The Holy Sinner
First edition
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| Author | Thomas Mann |
|---|---|
| Original title | Der Erwählte |
| Translator | H. T. Lowe-Porter |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | S. Fischer |
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Publication date
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1951 |
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Published in English
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1951 (Knopf) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 337 pp |
| OCLC | 24009919 |
| 833/.912 20 | |
| LC Class | PT2625.A44 E75 1992 |
The Holy Sinner (in German, Der Erwählte) is a German novel written by Thomas Mann. Published in 1951, it is based on the medieval verse epic Gregorius written by the German Minnesinger Hartmann von Aue (c. 1165-1210). The book explores a subject that fascinated Thomas Mann to the end of his life – the origins of evil and evil's connection with magic. Here Mann uses a medieval legend about "the exceeding mercy of God and the birth of the blessed Pope Gregory" as he used the biblical account of Joseph as the basis for Joseph and His Brothers – illuminating with his post-modernist "irony" the nature and relevance of medieval philosophy to the modern world (said connexion being "illuminated" is, in fact, ironic – in the classical sense).
The story begins in Rome, with the monk Clemens announcing the ringing of bells throughout the city. Clemens, moved by the "spirit of storytelling" (a term used often in Mann's later works), introduces the reader to the events which led up to the ringing of the bells, i.e., Gregory's arrival in Rome and coronation as Pope.
In Flanders, duke Grimald, seventeen years a widower, is pressing his daughter Sibylla to marry in order to forge an alliance with a neighboring king. Sibylla, attracted only to her brother Wiligis, spurns the duke's wishes. After the duke's death brother and sister become lovers, and Sibylla learns that she is with child by her brother.
Considering suicide out of shame for what they have done, the brother and sister turn to their loyal counselor, the knight Eisengrein, who suggests that Wiligis take up the Crusade as a means of atoning for his sins. After the couple's child is born he further suggests that they set the infant adrift on a raft. Although at first they distrust Eisengrein's advice, Sibylla and Wiligis realize there is nothing else they can do. Wiligis sets out and is killed before he even reaches Messina in Sicily. Sibylla gives her newborn to the North Sea, where she assumes it will perish.
The raft carrying the infant is found by two fishermen in the English Channel, and these two take the raft, the infant, and a tablet Sibylla placed within the raft to the island where they live. Upon their return the two fishermen are intercepted by Gregory, the Abbot of the monastery Agonia Dei. Gregory reads the tablet and understands the importance of the child. He then decides to pay one of the fishermen a set sum every month if the fisherman will raise the child as his own. The fisherman, astounded by the handsome sum the priest is offering, accepts the proposal.
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