Thursday evening, Ellen had a nice, 2-month-early birthday dinner at a restaurant in Amherst and got caught up on all the Feinland news. It was an outdoor meal, and the weather was perfect. I stayed home and participated in a course being offered free-of-charge to alums (and their spouses) by Swarthmore faculty. It was interesting - it was a Zoom session with a faculty presentation (lecture and slides) for about an hour, and then Q&A. You could send in questions early - in writing - and the prof answered them in writing, and you could also “Unmute" and ask a question "in class."
Two stories were being discussed, both by German authors, both written in the early 19th century: Heinrich von Kleist's The Earthquake in Chili, and Johann Hebel's An Unhoped-for Reunion. They were unfamiliar to me, but well-known in their realm. They were both love stories and disaster stories. Hebel's is about a young couple about to be married. One morning the groom goes off to work in the copper mine and never returns. Fifty years later his body is unexpectedly exhumed and it is in "perfect" condition because it has been immersed in chemicals that have preserved his body. He looks like a young man who has just been asleep. His bride, now an old woman, is still alive, has held him in her heart for fifty years and is now "re-united” with him. That’s the essence of the story, but there are many nuances which were discussed.
The other story is much more complicated. It is also about a young couple who are in love. But in their case it is an illicit affair. The girl’s father sends her to a convent, and there she has a child. This violation is punishable by death. Her lover falls into despair as she is taken to her execution. But just as she is about to be executed, and he is about to hang himself in despair, an earthquake hits the city, destroying everything. Both the lovers are miraculously reunited with their little baby boy. For an idyllic moment, all societal constructions seem to be gone, and they have the hope of being a family. But this idyll comes crashing to the ground in a dramatic conclusion in which both lovers are violently murdered by a vengeful crowd, but the little boy is saved and adopted by a compassionate family. It’s pretty dramatic, but also thought to have underlying philosophical issues. There was a lot to discuss.
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