www.paul-riedel.de
Printed in Germany
First edition 2022
Bibliographic information of the German National Library:
The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet via www.dnb.de.
© 2022 Paul Riedel
Cover: © Paul Riedel, Munich 2022
German Editing: Beatrix Osterkamp
English language adviser: Ailsa McKillop
Production and publishing
BoD – Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
ISBN: 978-3-7562-6102-4
With Sturm und Drang,1 German literature reached a peak in its history in the middle of the XVIII century.
Even if you are not a researcher of specialist literature, writers of this period such as Goethe, Schiller and Kant are internationally of highest repute. Their characters and novel structures influence the literary world, theatre and cinema till this day. In writing this book, I also considered why modern literature lost some of this creativity.
Book readers were in the middle of the 18th century not common. Only a privileged few had access to reading. However, the number of people capable of reading was increasing constantly, and younger authors produced new literary structures and amazing archetypes through a hard path.
These structures achieved the conveyance of values. Moral values could be explained to the reader without the reading aloud of Mass in church, and above all, it was no longer disseminated from above, as were the liturgical works based on the world view, near to people’s lives and accompanied by fun and adventure.
When talking about heroes such as Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman in present times, almost everyone knows these literary figures, their moral attitude and their function as role models. The same was true for figures such as King Solomon2, King Etzel3, Wieland the Blacksmith4 or the brave Hildegunde5. My decision to write a series of heroic legends in modern language and adapted to our modern social values was awakened not just by my interest in German literature, but also by the recognition that society needs a new revival, more specifically, contributing to the world of artistic literature.
The characters in this series reappear in several legends (as well as in comics), and you may wonder that in the original version (partly from the XI century) the characters are named in a very different time span than they really lived in. Geographical and political units were not correct, or the kingdoms mentioned no longer existed (such as the Babylonians, who were defeated by the Persians a long time ago) when they are named in the novels.
Generally, the heroic legends from the Middle Ages, which were brought to life on paper in the XIX century, are the nightmare of every historian. Nevertheless, they reflect the morality and the mission of the literary movements that revived them.
Amazingly, the goal at that time – at the end of the Baroque period – became one of the numerous victims of the Internet due to today's disintegration of reading culture. Interest in reading seems to have reawakened during the Corona crisis. For those tired of reading, the audio book was invented, which, in addition to strange multitasking obligations such as reading/ writing text messages, taking the underground, having breakfast and other human tasks, allows fragments from painstakingly written novels to be picked up by casual listening.
Our contemporary literary works are, in my opinion, showered with blood and gruesome murders, because the sensitivity of the readers has been blunted by an abundance of information (and violence). Of course, overpopulation reduces the quality of life as well as sensitivities in many respects, but this is better left unspoken. You can hardly enjoy a crime series episode (as in the days of Columbo6 with Peter Falk) without having at least a dozen corpses served up, and absurdities that never exist in the real world, such as the police laboratories with crazy databases in which profiles of made-up people are found.
With my plan to rewrite the German heroic legends, I aim to bring the principles of the Sturm und Drang movement closer to the reader through an entertaining narrative and as far as possible in a realistic form, so that everyone can understand this through a pleasant reading experience.
In the present saga, the guiding themes are animal welfare, animal rights, women's rights, and LGBT characters are staged. Past aspects, such as the struggle of housewives and the clergy in beer brewing, were thoroughly researched by me.
At that time, unmarried men were called misogynists or woman-haters, which was not based in fact, but the intention was not to scratch the topic of homosexuality as far as possible due to religious dogmas that follow us till nowadays. Kant7 made it clear in a biography from 1804 that he did not seek or find the desired physical love in women, but never hated them. This is dealt with here in my version with the figure of Apollonius.
I added to the scenario to better illustrate the continuity of events.
I hope you enjoy reading about Germany's last wild bison, the revenge of the ill-fated Marquess Iron and the cursed ring of love of the goddess Freya.
1 German literary movement.
2 Hebrew king of the 10th century BC
3 Attila King of the Huns ruled from 434 and 444/45 respectively. His kingdom lay in present-day Hungary.
4 My version was published in 2019.
5 My version of Hildegunde with a new female role was released in 2020.
6 American TV series.
7 Immanuel Kant, Prussian philosopher of the 18th century.
When I decided to write up my experiences from last year, I was unsure where the whole thing began, but above all, I didn’t want to forget this chapter of my life. Something in it seemed to contain the mission of my future.
I was a fresh entrant to the employment market with a degree from the University of Munich that offers few options.
History offered me a career as a teacher. With luck I could work for a newspaper. I could even occupy a post as a curator of a museum, a sad existence that I wanted to avoid.
I love my subject and look for opportunities on my tablet on a Wednesday afternoon. I sat in a traditional city café on Brienner Street amidst the noise of passing cars and looked jadedly at my cold coffee and a barely touched piece of cake. I scrolled up and down the ads, as indecisively as if I were on a dating portal.
The cool March wind blew through the street a little more energetically, and some guests at the next tables got seat blankets and set up a concerted clamour.
I admit, my desperate search for work allowed me not to get so upset merely about wind.
"Olaf!" shouted a melodious voice in front of my table like an echo, and the unbearable smell of a Japanese women's perfume startled me. The first time I had barely noticed this call.
"I hate such scents," I thought to myself.
It was a fellow student whom I didn't particularly like but ignoring her would not be an appropriate attitude. She was widely known at the University of Munich for her relationships with the city administration, and to reject her would be to guarantee spending a lifetime under the vengeance of her gossip and lies.
"I hate such fragrances, and those who wear them," I thought in addition.
I raised my head and tried to formulate a smile without betraying my true feelings.
"Gerdi. What a surprise." I nodded my head several times and wished our conversation could have come to an end there, but she sat down on the chair on the other side of my table in an almost graceful swing.
"He had a favourable coincidence of fate. I was talking to Professor Günaydin ..." Gerdi began.
"There are no coincidences," I mused and wondered why she was stalking me.
"You mean Professor Gudnason," I corrected her, somewhat irritated. She had been confusing the Turkish 'good morning' with the Swedish surname of our university professor ever since we had known each other, again and again, but she hardly seemed to be aware of this. So she ignored my remark with a flick of her hand and continued to speak uninhibitedly.
“He hired me as project manager for the new exhibition at the Bavarian National Museum. I wanted Cora to be the author of the booklet about Bringsemen..." I struggled for air. I didn’t want to yell at her.
“Brisingamen, Freya’s necklace,” I corrected her again. She waved her little hand again in a conciliatory fashion.
“Honey,” she said loudly to get the attention of the waiting staff. “The patrons here also want to have a drink. Will you bring me a sparkling wine in a clean glass? Can you manage that?” she said coquettishly; condescendingly, and the irritated waiter left to get the order – and probably spit into the drinking vessel, I hoped.
"The professor would like to have a summary of the legend of Markis Iron for the exhibition. We have digitised the original manuscripts, but Cora is not available. I think she and the professor don't get along very well, or who knows, they got along way too well before. But I definitely don't want to spread rumours about Cora's misdeeds." She gave me a significant look and raised her right eyebrow to indicate that she knew all of Cora's missteps very well.
"I don't believe her." Of that, I was sure. Most likely, Cora had spurned her offer, making clear to Gerdi how shabbily she, Gerdi, exploited people. I hadn't got to this point yet, and to avoid burning my mouth with hot words to Gerdi, I stuffed a piece of cake into it and turned off the tablet.
"I know how gay men always need money, and Cora said you're still looking for work. And when I was on my way to Wigard, I saw you sitting here. Hmm..." She was lying; I was sure she simply couldn't read the original manuscripts, and before she completely screwed everything up, she was seeking salvation from a fellow student.
She expressed her classification of my orientation as if this were a secret. She did not seem to have understood in her narrow vision of the world that no one was interested in such information.
'Zizzz, Zizzz' my phone buzzed, and I read a text message from Dad.
Dad said that teachers were being sought in his village, and that life in Munich was too expensive. In this way he indicated that he was not willing to support me here financially for another year. I didn't think twice, and Wigard would certainly not refuse Gerdi's offer, so my cooling-off period was quite short.
"What needs to be done?" I asked dryly, sipping the cold Café Crema.
The waiter placed a sparkling wine chalice on the table on a coaster. I checked the contents and searched in vain for little bits of his revenge. Gerdi frowned over her nose as if she were also looking for traces and decided to risk the contents with a delicate sip on the glass. She left a thick layer of pinky-purple lipstick on the goblet.
"It's only a five-day job, I guess. You look at the digitised old papers, translate anything that is interesting for visitors, and draw a sketch or drawing with the text for the six panels at the entrance to the exhibition. The professor wants to emphasise the reference to the Norse gods. I know that's your topic," she concluded.
"Neither Wigard nor Cora are familiar with it. Everyone in our class knows that" I said in my mind.
The conversation continued, and I accepted the research, although I realised that the assignment regularly lasted at least two months to fulfil the requirements. Most likely, she would put the money in her own pocket, but it would be a start for me.
Further disparagement of poor Cora was addressed superficially, with generous disregard for the truth. She paid my bill and gave me a folder with all the notes for the assignment, continuing to claim that she had only brought them by chance. Then it became clear that she had undeniably stalked me because she was aware that I would decline an invitation.
*
We were given two study rooms in the State Library for our project. The original documents of the exhibition were stored on the lower floor at the archive. On a table was an old-fashioned computer, and the access data on a piece of paper lying next to it revealed how little Gerdi understood about data protection and security.