Savages and Demonic Pacts.Observations on a Narrative by Wilhelm Raabe

Abstract

The narrative “Zum wilden Mann” (1874) by Wilhelm Raabe presents the story of a pharmacy in provincial Germany and its owner; Raabe’s story obeys the stylistic principles of Poetic Realism, the literary current that dominated the second half of the 19th century in German speaking countries. Despite being located in contemporary reality of the author and his readers, the plot and its main characters show features that refer to the fantastic realm of demonic pacts and wild men. These elements interfere with the realist economic relations between the protagonists, based on loans, interests, and globalized commerce and allude to the inhuman aspects of modern business. Divergent from main cultural practice, Raabe attributes the “savage” and the “diabolic” to the recent “achievements” of civilization which emerge likewise in Germany and in former colonies. The Brazil described by the narrative, instead of being an exotic setting, is just another stage of industrial and commercial processes.