Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers
Alraune is a novel that intertwines elements of occult fantasy and classic horror, reinterpreting the ancient mandrake myth within a context of societal decay in the years leading up to World War I. The story follows Frank Braun, a disillusioned lawyer, who, motivated by the legend that mandrakes are created from the semen of executed criminals, collaborates with Professor Jacob ten Brinken to create a woman through artificial insemination. Their experiment results in the birth of Alraune, a being characterized by her sensuality and moral ambiguity, who embodies destructive power over those who become enamored with her.
As Alraune grows, she brings both wealth and ruin to those around her, manipulating her admirers into actions that lead to their downfall. Her creator, ten Brinken, becomes increasingly consumed by her influence, leading to his tragic demise. The narrative also explores Alraune's complex relationship with Braun, as they oscillate between passionate love and violent conflict. Ultimately, Alraune's existence is marked by her indifference to those she ensnares, culminating in a chilling conclusion when she meets her end. This tale raises questions about the nature of creation, morality, and the seductive power of a being that is both alluring and deeply dangerous.
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Alraune
First published: 1911 (in German; English translation, 1929)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—superbeing
Time of work: 1885-1910
Locale: Germany
The Plot
Alraune is an occult fantasy, a modern reworking of the mandrake myth woven together with elements of Frankenstein (1818) and played against the background of the decadence and moral collapse that preceded World War I.
Inspired by the legend that mandrakes (alraunes in German) are engendered by the semen of hanged criminals, Frank Braun, a dissolute young lawyer, proposes an experiment to Professor Jacob ten Brinken: The creation of a woman through artificial insemination. Nymphomaniacal prostitute Alma Raune is impregnated with the final emission of rapist-murderer Peter Noerrissen, collected at the moment of his execution by guillotine. The experiment succeeds, and the mother is imprisoned until the midnight birth of a female child. The difficult labor kills the mother, who is the first victim of the sensual, amoral, and marginally human Alraune.
Ten Brinken adopts the child, encouraging and observing with delight the development of her evil nature and its effects upon those around her. Like the mandrake of superstition, she brings wealth to the house, along with unhappiness and destruction.
Alraune’s manipulation of those who fall into her web causes her expulsion from the convent where she is initially reared; at home she mesmerizes, enslaves, and ultimately destroys a series of men and women whom she encourages while denying herself to them, maddens with jealousy, and goads to destroy one another. She rarely acts directly, but she inspires her admirers to deeds, in their willingness to do “anything” to please her, that will bring about their destruction. She feels nothing for any of them, not even for Wolf Gontram, one of the novel’s few decent characters. She tortures him throughout his childhood and finally kills him by enticing him into freezing weather, chilling him so that he dies of pneumonia. Alraune herself is immune to disease.
Although ten Brinken is her creator, he falls under her baleful influence, neglects his shady business speculations, and even molests a child to relieve his sexual frustration. Soon he is faced with prison, and when Alraune tells him that she is leaving him, in desperation he hangs himself. He first alters his will to make Braun his executor, in the hope of drawing him into Alraune’s net, thus repaying him for having conceived the poisonous experiment.
Alraune is indifferent to the claims of all who have been ruined by ten Brinken’s business and banking ventures, and she amuses herself by enslaving Frieda Gontram and driving Olga Wolkonski to madness. In revenge, financially ruined Duchess Wolkonski, the mother of Olga and godmother of Alraune, reveals to her the secret of her birth, the facts of which are confirmed by Braun.
Initially, Braun is immune to Alraune, and this intrigues her. After she learns her nature, Braun and Alraune drop their defenses, engage in amorous dueling, and become intoxicated with each other. Alraune finally yields herself. Braun finds his finances becoming suddenly and abnormally successful, and Alraune suggests that “It’s happening again.” Their life together alternates between periods of passionate love and ferocious fighting. He attempts to leave her and even burns the mandrake that gave him the idea for the experiment, but he cannot leave. Finally, he discovers to his horror that Alraune has taken to sucking his blood while he sleeps. He is freed when Alraune falls to her death while sleepwalking on the roof.