The Kerl in the Wild West: Friedrich Gerstäcker's Die Regulatoren in Arkansas and Friedrich Schiller's Die Räuber
2014; Arkansas Historical Association; Volume: 73; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2327-1213
Autores ResumoGermany is a nation of readers. This was equally true in the nineteenth century, and immigrants from Germany to the United States carried this passion with them. For example, Das Arkansas Echo, a weekly Ger- man-language newspaper published out of Little Rock from 1891 until 1932, dedicated roughly a quarter of each issue to a serialized work of fiction. Germans in the nineteenth century were every bit as familiar with national literary heroes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller as Germans today, and the works of both were and are widely read. Given the German enthusiasm for great literature, it is fitting that Friedrich Gerstacker's novel based on his time in Arkansas shares some striking similarities to a classic drama of German literature. The Kerl, or impetuous yet well-meaning and often tragic hero of the Sturm und Drang, is absolutely recognizable as he strides through Gerstacker's Wild West version of Arkansas. Because not every reader of this journal is a student of German literature, this essay will begin with an overview of the texts to be discussed.Published in 1781, Schiller's Die Rauber [The Robbers] is one of the classic texts of the Sturm und Drang, or Storm and Stress, a literary peri- od that came at the end of the German Enlightenment. The watchword of the Enlightenment had been Vernunft! [Reason!], and the young men who made up the Sturm und Drang movement had had quite enough of it and wanted to express their passions and emotions fully. Particularly for Schiller, who saw himself languishing as a student in the military acad- emy of the Duke of Wurttemberg, the call to arms against authority and tyranny was a personal battle cry.Die Rauber is a tale of two brothers: Franz and Karl Moor. While Karl, the eldest, is away studying in Leipzig, Franz concocts an elaborate plot to have their father disinherit Karl based on false reports of Karl's scandalous activity. He later furthers the lie by arranging for his father and Karl's beloved, Amalia, to learn (erroneously) that Karl is dead. He imprisons his father, attempts and fails to secure Amalia for himself-first through a marriage offer, then by attempted rape-and proceeds to rule the estate as the worst sort of tyrant.Believing himself to be disinherited, Karl joins other disaffected stu- dents who abandon their university studies to form a band of robbers and make him their leader. While Karl attempts to steal from the rich and give to the poor and otherwise right injustices, his band has less noble aims and proceeds to murder with impunity, committing grave crimes against wom- en, children, and the elderly for which he is ultimately responsible as its leader. Eventually, a disillusioned Karl attempts to return home and dis- covers the crimes of his brother. Franz kills himself before Karl's robbers can bring him to sit before his brother's judgment. Karl frees his starving father from the tower in which Franz imprisoned him, but he dies after learning what his oldest son has become. Immediately thereafter, Karl kills his love Amalia, at her behest, since he cannot resume his formerly happy life with her, as he has sworn allegiance to his band. At the end of the play, in a small gesture of atonement for his crimes, he turns himself over to a poor man with eleven children, who will at least be able to col- lect the reward on Karl's head.Friedrich Gerstacker's Die Regulatoren in Arkansas [The Regulators or Vigilantes in Arkansas] is also a tale of crime, punishment, and redemp- tion, although with a happier ending. At 576 pages, the book features a detailed plot that can only be partially outlined here. At its heart, however, is a band of horse thieves, who commit several unplanned murders in the midst of their heist. Opposed to the horse thieves is the band of vigilantes that tracks them down and exacts justice for the crimes, since they believe a distant court system in Little Rock cannot serve as a deterrent in the backwoods of Arkansas. …
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