Little Herr Friedemann by Thomas Mann
"Little Herr Friedemann" is a poignant novella by Thomas Mann that explores themes of isolation, desire, and the complexity of human relationships through the life of its protagonist, Friedemann. Born with a physical deformity due to a childhood accident, Friedemann navigates the challenges of being a hunchback and dwarf while finding solace in music, literature, and the natural world. At thirty, he reflects on his life, having successfully distanced himself from romantic entanglements after a painful experience with a girl he loved in adolescence.
However, his life takes a dramatic turn when he encounters Frau Gerda von Rinnlingen, a captivating married woman who becomes an obsession. Despite recognizing her as a potential source of his downfall, Friedemann is drawn to her allure and struggles with his feelings of desire and humiliation. Their interactions culminate in a climactic moment that reveals his emotional vulnerability and the limits of his self-imposed isolation. The novella ultimately presents a profound exploration of the human condition, the pursuit of peace, and the inescapable nature of desire, leaving readers to reflect on the complexities of love and self-acceptance.
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Little Herr Friedemann by Thomas Mann
First published: "Der kleine Herr Friedemann," 1897 (English translation, 1936)
Type of plot: Symbolist
Time of work: The 1890's
Locale: Lubeck, Germany
Principal Characters:
Johannes Friedemann , the protagonist, a hunchback and dwarfFrau Gerda von Rinnlingen , a femme fatale, both beautiful and cruelFriederike , ,Henriette , andPfiffi Friedemann , Johannes's unmarried sistersColonel von Rinnlingen , Gerda's husband and the district commander
The Story
Johannes Friedemann, as a month-old infant in Lubeck, had taken a bad fall while in the care of his drunken nurse. As a result, he is destined to live out his life as a hunchback and a dwarf. Remarkably so, Friedemann as a young adult has made an accommodation with his plight. At sixteen he had fallen in love with a blond girl his age, but one summer afternoon he saw her embracing and kissing a boy while hiding behind a jasmine bush. Friedemann made an instant vow: "Never again will I let myself in for any of it. To the others it brings joy and happiness, for me it can only mean sadness and pain. I am done with it." As a consequence, the dwarf teaches himself to revel in the changing splendors of the natural world: He learns to love music (in fact, he plays the violin passably), literature, and especially the theater, his real passion. In a substantive way, then, he has made his private peace with the world. Indeed, his surname in translation can mean "the man who seeks or finds peace."
In June of his fateful year, Friedemann happily celebrates his thirtieth birthday. Taking inventory of his life, Friedemann considers that he has boldly renounced that which he will never have, has successfully established himself in business, lives happily in the family home with his three unmarried sisters (Friederike, Henriette, and Pfiffi), and can optimistically anticipate ten or twenty more years of the good life: "And I look forward to them with peace in my heart."
In July, little Friedemann has five encounters with a voluptuous married woman, Frau Gerda von Rinnlingen. Her husband, who is forty years old (Gerda is sixteen years his junior), is a military officer (Colonel von Rinnlingen) and is the newly appointed district commander of the Lubeck area. Strangely enough, almost from his first sight of her, Friedemann instinctively recognizes and accepts Gerda as the agent of his doom; that is, she will bring about his death in a most direct way.
On a Tuesday noon, Friedemann has his first glimpse of her. While he is strolling with a business acquaintance, they see her in a yellow car being drawn by a pair of thoroughbreds. In a few words Thomas Mann describes her. Gerda's hair is red-blond; her face is "oval, with a dead-white skin and faint bluish shadows lurking under the close-set eyes." Friedemann fixes his gaze on her as she goes by. She in turn nods at him. While his companion chatters on, Friedemann stares stonily at the pavement.
Three days later he comes home for lunch and is informed that the district commander and his wife have arrived for a courtesy visit. Ignoring protocol, Friedemann without explanation retreats to his room and refuses to meet them. When his sisters announce to him that they will be returning the visit on Sunday, Friedemann says nothing: "He was eating his soup with a hushed and troubled air. It was as though he were listening to some strange noise he heard."
The dwarf's third encounter with Gerda, on the following night, is a most unsettling one. Attending the opera, he finds that he is seated next to her. His inner turmoil now begins in earnest. Little Friedemann is overwhelmed by the physical presence of the woman: her imposing height, her striking red-blond hair, her low-cut gown and full bosom, and the warm, alluring scent of her body. They do not speak, but after intermission his eyes become locked with hers. She continues to stare until he turns away. Friedemann is humiliated because he thinks that she has compelled him to cast his eyes down before her steadfast gaze.
Toward the end of the opera, Gerda drops her fan in what he interprets as a coquettish ruse. They both bend to retrieve it and their heads momentarily touch. Without a word he flees the theater and heads home, absolutely convinced that her eyes glittered at him with "unholy joy." Once he calls out her name; twice he murmurs, "My God, my God!"
Friedemann is ill the next day as his sisters go off early on their visit to the von Rinnlingens. Late that morning he finds a reservoir of strength and impulsively decides to seek out Gerda at her home. Ushered into a half-darkened room, he converses rather pleasantly with her about their mutual health and about his violin playing. Suddenly, without warning, her expression changes from one of real concern about him to one of genuine cruelty. Again she stares at him until he submits and begins to look at the floor. As he prepares to leave, she invites him and his sisters to her home the next week for an informal dance.
Friedemann goes home by way of the river, which is adjacent to her property. He knows now that his fate is in her hands. There is a scenario to be acted out, and he will submit to his role. Even though he has always yearned for peace, it cannot be his until she has had her way with him, whatever that might be. Prior to her arrival in Lubeck, he had held the sensual world at bay with his formidable gift for sublimating his sexual drive. Her presence has changed all that now. She is simply too powerful a force for him to resist.
The final episode with Gerda is an obligatory scene. Little Friedemann is prepared for the end. At her home that Sunday night the guests have gathered. A resigned Friedemann quietly sits and looks at Gerda with a gaze of unwilling adoration. In time she invites him into her garden. A subservient Friedemann follows her beyond the garden into a little park by the river's edge, leaving all the other guests behind. Seated on a bench they chat once more about their health. He admits to her that those years of sublimation had been unhappy ones. The kindness in her tone apparently causes him to stand up abruptly, to emit a loud wail, and then to take her hands in his as he kneels before her with his face buried in her lap. With his diminutive body trembling, he gasps: "You know, you understand . . . let me . . . I can no longer . . . my God, oh my God!"
Scornfully laughing at him, Gerda pushes him away and then flings him to the grass. In supreme disgust at having lost control of himself, the self-absorbed hunchback drags his body to the water's edge as she runs up the path to her husband and the other guests. Little Friedemann lets his upper torso immerse itself in the river.