Immensee by Theodor Storm

First published: 1850; revised, 1851 (English translation, 1858)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Pastoral

Time of plot: Mid-nineteenth century

Locale: Germany

Principal characters

• Reinhard Werner, a student
• Mrs. Werner, his mother
• Elisabeth, the young woman whom Reinhard loves
• Elisabeth’s Mother,
• Erich, the owner of Immensee and a friend of Reinhard

The Story:

Reinhard Werner, an old man, returns from his walk at dusk and enters his home. He climbs the stairs and sits in his usual place in his study. His housekeeper has not yet turned on the lights for the evening. As it becomes darker, a ray of moonlight enters the room and falls on a woman’s portrait. Whispering the name Elisabeth, Reinhard recollects his youth.

As children, Reinhard and Elisabeth were inseparable. When she was five and he was ten, he told her stories. Once he asked her if she would go to India with him, and she said that her mother would have to come with them. She was upset when he said that her mother would be too old to come by then, but she finally agreed to go with him. He was afraid, however, that Elisabeth would not be brave enough.

As the two grew older, they were always together; Reinhard wrote stories and poems about Elisabeth. When Reinhard was an adolescent, he had to go away to school. As a final celebration before his departure, the village families held a picnic in the woods. The children were told to gather strawberries for dinner, and Elizabeth and Reinhard went off together to look for them. They got lost and did not find any strawberries, although the other children did. Reinhard’s love for Elisabeth was intensified by the experience, and he wrote a poem about that day in the woods.

While Reinhard was away at school, during Christmas student festivities when the students were drinking and joking at the Ratskeller, a popular student bar, he was interrupted by a friend who told him that Santa had visited Reinhard’s rooms. Elisabeth sent him a package and a letter in which she told him that Erich, an old friend of his, was doing her portrait and that she would give the portrait to Reinhard’s mother. Elisabeth complained that Reinhard had not kept his promise to send her stories. Homesick, he was unable to go back to the Ratskeller crowd but instead gave the presents to a poor child and wrote letters to his mother and Elisabeth.

A visit home showed him that Elisabeth had grown into a beautiful young woman. Erich was often in the house, however; the linnet that Reinhard gave Elisabeth died and was replaced by Erich’s gift, a canary. Elisabeth’s mother was cold to Reinhard; she was unhappy to have him there. Erich had taken over his father’s estate, Immensee, and, from the mother’s point of view, he was the more desirable candidate for her daughter’s hand. Reinhard showed Elisabeth the poems he had written to her; she returned the book with a leaf in it. Upon his return to school, Reinhard took up his studies and did not correspond with Elisabeth. Two years later, Reinhard received a letter from his mother telling him that Elisabeth had agreed to marry Erich.

Some years afterward, Reinhard paid the couple a visit at Immensee, where Elisabeth’s mother also lived. Erich had prospered, and the estate was well kept. Elisabeth was subdued, but she appeared to be content with her marriage. Reinhard wondered about her. One evening, the family was discussing and singing yodeling songs. One song, however, caused Elisabeth to go outside. The song contained the lines, “My mother wished it so,/ Yet it was not my will/ That I should leave the love I had,/ Surrender to another lad,/ And bid my heart be still.” When Elisabeth fled, Reinhard realized that she still loved him and that she had agreed to marry Erich only because her mother had wished it.

Later that night, Reinhard jumped into the lake and tried to swim to a beautiful water lily he saw in the distance. However, he was unable to reach it, for when he drew close to the flower, it seemed as if he were being dragged down by the vegetation in the lake; he panicked and swam back to shore.

Elisabeth’s mother and Erich made a short business trip the following day. Reinhard and Elisabeth were able to take a walk alone around Immensee. He asked her if she would like to look for strawberries, as they did so long ago, but she refused. Later, as he rowed her back to the house, her hand betrayed the emotional turmoil she felt. When she arrived at the house, she gave all the money in her purse to a beggar girl at the gate, burst into tears, and rushed into the house.

That night, Reinhard left a note and prepared to depart. Elisabeth came up as he was leaving. She stood in front of him in a state of great agitation, unable to speak. Finally, she told Reinhard that he must not come back, and he agreed. He never returned to Immensee.

As an old man, he recalls those events with wistful sadness. In his study in the dark, he imagines that he once again sees the distant, solitary water lily he failed to reach that night at Immensee. When the housekeeper comes in with the evening lamp, however, he turns again to his books and his scholarship.

Bibliography

Alt, Arthur Tilo. Theodor Storm. New York: Twayne, 1973. One of the most helpful sources for the English-speaking student of Storm. Discusses Storm’s life and character and analyzes all of his major works, including Immensee. Includes an annotated bibliography.

Bernd, Clifford A. Theodor Storm: The Dano-German Poet and Writer. New York: Peter Lang, 2003. Focuses on the Danish influences in Storm’s life and works. Storm grew up in Schleswig when it was ruled by Denmark and before it was annexed to Germany; he spoke Danish and read Danish literature. Bernd describes how Storm refashioned the German novella in the style of Danish fiction.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Theodor Storm’s Craft of Fiction. 2d rev. ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966. A reading of two of Storm’s novellas. Outlines a methodology that casts light on Immensee, although it contains no extended discussion of the book. The bibliography covers everything written on Storm until 1965.

Jackson, David A. Theodor Storm: The Life and Works of a Democratic Humanitarian. New York: Berg/St. Martin’s Press, 1992. Emphasizes social and political perspectives in integrating Storm’s life and work. Provides a new context for such works as Immensee.

McHaffie, M. A., and J. M. Ritchie. “Bee’s Lake: Or, The Curse of Silence, a Study of Theodor Storm’s Immensee.” German Life and Letters 16, no. 1 (October, 1962): 36-45. A close reading of Immensee. Compares the novella with Thomas Mann’s Tonio Kröger (1903).

Mare, Margaret Laura. Theodor Storm and His World. New York: Cambridge Aids to Learning Limited, 1970. Overview of Storm’s work. Places his work in the context of his time.

Strehl, Wiebke. Theodor Storm’s “Immensee”: A Critical Overview. Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2000. A collection of critical opinion about Storm’s novella, from the initial reaction after its publication in 1849 through critiques of the book in the late1990’s.