The Spell

The Spell, allegorical novel by Hermann Broch, published posthumously in 1953 as Der Versucher. It was the only completed volume of a projected trilogy to have been called Bergroman (“Mountain Novel”). The author wrote it in the mid-1930s and then, dissatisfied, completely rewrote it twice more; by his death in 1951, he was halfway through a third revision. Versions of the novel have also been published as Demeter (1967) and Die Verzauberung (1976).

An allegory about the beginnings of Nazi rule in Germany, the novel tells of a case of mass hysteria brought about by a newly arrived stranger’s growing domination of a remote mountain village. Ratti, a demagogue, preaches antimodern attitudes, a return to “pure” living, and hatred of those who look different from the others; he even persuades his frenzied listeners to commit ritual murder. Contrasted with Ratti is the aged, wise Mother Gisson, a Demeter figure who is in tune with the natural order.