Pages 179-180

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

But it was just good comradeship, nothing else.  Sometimes she had probably believed she felt more for him; now it was clear to her that it was sisterly affection that she felt for him.

    The image of his older brother stood before her soul.  Previously, he had been distant to her, indeed not once pleasant.  To be only on the spiritual side of the directed striving, that quite easily overlookt the ordinary mortals and their being there; she had kept away from him.  Still even now, certainly, there was something in him that she felt as dividing, even now he lived with all the trouble that he gave himself in the world of his thoughts; she noted it well in him, how in his spiritual and religious line of thought he still could not find his way in the hardship and in the frights of this war.  But now she saw this inner wrestling, this seeking and striving upwards in a different light.

    The morning dawned shyly and hesitating through the darkness outside.  The storm had died down a little, but the rain still hammered hard on the panes.  Edith turned off the lamp; a wounded man called her; the morning work began.

    In the late morning, in the antiquated sitting room of the magistrate, decorated with expensive carvings, ceiling frescoes like tapestries out of brocade and red damask, rich jewelry, the meeting to which the mayor had invited Hans took place.

    Doctor Stoltzman confided his briefly and clearly developed plans and objects with reference to a suitable accommodation for the numerous arriving East Prussian refugees, which he had come up with for a wide,

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sweeping installation of the act of charity at the train station Maßnahmen, where now not only the troops who were passing through but also the refugees would be lookt after, and asked the gentleman to give proposals and suggestions as far as they were concerned.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

The morning dawns right after the narrator explains that Edith now sees Hans' internal struggle "in a different light," and this seems to be a literal picture of that metaphor.

I was way out of my depth with the lavish description of the meeting room, so while I think I have the individual words translated correctly, I'm not sure I have them put together in the right way.

There's no direct object in the clause "die Besprechung... zu der der Oberbürgermeister eingeladen hatte"; it's just "the meeting... to which the mayor had invited."  I supplied "Hans" to complete the sense.

I'm still a bit confused about the time of this meeting.  When it was announced by the mayor on page 174, the time was given as "Vormittags ein Uhr" ("one o'clock in the morning"), but here it's "am späten Vormittag" ("in the late morning").

In the original text, a very long sentence bridging pages 179-180 begins, "Kurz und klar entwickelte Doktor Stoltzmann seine Pläne und Absichten... teilte mit...."  The way this is structured, it seems that "kurz and klar entwickelte" ("briefly and clearly developed") refers to Doctor Stoltzmann, but it actually refers to his plans and objects.  In my translation, I moved this phrase to make its antecedent more clear:  "Doctor Stoltzman confided his briefly and clearly developed plans and objects...."  Still, the sentence is long and unwieldy.

This month's installment may be a bit shorter than usual because I was sick or otherwise under the weather for two of the last four weeks and didn't have the time or energy to work on this project.

This is the end of chapter thirty-three and the beginning of chapter thirty-four.

Pages 177-179

This Month's Installment

    In the large hall of the hospital, Edith sat and kept the nightwatch.  The green-veiled lamp threw its pale light on a sheet of paper on the small table in front of her.  It was Fritz's letter; she had read it over and over.

    Around her lay the wounded.  Some slept; their breaths sounded steadily through the quiet of the hall; others sighed loudly now and then and groaned; still others lay completely still; sleepless, with wide open eyes, they lookt into the pale, dawning light.  These were they who had suffered most heavily.  Now and then

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one askt to drink, or he wanted to be laid differently, or his wounds ached and he sought relief.

    Edith preferred when she had something to do.  But it lasted only a short time, and again she sat in her place inactive, tormented by her thoughts.

    Outside, the storm raged; it broke the branches and boughs in the garden; it beat on the window with a heavy hand and drove the rain that had started fiercely around midnight, splashing and pattering on the panes.

    She thought of so many nights when storm and rain had likewise raged around the old Reckenstein manor house, when she was awakened in the middle of a sound sleep by its noise and had felt only so much more cozy and secure in her soft bed.  Altogether, how peaceful and beautiful had her youth been, with what warm love she had surrounded her father, how tender a bond existed between them, despite the dissimilarity of her nature and his sometimes severe and irascible manner!  But she knew him and the valiant center of his heart.

    Now he had fallen out there, and she sat here and watched over the wounded whom his heroic death had saved.  And everything that she saw and experienced was so great and tremendous that one was not allowed to complain and grumble, even if one had personally to make the most difficult sacrifice.

    Now she was alone; she no longer had anyone who was close to her.  The old man had been both her father and mother.  Who took care of her life and her health now?  It was good that she could care for others.

    Again, her glance fell on the letter; again

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she read it.  He who had written it had been much to her in the past, a faithful comrade of her youth.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I translated "aufgerissenen" as "open" ("wide open eyes"), but it's really a more intense notion than that, something like "torn open."

I don't know if this is significant, but the same word ("heftig") is used in sequential paragraphs to describe the storms that Edith remembers and the old Reckensteiner.  I translated them differently, though (it was only when I was typing up my translation later that I noticed that the same word is used):  "the rain that had started fiercely around midnight" and "his sometimes severe and irascible manner."

I was puzzled about what to do with the sentence "Wen kümmerte jetzt noch ihr Leben und ihr Ergehen?"  There's a singular verb ("kümmerte") that seems to go with the singular "wen" and not the compound (and thus plural) "ihr Leben und ihr Ergehen," but "wen" is in the accusative case, not the nominative.  I translated it as "Who took care of her life and her health now?" because it seems to fit the context better.

Pages 176-177

This Month's Installment

The italicized part is what I'm unsure about.

    Fixed and calm, her eye lingered on his face, a quiet trembling in her voice, otherwise no agitation, only a certainty that did not let itself be shaken.

    "You need not say anything to me; it would be pointless."

    "Who told it to you?"

    "No one.  I've known it the whole day.  He had the train station in Malkaynen; the battle was there."

    "He has accomplished a great thing.  The whole carriage that arrived to-day with the train is his work.  He led his locomotive through the enemy fire."

    She turned her head.

    "Fritz was also on his train."

    She said nothing.

    "He lies wounded in Pronitten."

    "I knew that he would be at his post.  He has died as he has lived."

    He said nothing in reply.  Her pain was sacred for him; an empty world would have been desecration.

    "Your brother wrote to you about it?  I would like to read the letter."

---176---

    "I have it over in my room.  Come over to us now; my sister will also be there soon.  A substitution for you at night has already been provided."

    "I am staying here.  Perhaps you will be so good to send the letter over to me."

    He attempted an objection.

    "I thank you.  I find myself most at ease when I am doing my duty."

    In this moment, he had to be able to do something for her in her pain, which she took upon herself so grandly and bravely, he who knew what it was about, when he was able to destroy this strangeness that still piled up between them!  Yet nothing remained for him but silence.

    But to Else he expressed himself.  "This war also makes women into heroes; one sees it in you both."

    "For myself, I must refuse this designation.  But in Edith, there's been something heroic all along.  Now the fruits of upbringing and of education are showing themselves, above all of self-education.  What is in a person and what he has trained himself to, that is what suffering makes evident."

Pages 175-176

This Month's Installment

    "Yes," he replied, "you are right:  one must not brood over all that; then one does not endure it.  We must give even the last and the best, some their body, others their home.  The work is our only escape.  Come, we must go over; the ambulance can be there right away."

    Again the telephone rang.  Lodge for the Golden Key:  Mrs. Lisa Stoltzmann.  Of the four wounded announced, only three would come; one had just died upon arrival.  A Russian.  A captain even, a wonderful guy.  He had sat upright on his mattress and stared at them with large, glazed eyes, as if he wanted to devour them even in death.  He hadn't said a word when they had spoken to him, only gathered the thick coat tightly to himself with his hand, which - by the way - was very delicate and slender; so had he collapsed.  Well, it wouldn't come further into consideration; he was indeed only a Russian.

    How then did it go otherwise?  The time would probably be difficult, but yet also great and uplifting.

    "It is undoubtedly the carriage that the Reckensteiner led," said Hans, as he went over to the hospital with Else, "we must keep Edith at a distance so that she does not find out about it from a hasty man."

    The wagon drove straight up; the stretchers were lifted out; the lightly wounded

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went propped up on the arm of the attendants or nurses; Doctor Moll was on hand; the patients were laid in bed; the bandages were inspected and in some cases replaced; everything was proceeding quickly and surely; everyone was already settled in to work.

    "Perhaps you would come to my room for a moment, Miss von Barrnhoff," Hans askt Edith after the most important work had been done.

    "I have the nightwatch to-day."

    "I would like to speak to you."

    "My father has fallen."

Grammatical Minutia/Commentary

There's a long sentence near the end of this selection ("The wagon drove straight up...") that contains eight individual clauses (they're separated by commas in the original text, but I standardized these to semi-colons).  The long, drawn-out sentence provides a sense of the great amount of activity taking place.

The clause "Doktor Moll war zur Stelle" is literally something like "Doctor Moll was at the place" (or more prosaically "Doctor Moll was there"), but I translated it as "Doctor Moll was on hand" to retain something of the structure of the original.

Pages 173-175

This Month's Installment

    "In this time, one concern always drives out the others; the greatest comes first.  His injury appears to be only of a light nature, thanks be to God."

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    "But all that he must have seen and experienced in such a short time!"

    The telephone, which stood on Hans' work table, rang.

    The mayor.  A larger carriage of wounded would just be arriving with the railway.  The city hospital would take a few, but now there would be no more free beds.  Would a few admissions in the parish hall still be possible?  His wife had also volunteered the lodge.

    Certainly, a few could still be accommodated.

    How many at most?

    Six, perhaps even seven.

    Good.  They would come immediately by ambulance; it went to the lodge first and from there to the parish hall.  There would probably be four.

    Would there be anything else?

    Yes, the refugees were rapidly increasing.  A few new cities would be evacuated; one must prepare oneself for a larger influx.  He would hold a conference to-morrow at the town hall, to which he had invited a number of men. It seemed desirable to him that Hans would also take part in it.

    At what time?

    One o'clock in the morning.

    Good, he would arrive.

    "Again new cities evacuated!" said Hans as he put down the receiver.  "The misery marches on.  Our poor country!"

    "It must take it upon itself.  It is like one of the severely wounded warriors; it sacrifices itself so that the whole will be saved."

    "Yes - it sacrifices itself."

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    He lookt before himself for a long time.  An endless sadness was on his face.  She walkt over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder.

    "You must tear yourself away from your melancholy thoughts, Hans," she said with a warm, urging voice, "one must not think about all this so deeply."

Grammatical Minutia/Commentary

I think I've translated "Vormittags ein Uhr" correctly as "one o'clock in the morning," although this seems like an odd time to have a meeting.  Still, in this sort of urgent situation, such a time may be necessary.

I also want to point out that the word that I've translated as "telephone" is "Fernrufer," which seems like an old fashioned term.

Pages 172-173

This Month's Installment

Miss Hanna Teichgräber, my loyal nurse, tells me however that after a short period of work here, she was called to a Rodenburg hospital that should be under your and Else's management.  So the heavy duty falls to you to inform her gently of the death of the old man, and I am writing to you as quickly as possible so that she hears about it from no other.  Tell her that he has fallen as a hero.

    If I should yet relate something of myself, such is it:  it's going well for me, actually too well for a soldier in such a war.  But the idylls and quiet of a parsonage in peacetime are so dear to me, too, and I am so well lookt after here,

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in the war, every soldier burns against the enemy.  I hope in a short time to be able to be in the field again and with my troops and by this prospect rein in my impatience.  Yester-day and the day before yester-day, it was hot here.  We have fought bravely.  But it has also cost very heavy casualties.  Be well!

    Your Fritz."

    Hans set the letter, which he had just read aloud to Else, before himself on the desk.  It was already late in the evening; they had just come out of the hospital, and Else had taken care of her refugees.

    "It will be hard on Edith," she said.

    "Wonderful," he replied, "I was never well-disposed towards the old man, nor he to me.  But now, after this death, I see him in a different light, like everything, actually.  He really was quite a guy!  To go into the war at such an age and to die like that... tremendous!"

    He fought against the movement that wanted to overcome him.  He was now easily moved.  Previously, it had never been like him.  "I will have Edith called over," he said.

    "Don't you want to wait until to-morrow?  She has the night watch to-day.  In the afternoon, when she has had a good night's sleep, you can tell her about it; she'll still find out about it early enough."

    He was undecided for a moment.  "No," he said then, "it's not right to delay it until to-morrow; she must hear it immediately.  It was for this purpose that Fritz has written so quickly.  Of him you say nothing at all."

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I'm not sure whether "Von ihm sagst du gar nichts" at the very end of this selection is meant as an indicative (which is how I translated it:  "Of him you say nothing at all") or an oddly phrased imperative ("Of him say nothing at all").  As I get further into the conversation, maybe it will become obvious.

Pages 171-172

This Month's Installment

    One minute later, the locomotive goes slowly, carefully over the uninjured stretch of track.  "Halt!" calls the assistant, who rides on the machine with the stoker, to him.  He stops; the assistant gets out; for a moment, he stands motionless, lost in thought.

    "It is really he... our commander!" he says then to the stoker, "it was the grenade that we just saw explode."

    "We are taking him with," he replies, "maybe something can still be done.  But quickly, there is no time to lose."

    Now he also climbs down; both grab his still warm body with their strong arms, lift him up gently, lay him on the machine, as well as it goes.  Then down to the carriage.

    The coupling has happened lightning fast; the train moves away slowly, heavily through raining bullets and howling grenades with its wounded soldiers and its fallen commander, up the elevation over which, just permeating a cloud veil, the bloody moon rises.

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    Dear Hans!  I am using the opportunity of a car that is going through here to send a heartfelt greeting to you and Else.  Do not be surprised at the scribbled handwriting; I am a little wounded in the arm and must lie in bed for a few days.  That is unacceptable, insofar as it keeps me away from the battleground on which every man, otherwise insignificant, is now indispensable.

    But the Reckensteiner has fallen.  The splinter of an exploding grenade killed him near the battle-shrouded Malkaynen train station, whose commander he was, as you probably know.  A beautiful death!  The rescue and recovery of a great number of wounded was his work; he died faithfully keeping watch over their endangered carriage.  He is therefore not to be lamented.  But Edith loses much with him; father and daughter had, especially after the mother's going away, tenderly stuck close to each other.  Now she really has no one more and was always concerned about the old man.  I hoped to find her here in Pronitten, where I have been brought to a quick recovery.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I translated "dem Hingehen der Mutter" as just "the mother's going away," but it might also be a somewhat euphemistic expression regarding her death.

This is the end of chapter thirty-two and the beginning of chapter thirty-three.

Pages 170-171

This Month's Installment

Are prayers rising out of the shot-up breast to Heaven for the victory of his own?  Will he then gladly die?  Life appears as unimportant as death to him too.  Why did he take the bloke with?  Why didn't he leave him there on the field below, so that he died like an animal?  Oh, yes - for Fritz's sake; that is something else.  Otherwise... ugh, Reckensteiner, how hard and unfeeling you are become!

    It was only a short rest; the bullets hail more heavily.  Here a dull, there a stronger flash of fire.  Like silver flares that explode in the air, then again like fountains that rise out of the black depths - one can hardly see anything; everything is smoke, dust, darkness; only the section where the stretch of track runs is dully lit by the last light of the sun, which sinks under a thick bank of clouds.

    Now the restlessness grips the old man.  The locomotive ought to have done its work a long time ago and been back.  Could something have happened to it; could it even have fallen into the hands of the enemy?  Then they would all be lost, whom he with greatest effort had sought to turn away even from death.

    It holds him no more; he climbs up the ravine that leads upwards before him and has a look along the railway.  But even here he can see little, although he is standing high up.

    But there... no, he is not mistaken, a sound like that of quickly moving wheels, a puffing, and quiet chugging... there it turns around the bend

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at the end of a long gorge; there it comes closer... victory!  That's it, the eagerly awaited locomotive; his brave warriors, all of the wounded are saved!  "Victory!" his lips stammer, cheer once again.  And automatically, he folds his hands.

    There - a whistling through the air, a single whirring, howling sound close above him, a harsh, piercing noise.  Funnel-shaped, the ground bursts in front of him; the dark brown earth flies up several meters, sprays on all sides; the branches of a mighty fir tree splinter, whirl around... now he sees and hears nothing more; black flickers, swims before his eyes...

Pages 168-170

This Month's Installment

What's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

    How might it look in Reckenstein now?  Whether they will also

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set the marauding feet there one day, will throw firebrands in the peaceful fields, the full barns, as in that farm over there, from which smoke and flames go up, always more, always closer?  Could it be that everything is become so indifferent!  To him who has seen it, what do personal possessions, personal happiness mean!?  Also that on which one has set his whole life, that one built and added to with stubborn diligence, with never-resting effort - that the fire may devour it!

    He thinks about Edith.  She has always been a dear daughter to him.  Now she has chosen the occupation of the Samaritan and cares for the wounded.  It is indeed also so natural.  What else should she do in this time?  Since his separation he has received no news of her.  But even that gives him no qualms.  And yet, otherwise, he was the most affectionate father and always in worry and fear for his child when once he was separated from her.  But now?  Who has time now to send letters!?  And Edith is a brave kid and will know how to help herself.  And if not - she has never feared death.  Just as little as he.

    He looks at the clock.  He has already done it several times, thoughtlessly, mechanically.  He doesn't even know now which hour the hand pointed to; time itself is become meaningless.  Only the wounded there inside and their rescue are worth thinking about.

    The sun sinks deeper and colors the tops of the trees purple-red; long blue shadows fall ghostly on the valley below him; now and then it flashes through fire that is flaring up; it already burns in all places; but the roaring of the cannons is no longer so deafening.

    In the train everything is quiet; only here and there a groaning tone pierces,

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a fervent groaning out of the opened windows.  Like a specter, bathed in the blazing evening- and fireglow, the Russian sits on his coal car; more often and faster the left arm grabs the field coat.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

In the original German, the sentence "He thinks about Edith" is structured in such a way to highlight the object of the man's thoughts:  "An Edith denkt er," "about Edith thinks he."

The phrase "keine Nachricht von ihr" could mean either "no message from her" or "no news of her."  I noted this ambiguity earlier in the novel, too.  Perhaps by design, these two instances are inversions of each other.  Here, the Reckensteiner refers to Edith, and in the previous instance, Edith refers to him.

In the original German, the clause "wenn er einmal von ihm getrennt war" is literally something like "when once he was separated from it."  The antecedent of "ihm" is "sein Kind" ("his child") from the previous clause.  The pronoun is the neuter ihm because it refers back to the neuter Kind, but since Edith is obviously feminine, I translated the pronoun as the feminine her:  "when once he was separated from her."