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theses

Published in 1847, Der arme Spielmann is one of only two prose works of Austrian author and dramatist, Franz Grillparzer. It is a novelle of complex professional and psychological material in an early period of German/Austrian Realism which focuses on an unnamed narrator and a poor (arm) street minstrel/musician, the Spielmann/Jakob. My careful examination of Grillparzer’s novelle will show that although the Spielmann appears poor in several senses, he is actually rich, or blessed, in more important senses. He may be contrasted with the narrator, who appears much more successful and sophisticated, but clearly sees the fiddler’s spiritual superiority. Grillparzer projects his concerns about his own life and art into both the narrator, with whom he seems to compare his reality, and the Spielmann, who seems to have what Grillparzer might have wished for himself. He discovers a side of himself from which he feels separated. The Spielmann is poor by worldly standards. Although he has refined speech and a refined look, the Spielmann wears threadbare clothes and plays a cracked violin for handouts on the street. As the reader becomes acquainted with the Spielmann through the curiosity and questions of the narrator, we learn that the Spielmann has almost no material possessions, no family, and lives in a rented room, separated by a chalk line on the floor from two derelict men. In spite of his circumstances, the Spielmann is, in fact, a man content and indeed happy with his life. In the guise of the narrator and the Spielmann, Grillparzer seeks to discover what is truly real and important to him and why he thinks he does not have it. There is an answer to this question in the novelle, though we will never be certain that it is sufficient for Grillparzer.

ETD_6540

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by Daryl A. Ponder-Rynkiewicz

doi:10.7282/T3057HRJ

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.