Die Wassernot im Emmental / The Terrible Flood in the Emmental

I just re-read another of Gotthelf's early works, Die Wassernot im Emmental, a description of a terrible flood of the Emme River that occurred in the year 1837. (The Emmental is the valley of the Emme River, and it is the area where Emmentaler cheese comes from -- i.e., Swiss cheese.) Interestingly, the flood (and Gotthelf's account of it) even gets a mention on the very brief Wikipedia page on the Emme.

Gotthelf, a pastor, describes the flood as a "sermon" of God's, who speaks to us, he says, not only through his Word, but also through Nature. He describes the terror and suffering that the flood caused, and how it brought out both the best and the worst in people afterwards. He treats it as a kind of parable, showing not only God's judgement but also his ability to bring new life to the devastated land the following spring, just as he can cause new life to spring in the hearts of humans, if they listen to his voice.

I found it interesting to read this as we go through the coronavirus crisis. Like Gotthelf's farmers in the Emmental, we also find ourselves asking about the meaning of this rather different natural disaster. We wonder why God would have sent this plague, we see how it too brings out the best and worst in people, and we look for signs of new life to come again. Gotthelf's summons to sympathy, solidarity, and charity is relevant for us today also. As is his reminder that "Freiheit" should always be accompanied by Frömmigkeit"--freedom by piety.

Comments

A Warning Against Drink

I have gotten several things read over the last few days, but I keep forgetting to post any of it. Some more Gotthelf, but also a couple of other things. I'll try to break them up in order to get a few more posts out of them! Last Friday I finished another Gotthelf novella, Wie fünf Mädchen im Branntwein jämmerlich umkommen . That title does not translate very well into English, or at least I don't think so. Something like, How Five Young Women Perish Miserably Due to Brandy (or literally "in brandy"). It is an early work of Gotthelf's and a piece of social criticism. When Gotthelf was writing (1838), the canton of Bern had recently liberalized its system for granting licenses to operate a pub. At the same time, new methods of producing cheap brandy from different sources, including even the ubiquitous potato, were developed. As a consequence, inns and pubs sprang up throughout the countryside, creating a new temptation for poor...

Dursli

Back to Gotthelf! I have already mentioned that I re-read Gotthelf's novella about the five young women who were ruined by drink. Last week I also re-read the second of his two early novellas tackling the problem of rural alcoholism, Dursli, der Brannteweinsäufer, oder Das heilige Weihnachtsabend ( Dursli the Brandy Drinker, or The Holy Christmas Eve ). This story also warns against the pubs springing up all over the Emmentaler countryside and their consequences for the rural poor. But it is also--even more than I had remembered, in fact--set in the broader political context of the times. Gotthelf begins the novella, in fact, before he ever even introduces the main characters, with about a 10-page discourse on the problematic reception in Switzerland of the ideas of the French Revolution. Its call for equality and freedom, he says, is naturally interpreted by the poorer classes not in terms of true Christian equality and freedom, but rather as a ...

"Plague Time" Essay Contest

If you are a major or minor in History, Political Science, Augmented History, Humanities, or German Studies, you are eligible to enter a brand-new essay contest being sponsored by the Department of History and Political Science. Details available here . And if you aren't a major or minor in one of those areas... it is not too late to become one now !

Plague Time

Search This Blog