The Swan Villa by Martin Walser

First published:Das Schwanenhaus, 1980 (English translation, 1982)

Type of work: Social realism

Time of work: Late summer, the late 1970’s

Locale: Southwestern Germany, near Lake Constance

Principal Characters:

• Gottlieb Zürn, a real estate agent
• Anna, his wife
• Rosa, ,
• Magda, ,
• Julia, and
• Regina, his daughters
• Paul Schatz, and
• J. F. Kaltammer, his competitors

The Novel

The Swan Villa is yet another of Martin Walser’s novels dealing with the mid-life crisis of an unexceptional male character. For Gottlieb Zürn, a real estate agent, the crisis is exacerbated not by ill fortune—this he is able to ignore—but by an exceptional opportunity that forces him to realize his hidden hopes and fears. Such a bourgeois conformist and opportunist would be the perfect object of satire and scorn, as evidenced in the works of Heinrich Mann (and even the young Walser), for example. Yet here the reader is given a sympathetic portrait of the everyday concerns of a relatively successful citizen in modern West Germany. His problems and fears are trivial on a global scale, yet they are representative of so many and are presented so intimately and credibly that the reader can understand, and even sympathize with, the hapless “hero.”

From the outset, Gottlieb’s family seems to be collapsing around him. His daughters are troubled: Rosa is pregnant by an irresponsible filmmaker, Magda is apathetic, Julia is rebelling, and Regina is suffering from a protracted, and increasingly serious, undiagnosable illness. Moreover, the dog is failing obedience school. Gottlieb’s wife, Anna, is so preoccupied with these domestic problems that she cannot muster any enthusiasm for her conjugal duties.

Amid the rising chaos of his domestic life, Gottlieb Zürn suddenly has the professional opportunity of his lifetime: to gain the exclusive listing to a splendid art-nouveau property, the Swan Villa, on the shores of Lake Constance. This would mean not only a tremendous boost to his sagging real estate business (and to his income), but also a triumph over his professional rivals and social superiors, Paul Schatz and J.F. Kaltammer.

For Gottlieb, the Swan Villa also represents his unspoken ambitions and desires. As a child, he envied the inhabitants of the villa. Now, it epitomizes his dreams of social acceptance and an untroubled, idyllic life. He is so consumed by this project that he does not take notice of the situation in the family. Fortunately, his wife is able to deal with each separate problem and resolve it satisfactorily. In fact, she is the one who has been closing all Gottlieb’s real estate sales of late, and it is only because of her capabilities that the business remains solvent. Gottlieb, to soothe his troubled mind, went on a spending spree and then had a costly automobile accident; since any recent financial successes are a direct result of his wife’s strength and subtle skills, Gottlieb’s ability to provide adequately for his family’s future appears questionable.

Nevertheless, he perseveres in his own halting way. Intimidated by the finesse of his rivals, Schatz and Kaltammer, and by the social grace and stature of the villa’s owner, he can only scheme and hope. His attempt to acquire the listing for himself meets with failure, as does his appearance at a prestigious social event. At every turn, his incompetence and lack of social presence are exposed. Yet despite continuing embarrassment, he remains obsessed with the Swan Villa.

By the end of the novel, life has progressed, though with an ambiguous conclusion for Gottlieb Zürn. The myriad problems within the family have been resolved for the better, largely because of the calm and steady supervision of his wife: Rosa will continue her studies and have her baby; Magda has gained new self-assurance and interest in life; Julia has acquired some measure of self-discipline; and Regina’s health is gradually improving. Gottlieb, however, has lost the listing of his beloved Swan Villa; indeed, he has lost the villa itself and all that it represents to him. His unlikely rival, Kaltammer, acquires the exclusive listing and proceeds to demolish the exquisite structure, with the intent of building unsightly but profitable concrete condominiums on the site.

The Characters

Gottlieb Zürn is not a business genius. He is a modestly talented man with a lower-middle-class background, that is, with lingering dreams and aspirations that can never be realized. He hopes for social advancement and monetary success, yet he does not deserve them and does not know how to achieve them. His present domestic problems (his eldest daughter’s pregnancy and unfinished education and the other daughters’ lack of ambition, success, and vitality) are indeed troublesome. Still, with the image of the Swan Villa before him, its acquisition as a listing becomes an obsession, representing simultaneously his secret goals of success and a positive self-image. Gottlieb would be happiest in a childish existence, free from responsibility and the accompanying social pressures; he is insecure and would prefer to spend his days listing old farmhouses rather than competing with his sophisticated rivals, Schatz and Kaltammer. Yet his deserved inferiority complex is suppressed by his hopes and dreams.

One trenchant example of Gottlieb’s hidden desires is his recurring erotic fantasies. During one of his shopping sprees, he buys a Polaroid camera in the hope of introducing it to his wife to spice up their sex life; needless to say, he does not have the courage to broach the subject with her, and the right moment does not occur naturally. In social situations, he cannot help but secretly admire the physical attributes of attractive females, though, again, he is powerless to act; because of his bourgeois insecurities (and his sincere devotion to his wife), he is completely incapable of an adulterous affair. In fact, in a weak moment, he admits that he is completely satisfied with his wife’s companionship, indeed, that she is too good for him. For these reasons, he is most attracted to the painted nude nymphs on the murals in the Swan Villa. He secretly admires the nymphs’ graceful freedom and can fantasize harmlessly to his heart’s content. With the destruction of the villa, however, he must find a different, yet acceptable, outlet for his fantasies or forsake them entirely.

The Swan Villa is exclusively the story of Gottlieb Zürn’s mid-life crisis. The other figures, though deftly drawn in a few strokes with unforgettable personality traits, play supporting roles. Their appearance or absence creates situations that are designed to reveal Gottlieb’s character. For example, he is surrounded by females, primarily his wife and four daughters (like Martin Walser himself). These female characters represent yet another dimension of Gottlieb’s life that he does not understand and cannot control.

Like most of Walser’s protagonists, Gottlieb Zürn has no close male friends. Despite frequent contact with two local figures of questionable reputation (who seem to embarrass Gottlieb with their bizarre, friendly gestures), Gottlieb is attracted more to his two idols, the more successful and charismatic realtors J.F. Kaltammer and Paul Schatz. Although he revels at any hint of their possible failure, he also secretly admires their flair, their individuality, and their social status. Gottlieb’s only regular contact is with the caretaker of the Swan Villa; Gottlieb always remembers to bring him some wine and to inquire about his dog. Nevertheless, the reader may be suspicious of Gottlieb’s sincerity, since the caretaker is also a major source of information regarding the coveted Swan Villa.

To judge from Walser’s works, it appears that modern men are condemned to a lonely existence without sympathetic male companionship. Precisely for this reason, the female figures in his prose, the wives of these mediocre men, gain importance. It is the women who hold the families together, promote their husbands’ business successes, and provide the only understanding and companionship in the men’s lonely lives. For the men, this friendship is often confused by their own sexual urges. Though the women function quietly and effectively in these various roles, the men have difficulty realizing and separating the multiple positive aspects of their wives.

Critical Context

All Martin Walser’s works are centered on his native region (approximately the triangle between Stuttgart, Zurich, and Munich). Several prose cycles are especially noteworthy: for example, the trilogy featuring Anselm Kristlein as the main character or the two works depicting Helmut Halm. Yet another cycle traces several male members of an extended family as they embark on their respective mid-life crises: Gottlieb Zürn in The Swan Villa, Xavier Zürn in Seelenarbeit (1979; The Inner Man, 1984), and Franz Horn in Jenseits der Liebe (1976; Beyond All Love, 1982) and Brief an Lord Liszt (1982; Letter to Lord Liszt, 1985). In this cycle, Walser portrays the saga of three men: by outward appearances, the male representatives of a successful, extended family in a modern, industrial nation.

All the main characters listed above must be considered passive “heroes”; they are too insecure to be men of action. Often, an external stimulus creates a seemingly insurmountable obstacle for the main character, or an unexpected opportunity encourages him to fulfill a lifelong dream. Regardless of the situation, a typical reaction is one of faltering indecision or even paralysis, rather than a confident, aggressive approach to resolve a problem or to attain a goal.

Walser’s fiction has grown increasingly popular and has gained critical acclaim as well. Together with Gunter Grass, he is perhaps one of the two most widely known contemporary German writers, especially for his accurate depictions of modern life and its attendant problems. His subtle craftsmanship and seemingly informal narrative style have created an enviable reputation since the mid-1970’s.

Bibliography

Doane, Heike A. “Martin Walsers Ironiebegriff,” in Monatshefte. LXXVII (1985), pp. 195-212.

Kaes, Anton. “Portrat Martin Walser,” in The German Quarterly. LVII (1984), pp. 432-449.

Parkes, K.S. “Crisis and New Ways: The Recent Development of Martin Walser,” in New German Studies. I (1973), pp. 85-98.

Parkes, Stuart. “Martin Walser: Social Critic or Heimatkunstler,” in New German Studies. X (1982), pp. 67-82.

Pickar, Gertrud B. “Narrative Perspective in the Novels of Martin Walser,” in The German Quarterly. XLIV (1971), pp. 48-57.

Thomas, R. Hinton. “Martin Walser: The Nietzsche Connection,” in German Life and Letters. XXXV (1982), pp. 319-328.