Storm - Theodor Storm

Japanese: シュトルム - しゅとるむ（英語表記）Theodor Storm

German novelist and lyric poet. Born on September 14th in Husum, a port town on the North Sea that he himself sang about as "a town on the grey seaside." He studied law at both Kiel and Berlin universities, during which he met the Monmussen brothers and published a collection of poems together. In 1843, he opened a practice as a lawyer in his hometown. He also began writing lyric poems and short stories full of delicate sensibility and emotion, such as "The Lake" (1849) and "Angelica" (1855), which unfold a world of melancholy memories. However, the Schleswig-Holstein Troubles soon broke out, and he was stripped of his job by the Danish government for supporting the independence movement, and was forced to live in exile for 12 years from 1852. He first became an associate judge in Potsdam, and in 1856 he moved to Heiligenstadt in Saxony, where he became a district court judge. During that time, he became acquainted with Eichendorff, Fontane, and Heyse in Berlin. In 1864, when his hometown was annexed to Germany, he was called back to Husum and was appointed magistrate in charge of administration and justice. In 1867, following a reform of the administrative organization, he became a district court judge. In 1880, he retired to the nearby small town of Hadermarschen, where he spent his days in quiet creativity, and died there on July 4, 1888, at the age of 70.

He spent most of his life as a lawyer, but also wrote about 450 poems and 60 short and medium-sized stories about love, nature, and sometimes politics, making him one of the leading writers of German poetic realism along with Keller and Rabe. His creative activities as a novelist can be divided into a first period with strong lyric and romantic elements, as he said, "My novels started from lyric poetry," a second period in which he added sharp character descriptions and psychological analysis to works such as "Three-colored Violets" (1873), "Pole the Puppeteer" (1874), and "The Silent Musician" (1875), and a third period in which he moved away from the world of sentimentality and resignation and further strengthened his tendency toward narrative and realistic writing. In particular, during this final period, he wrote masterpieces such as "The Submerged" (1876), "The Griesfuss Chronicle" (1884), and "The White Horseman" (1888), which are chronicle novels that use ancient documents as clues to recreate the passions and tragedies of people from the past, and fateful novels with protagonists who fight against their own destiny and meet dramatic ends. His literature is deeply rooted in the harsh climate and life of Friesland in northern Germany, and although the world it covers is limited, it is permeated with inner truthfulness and a sad purity, and strikes a chord with readers across time and place. In that sense, it can be said to be the pinnacle of regional literature. However, recent research has pointed out that his works also have aspects of social criticism, such as his fierce criticism of the nobility and the church, his active approach to social issues of the time such as heredity and parent-child conflict, and his denunciation of social conventions that hinder the development of the Enlightenment spirit.

[Tatsuji Hirata]

Short story

Of his approximately 60 short and medium-length stories, nearly 50 are frame novels in the form of flashbacks. As exemplified by "The Lake," the motif of a portrait evokes the lost days of youth, and the world of the past is quietly told with a melancholy melody of reminiscence. In this case, the temporal distance from the present, indicated by the frame, helps to create an atmosphere of resignation. The resigned view of fate that time is fleeting and that all living things will inevitably perish, along with his delicate sensibility and rich lyricism, is the basis of Storm's literature, and this is why his works particularly resonate with Japanese people. He lamented the fact that humans will eventually perish alone and disappear from people's memories, and in "In the Castle" (1861) he said, "Love is also nothing but the anxiety of a mortal man about his loneliness." Reflecting this idea, his works often depict separations from family and lovers, and many end with the tragic death of the protagonist. Moreover, it is also characteristic that his death is literally brought about by water or high waves, as shown in "Down in the Water" (1876), "The Guardian Karsten" (1877) and "The White Horse Rider" (1888). For him, water and the sea were not the source of life, but symbolized chaos and death. His beautiful yet sad works were born from the harsh nature of the gloomy North Sea and are strongly connected to the world of his homeland. It is rare to find a foreign writer who has so closely matched the feelings of the Japanese, who respect the aesthetic of resignation and love their homeland.

[Tatsuji Hirata]

"The Storm Anthology, translated by Yoshitaka Takahashi et al., 8 volumes (1959-60, Seiwa Shoin)"

[References] | Pole the Puppeteer | White Horse Rider | Mizuumi

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

ドイツの小説家、叙情詩人。9月14日、「灰色の海辺の町」と自ら歌った北海に臨む港町フーズムに生まれる。キール、ベルリンの両大学で法律を学び、その間モンムゼン兄弟と知り合い、共同で詩集を刊行。1843年には郷里の町で弁護士を開業。そのかたわら創作の筆も進め、叙情詩のほか、哀愁に満ちた追憶の世界を繰り広げる『みずうみ』（1849）、『アンゲーリカ』（1855）など、繊細な感性と情趣に富む短編を書き始めた。しかしまもなくシュレスウィヒ・ホルシュタイン問題が起こり、独立運動を支援したためデンマーク政府によって職を剥奪(はくだつ)され、52年から12年間亡命生活を強いられた。まずポツダムの陪席判事となり、56年にはザクセンのハイリゲンシュタットに移り、地裁判事となった。その間ベルリンでアイヒェンドルフ、フォンターネ、ハイゼらの知遇を得る。64年、故郷の地がドイツに帰属するとともにフーズムに呼び戻され、行政と司法をつかさどる代官に選ばれた。67年には行政組織の改革に伴い区裁判所判事となる。80年に職を辞して近郊の小邑(しょうゆう)ハーデマルシェンに隠棲(いんせい)、静かな創作の日々を送り、88年7月4日、70歳で同地に没した。

　彼は生涯の大半を法律家として過ごしたが、そのかたわら、愛や自然、ときには政治を歌ったおよそ450編の詩と、約60編の中短編小説を書き、ケラー、ラーベなどとともにドイツ・詩的リアリズムの代表的作家に数えられる。小説家としての創作活動は、「わたしの小説は叙情詩から出発した」といっているように、叙情的・ロマン的要素の強い第1期、『三色すみれ』（1873）、『人形使いのポーレ』（1874）、『静かなる音楽家』（1875）など性格描写や心理分析に鋭さを加えた第2期、そして感傷と諦念(ていねん)の世界から離れ、叙事的・写実的傾向を一段と強めた第3期に分かれる。とくにこの最後の時期には、『水に沈む』（1876）、『グリースフース年代記』（1884）、『白馬の騎者』（1888）など、古文書を手掛りに過去の人間の情熱や悲劇を再現する年代記小説、自己の運命に戦いを挑んで劇的な最期を遂げる人物を主人公とする運命小説の名作を書いた。彼の文学は北独フリースラントの厳しい風土と生活に深く根ざし、その対象とする世界は限られてはいるものの、内面的真実性と悲しいまでの純粋さに貫かれており、時と所を超えて広く読む者の心を打つ。その意味で郷土文学の最高峰をなすともいえる。しかし最近の研究では、貴族や教会に対する激しい批判、遺伝や親子の葛藤(かっとう)など、当時の社会問題への積極的アプローチ、啓蒙(けいもう)精神の発展を阻む社会的因習の告発など、社会批判の文学としての側面も指摘されている。

［平田達治］

短編

約60編の中短編のうち実に50編近くが回想形式をとる枠小説である。『みずうみ』に代表されるように、肖像画のモチーフによって失われた青春の日々が呼び起こされ、過去の世界が哀愁に満ちた追憶の調べを伴って静かに語られる。その際、枠によって示される現在との時間的隔たりは、諦念的雰囲気を醸し出すのに役だっている。時は移ろいやすく、生あるものはかならず滅ぶとの諦念的運命観は、繊細な感性、豊かな叙情性とともに、シュトルム文学の基調をなすものであり、彼の作品がとくに日本人の共感をよぶのもこのためである。人間は最後にはひとり寂しく滅びゆき、人々の記憶から消え去ることを彼は悲しみ、『城の中』（1861）では「愛もまた死すべき人間の一人身の孤独に対する不安にほかならない」と語っている。こうした考えを反映して、彼の作品には、家族や恋人との別離を好んで描き、主人公の悲劇的な死をもって終わるものが多い。しかもその死は、文字どおり『水に沈む』（1876）が、そして『後見人カルステン』（1877）や『白馬の騎者』（1888）が示すように、水や高波によって引き起こされる点も特徴的である。彼にとって水あるいは海は生命の源ではなく、混沌(カオス)や死を象徴するものであった。このように彼の美しく、また哀(かな)しい作品は、暗鬱(あんうつ)な北海の厳しい自然のなかから生まれたものであり、故郷の世界と強く結び付いている。諦念の美学を尊び、故郷を愛する日本人の心情にこれほどかなった外国作家も珍しい。

［平田達治］

『高橋義孝他訳『シュトルム選集』全8巻（1959～60・清和書院）』

[参照項目] | 人形使いのポーレ | 白馬の騎者 | みずうみ

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