Dämon und Engel im Land

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Together with Marie Brosin and Theodor Krausbauer, the poet, novelist, playwright, and religious author Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Röttger [1877-1941] was one of the greatest writers of north-eastern Westphalia. He was the son of a shoemaker at Lübbecke and a professional teacher. He worked in his native district, in Düsseldorf, and Berlin, where he was long remembered as a non-violent educational reformer. In Berlin he joined Otto zur Linde’s mystically inspired “Charon Circle” that critically distanced itself from contemporary naturalism and was a harbinger of expressionism. Röttger entertained close literary correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke and Selma Lagerlöf. While Röttger’s 50th, 60th, and 100th birthday were commemorated by celebrations and exhibitions, he is almost forgotten today. This novel, re-edited by Roland Mettenbrink and the “Heimatfreunde Pr. Ströhen e.V.” Society, features the character of naive-juvenile Dorothea in contrast with the arduous every-day life of adults in villages of north-eastern Westphalia around A.D. 1900, which is described in a linguistically striking way of both scenic and poetic qualities. Fictious sites and persons often possess real counterparts.