An exploration of Theodor Storm's The Dykemaster
An exploration of Theodor Storm's The Dykemaster
A discussion of Theodor Woldsen Storm's The Rider on the White Horse (also published as The Dykemaster).
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Transcript
NARRATOR: "The Dykemaster" is one of German writer Theodor Storm's most famous novellas. The book is set in northern Germany. A traveller encounters a pale rider on a white horse. The rider passes by him like an eerie shadow only to plunge into the waves of the stormy North Sea. The traveller sees the lights of an inn, which he enters and where he proceeds to tell of what he experienced. Such venues where people go to shoot the breeze still exist in northern Germany. Now, as then, "The Dykemaster" continues to be a topic of interest here in the north.
KARL ERNST LAAGE: "Storm's novel is more than just a national epic, it is actually symbolic of an eternal human story: the eternal battle between man and nature."
NARRATOR: Husum, in Northern Friesland - it is the birthplace of Theodor Storm. Storm loved the provincial tranquillity of Husum, which is the prevailing theme of his stories.
The house Theodor Storm lived in is now a museum. Storm lived here with Dorothea Jensen, his second wife. He wrote poems here, and short novels, like "The Village on the Moor," "The Senator's Sons" and "Renate." He continually seizes upon subject matter from northern Germany stories. It is the gothic tales and chilling fairy stories that capture his imagination, demonic and eerie narratives. And that is just where the material of "The Dykemaster," one of his later works, is derived from. It is a piece of world literature.
"The Dykemaster" is the story of one man's battle against the pigheadedness of the majority. Dykemaster Hauke Haien is the main protagonist of the story. He devises a new type of dyke that slopes as it goes towards the sea. The villagers are not at all happy with his new construction. And in general they consider Hauke Haien to be a kind of phantom. It is said that he rides a bewitched horse over the dykes each day. He bought the sick and bedraggled white horse off a traveller. The villagers are certain that horse couldn't be transformed in such a way. They conjecture that the beautiful horse is the reincarnation of a dead horse's skeleton that was found on a holm. The gracious horse is therefore viewed as more devil than animal.
Their ill-will grows. When a storm tide is about to hit, they decide to destroy Hauke's new dyke. He is able to stop them, but loses his wife and daughter to the tides.
KARL ERNST LAAGE: "Storm's novel is more than just a national epic, it is actually symbolic of an eternal human story: the eternal battle between man and nature."
NARRATOR: Husum, in Northern Friesland - it is the birthplace of Theodor Storm. Storm loved the provincial tranquillity of Husum, which is the prevailing theme of his stories.
The house Theodor Storm lived in is now a museum. Storm lived here with Dorothea Jensen, his second wife. He wrote poems here, and short novels, like "The Village on the Moor," "The Senator's Sons" and "Renate." He continually seizes upon subject matter from northern Germany stories. It is the gothic tales and chilling fairy stories that capture his imagination, demonic and eerie narratives. And that is just where the material of "The Dykemaster," one of his later works, is derived from. It is a piece of world literature.
"The Dykemaster" is the story of one man's battle against the pigheadedness of the majority. Dykemaster Hauke Haien is the main protagonist of the story. He devises a new type of dyke that slopes as it goes towards the sea. The villagers are not at all happy with his new construction. And in general they consider Hauke Haien to be a kind of phantom. It is said that he rides a bewitched horse over the dykes each day. He bought the sick and bedraggled white horse off a traveller. The villagers are certain that horse couldn't be transformed in such a way. They conjecture that the beautiful horse is the reincarnation of a dead horse's skeleton that was found on a holm. The gracious horse is therefore viewed as more devil than animal.
Their ill-will grows. When a storm tide is about to hit, they decide to destroy Hauke's new dyke. He is able to stop them, but loses his wife and daughter to the tides.