characters to speak for themselves. His dialogue is rich in realistic touches: dialect, idiosyncratic speech patterns, and the coarseness of the street. He attempts to capture the manifold variety of life in its richness, as Lilly passes from sphere to sphere, rising and falling in her quest for fulfillment. There is no explanation, judgment, or subjective evaluation by the author; he aims to bring scenes to life in brevity and sharpness and to leave the response to the reader. Like all naturalists, however, he was quite clear about the response for which he strove: a recognition of the disillusion and desperation that darkens the lives of the masses and of their source in the unjust structure of society and the self-seeking of those who have power at their disposal.
Principal Characters:
- Lilly Czepanekthe daughter of a music master
- Fritz Redlicha student
- Colonel von MertzbachLilly’s elderly first husband
- Walter von PrellLilly’s first lover
- Richard DehnickeLilly’s lover and later her husband
- Konrad RennschmidtLilly’s great love
Bibliography
Hanson, Klaus D. "Hermann Sudermann." Critical Survey of Drama, 3rd Edition, Nov. 2017, pp. 3644–52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=131064381&site=ehost-live. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
Struthers, Irene. "Hermann Sudermann." Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition, Jan. 2003, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=164522287&site=ehost-live. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
"The Song of Songs." Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, 4th Edition, May 2015, pp. 2276–77. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=102944142&site=ehost-live. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.