Lichteffekte und Tarockpartien: Zu Alma M. Karlins Stück Die Kringhäusler
Lighting Effects and Tarot Card Games: Alma M. Karlin’s Play Die Kringhäusler

Summary/Abstract: Die Kringhäusler (1918) is the fi rst literary text published by Alma M. Karlin and it is her only play. It tells the story of the scientist Hans Georg Hasselstein and manifests the mentality of a small, provincial town within the Austrian empire at the beginning of the 20th century. The opening scene shows an Antarctic expedition. The stage is supposed to be lit in a very sophisticated way. Hasselstein decides to return to his home town Kringhausen and marry Berta. Back home he reveals his decision, but it is a mésalliance for the petit bourgeois inhabitants of Kringhausen, as Berta had been raped. Nonetheless, they marry and leave for another expedition, and Hasselstein dies there. Berta returns to Kringhausen with her son. Her mother-in-law ignores the public opinion and welcomes her. By this she finally overcomes the provinciality of Kringhausen without having to leave the town. The play provoked a scandal in Celje, Karlin’s home town, as her relatives and friends recognized themselves in depicted characters. The article gives a brief overview of the historical and biographical background of Alma M. Karlin and the town Celje and concentrates on the analysis of the play. The emphasis on the stage lighting and the structure of dialogues led by the ladies playing cards is quite remarkable. This early work is especially interesting as it shows Karlin’s concepts of culture, humanity and female emancipation. The last one is utopian and asexual; the other two tend towards universality yet without denying regional cultural identity.

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