Elizabeth And Her German Garden (Virago Modern Classics)

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She will not allow even her offspring to deprive her of the joy in growing things. She is selfish about her enjoyment of God in nature. Con ironia descrive le giornate accanto alle tre figlie (la bambina di aprile, la bambina di maggio e la bambina di giugno: più insistenti delle zanzare, che imperversano scatenate intorno a me") ed il marito (L’Uomo della Collera), presenze che spesso intralciano: I should like my house to be often full if I could find people capable of enjoying themselves. They should be welcomed and sped with equal heartiness; for truth compels me to confess that, though it pleases me to see them come, it pleases me just as much to see them go.” Iwona Eberle, Eve with a Spade: Women, Gardens, and Literature in the Nineteenth Century. (Master's thesis, Zurich University, 2001). Munich: Grin, 2011, ISBN 9783640843558

And Elizabeth’s lovers are not like Cinderella’s prince, bound to find her at any cost. She has let us know how dearly she prizes the lonesomeness of her retreat and how she dislikes even the intrusion of old friends. She may stay, then, behind her rose bushes, tired of the sounds of talking, of the creaking of chairs, of the everlasting insect buzz of human voices. Amanda DeWees, "Elizabeth von Arnim". An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers, ed. Paul Schlueter and June Schlueter. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1998, pp.13 ff. In January 1916, Arnim married Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, the elder brother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. The marriage ended in acrimony, with the couple separating in 1919, although they never divorced. [20] She then went to the United States, where her daughters Liebet and Evi were living. In 1920 she returned to her home in Switzerland, using it as a base for frequent trips to other parts of Europe. [2] In the same year, she embarked on an affair with Alexander Stuart Frere (1892–1984), who later became chairman of the publishing house Heinemann. Frere, 26 years her junior, initially went to stay at the Chalet Soleil to catalog her large library, and a romance ensued. The affair lasted several years. In 1933, Frere married the writer and theater critic Patricia Wallace, [21] and Arnim was the godmother of the couple's only daughter Elizabeth (later Elizabeth Frere Jones) who was named in her honour. [17] Hebe dich weg von mir, Sohn des Satans! = Get thee away from me, son of Satan! (this is a loose translation because literally "hebe dich" means "lift yourself") There is one other I have yet to speak of—Elizabeth’s husband. He goes by the name of “The Man of Wrath”. What does that imply?

But I must confess to having felt sometimes quite crushed when some grand person, examining the details of my home through her eyeglass, and coolly dissecting all that I so much prize from the convenient distance of the open window, has finished up by expressing sympathy with my loneliness, and on my protesting that I like it, has murmured, "sebr anspruchslos." Then indeed I have felt ashamed of the fewness of my wants; but only for a moment, and only under the withering influence of the eyeglass; for, after all, the owner's spirit is the same spirit as that which dwells in my servants--girls whose one idea of happiness is to live in a town where there are others of their sort with whom to drink beer and dance on Sunday afternoons. The passion for being for ever with one's fellows, and the fear of being left for a few hours alone, is to me wholly incomprehensible. I can entertain myself quite well for weeks together, hardly aware, except for the pervading peace, that I have been alone at all. Not but what I like to have people staying with me for a few days, or even for a few weeks, should they be as anspruchslos as I am myself, and content with simple joys; only, any one who comes here and would be happy must have something in him; if he be a mere blank creature, empty of head and heart, he will very probably find it dull. I should like my house to be often full if I could find people capable of enjoying themselves. They should be welcomed and sped with equal heartiness; for truth compels me to confess that, though it pleases me to see them come, it pleases me just as much to see them go. This edition did have a few errors, especially in the rendering of the German words with which Von Arnim liberally sprinkles her prose. Readers who do not know German might want to look for a footnoted edition with translations, or have an electronic translator handy. But it is her self-deprecating efforts to plan and implement a garden that are a real treat. The Pomeranian climate and landscape are not as receptive to gardening as are England's, but Elizabeth persists doggedly, learning from her mistakes and reveling in her successes. All with that same wit and charm. Kreuzzeitung = The Neue Preußische Zeitung ("New Prussian Newspaper"), a German newspaper printed in Berlin from 1848–1939. It was known as the Kreuzzeitung ("Cross Newspaper") because its emblem was an Iron Cross (per Wikipedia). The utter randomness of Elizabeth's semi-autobiographical memoir may turn off some readers. She begins her tale in the present but regresses to the past roughly halfway through. She blends family and flowers, weather and food. Then she witnesses the treatment of women by their laboring husbands and was lectured by the Man Of Wrath on the acceptability of beating your wife. These women accept their beating with a simplicity worthy of all praise, and far from considering themselves insulted, admire the strength and energy of the man who can administer such eloquent rebukes. Further, the story goes on, with the politics, prejudices, vanities and weaknesses of the German people at the turn of the century. I am not sure what happened to that happy garden and when the diatribes became commonplace.

Towards the end of the book, she has two guests come to her huge, country estate. Elizabeth and her female friend despise the English woman who is her other guest. They continually bully her throughout her stay, as does Mr. von Arnim. I can't understand why they denigrate her, it isn't made clear. All in all a very unpleasant garden party and one I wouldn't care to attend. Howard, Elizabeth Jane. Introduction to Elizabeth and Her German Garden, by Elizabeth von Arnim. London: Virago, 1985. v-xii.

ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN

Elizabeth and her German Garden is a semi-autobiographical book written in 1898 by Elizabeth von Arnim (author of The Enchanted April) about her life and garden in the area of Nassenheide, Pomerania, where the family had their estate (her husband was minor nobility). Isobel Maddison, "The Curious Case of Christine: Elizabeth von Arnim's Wartime Text", First World War Studies, vol 3 (2) October 2012, pp.183–200 I, myself, couldn't have enjoyed this book more. It's so personal, so musical. It has that sweet, lilting quality that I appreciated so much from Dorothy Edwards. But where Dorothy displayed promise, Elizabeth fully achieved her vision.

The reader will need to return to the world of Downton Abbey, except that the point of view is restricted to the upstairs, not the downstairs. There is much talk of problems with cooks, maids, and, of course, gardeners. Von Arnim writes with a light touch and includes many set pieces such as sleighing to church wrapped in furs, and Christmas with the children, especially the staff children. What a happy woman I am living in a garden, with books, babies, birds and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them! Yet my town acquaintances look upon it as imprisonment, and burying, and I don't know what besides, and would rend the air with shrieks if condemned to such a life. Sometimes I feel as if I were blest above all my fellows in being able to find my happiness so easily. I believe I should always be good if the sun always shone, and could enjoy myself very well in Siberia on a fine day."

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Eberle, Iwona: Eve with a Spade: Women, Gardens, and Literature in the Nineteenth Century. Munich: Grin, 2011. ISBN 9783640843558 At the time of the 1901 United Kingdom census, on 1 April 1901, Arnim was in England, staying with her uncle Henry Beauchamp at The Retreat, Bexley, without any of her children. [13] Her son Henning Bernd was born in London in October 1902. [14] The hapless Minora is also writing a book: '“Oh, I thought of calling it Journeyings in Germany. It sounds well, and would be correct. Or Jottings from German Journeyings--I haven't quite decided yet...” Told in the form of a diary, the book is written by a protagonist who, like the author herself, chafes against the conventions of marriage and motherhood and takes solace in her summer garden. Elizabeth Von Arnim was evidently a very cosmopolitan woman, and that shows in the novel. In fact, from reading the novel I would have thought her an aristocratic German raised, as many were, by English and French governesses. We tend to forget that the Gilded Age society was extremely well traveled and spoke several languages. But I read in her biographical note that the novel is "semi-autobiographical" and maybe this is one way in which the author distances herself from the text. That's what intrigued me, and if I can find a biography of Von Arnim that untangles truth from fiction, I'll definitely read it.