German

Overview

This tag marks paragraphs containing German-language text within the diary. With approximately 90 tagged paragraphs, German is one of the less frequently used foreign languages in Marie Bashkirtseff's diary -- far behind French (primary), English, and Italian -- but its presence is culturally significant. German appears in contexts spanning spa terminology (Kursaal, Kurhaus), snippets of conversation, exclamations overheard on trains, quotations from German speakers, and Marie's own halting attempts at the language. Unlike Italian or English, which Marie wielded with confidence and flair, German remained a language she studied with intermittent enthusiasm but never mastered, and one freighted with the political tensions of post-1870 Europe.

Marie began formal German lessons on September 9, 1873, in Nice, just weeks after returning from the Vienna World Exhibition: "Premiere lecon d'allemand, je n'aimais pas cette langue, depuis quelque temps seulement elle a des attraits pour moi et je l'aime, je l'etudie avec ardeur" ("First German lesson; I didn't like this language, only recently has it had attractions for me and I love it, I study it with ardor") (carnet 009, September 9, 1873). Three days later she listed her studies: "J'etudie donc l'anglais, le francais, l'italien, le latin et l'allemand" (carnet 009, September 12, 1873). Yet German never achieved the practical fluency of her Italian or English -- by 1876 in Berlin, she was still only able to "barbouiller l'allemand" ("dabble/muddle through German") (carnet 064, July 29, 1876).

Historical Context: Germany and France in Marie's Era

The Franco-Prussian War and Its Shadow

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) ended barely three years before Marie's diary begins. France's catastrophic defeat -- the collapse of Napoleon III's Second Empire at Sedan, the siege of Paris, the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, and the five-billion-franc indemnity -- left French society consumed by a bitter desire for revenge. The rallying cry "Revanche pour l'Alsace-Lorraine" dominated nationalist politics throughout the 1870s and 1880s.

Marie, who was ten years old when the war ended, absorbed this French-German enmity as a basic fact of life. Her hero Paul de Cassagnac had been a prisoner of war in Prussia after Sedan -- she records his story of nearly hanging a police commissioner with his own sash upon returning to France (carnet 064, July 25, 1876). She casually refers to the idiom "pour le roi de Prusse" ("for the King of Prussia," meaning "for nothing") as a standard expression (carnets 096, 099). When the Spanish King Alfonso XII visited Paris in 1883 wearing a Prussian Uhlan colonel's uniform, the crowd booed and insulted him -- Marie found Bismarck's deliberate provocation "very funny" but noted French cowardice in attacking inoffensive Alfonso rather than daring to confront Germany directly (carnet 101, September 30, 1883).

Yet Marie's position was more nuanced than simple French revanchism. As a Russian subject raised in French culture, she could observe the Franco-German hatred from a slight distance. She dreamed of a Franco-Russian alliance that would crush Prussia: "Skobeleff, Gambetta, Chanzy, Adrien, l'alliance franco-russe et l'ecrasement de la Prusse..." (carnet 097, January 7, 1883). But she also admired German orderliness and culture, and her family moved freely through German-speaking lands every summer.

The German Empire

The German Empire, proclaimed at Versailles on January 18, 1871 -- an intentional humiliation of France -- was led by Kaiser Wilhelm I and dominated by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. During the period of Marie's diary (1873-1884), Bismarck pursued the Kulturkampf against the Catholic Church (1871-1878), built alliances with Austria-Hungary (the Dual Alliance, 1879) and Italy (the Triple Alliance, 1882), and consolidated Germany's position as the dominant continental power.

Marie mentions Bismarck repeatedly in the diary. At the Vienna circus in 1873, she saw child actors impersonating Bismarck, Moltke, Napoleon I, Thiers, and Mac-Mahon in a pantomime (carnet 008, August 14, 1873). She compared Cassagnac to Bismarck -- both having begun their careers in small newspapers (carnet 082, August 27, 1878). At Wiesbaden in 1877, she invented the elaborate joke that the Ottoman general Suleiman Pasha was actually a disguised Prussian named "Hermann von Zuleimann" whom Bismarck had promised to make a baron -- a jest that traveled through the entire spa promenade and came back to her by nine o'clock (carnet 074, September 11, 1877). In 1878, she noted that even Bismarck was sending his best paintings to the Paris Exposition's Trocadero palace, suggesting diplomatic rapprochement (carnet 079, March 27, 1878).

Alsace-Lorraine in Marie's World

The lost provinces shadowed Marie's life in subtle ways. Her beloved artist Jules Bastien-Lepage came from Damvillers in Lorraine, close to the new border. The idiom "pour le roi de Prusse" recurred as a bitter joke. The French minister Thibaudin, whom Marie encountered in 1883, had escaped from Prussian captivity and fought again under a false name, breaking his parole -- a scandal that delighted the reactionary press (carnet 100, July 28, 1883).

Vienna and the 1873 World Exhibition

Marie's most sustained encounter with the German-speaking world was the family's trip to Vienna for the World Exhibition of 1873 (Weltausstellung), documented in carnets 007-008 (August 1-14, 1873). The fifth World Exhibition, held from May 1 to October 31 in the Prater park, was the first on German-speaking territory. It was plagued by a stock market crash on May 8 and a cholera epidemic that killed nearly 3,000 in Vienna between July and October -- reducing attendance from the expected 20 million to just 7.3 million. Marie arrived by train on August 1, 1873, at the height of the cholera scare. The family was fumigated at the Austrian frontier with powder "contre la maladie que je n'ose pas nommer" ("against the disease I dare not name") (carnet 007, August 1, 1873). Her aunt was terrified; Marie was enchanted. Passing through the German landscape, she was rapturous: > "Quelle verdure! Quels arbres! Quelles maisons propres! Quelles gentilles Allemandes! [...] charmant, delicieux, superbe!" At a station, German girls cried "Frisch Wasser! Frisch Wasser!" and Marie amused herself by replying in Italian and English, bewildering the conductor: "Oh! mais que c'est drole de voir cette figure hebetee! 'Was?'" She closed the day's entry with: "Comme j'aime l'Allemagne!" (carnet 007, August 1, 1873). During ten days in Vienna, Marie visited the Exhibition repeatedly, dined at restaurants (Les Freres Provencaux, the Russian restaurant -- a "bierhalle allemande de village, tres laide, tres sale"), attended the opera (Lucrezia Borgia at the Vienna State Opera -- "Wilt est admirable"), saw Offenbach's La belle Helene in German at the Theater an der Wien ("bien joue, mais l'allemand ne se prete pas aux calembours francais"), heard Johann Strauss II conduct at the Exhibition ("il donne un autre caractere a l'orchestre"), and attended circus performances at Circus Renz. She assessed the Viennese with characteristic confidence: "Les Viennois sont beaux et sympathiques. Les Viennoises belles, gracieuses, blanches et roses" (carnet 007, August 3, 1873). It was this Vienna experience -- the beauty of the German landscape, the culture, the music -- that inspired Marie to begin German lessons upon returning to Nice in September.

The German Spa World

The Bashkirtseff family, like much of the Russian aristocracy, was deeply embedded in the culture of German spa towns. These Kurorte -- with their mineral springs, Kurhaus assembly halls, Kursaal concert rooms, promenades, and regulated social rituals -- served as the summer meeting grounds of European high society. The family visited several German spas across the diary years:

Baden-Baden (1873, and earlier)

Baden-Baden, in the Black Forest, had been "Europe's summer capital" under Napoleon III in the 1850s-60s, particularly popular with the Russian aristocracy -- Turgenev set his novel Smoke there, and Dostoevsky wrote The Gambler while losing at the casino. The Franco-Prussian War and Germany's gambling ban of 1872 diminished its glamour, but it remained a fashionable resort. Marie's family had connections there; in September 1873, she noted the address of the Duke of Hamilton's lodging on "Luisenstrasse" in Baden-Baden (carnet 009, September 18, 1873). The family references to Baden-Baden suggest it was part of their regular circuit.

Schlangenbad (1875, 1877)

Schlangenbad ("Snake Bath"), a small thermal spa in the Rheingau-Taunus hills near Wiesbaden, was the setting for one of Marie's most emotionally intense summer stays (carnets 038-040, August 1875). She arrived bored -- "Quel ennui d'aller a Schlangenbad!" (carnet 038, August 5, 1875) -- finding only "deux Allemandes et demie" ("two and a half German women") for company (carnet 039, August 17, 1875). The thermal baths ran at 24 degrees Reaumur (30 degrees Celsius), measured in the old Reaumur scale still used at German spas. Yet Schlangenbad unexpectedly became a place of happiness: "C'est le Schlangenbad de mon coeur, le seul endroit au monde que je ne regrette pas" ("Schlangenbad of my heart, the only place in the world I don't regret") (carnet 040, August 27-28, 1875). She returned in 1877 with the extended family.

Wiesbaden (1877)

Wiesbaden, the fashionable spa capital of the Taunus region, hosted the family in August-September 1877 (carnet 074). Here Marie created the famous "Baron von Zuleimann" joke about Bismarck and Suleiman Pasha, attended the Russian Orthodox church for the Tsar's name-day, ice-skated at the skating rink, and received visits from Count Doenhoff. She noted the international society: Russian ladies (Lisander, Liemann, Romanoff, Gerbel), the French Count Lautrec, and Prussian officers with their aristocratic "von" particles.

Soden (1878)

Bad Soden (then simply "Soden"), another Taunus spa town known for its carbonic acid and iron oxide springs, hosted the family in August-September 1878 (carnet 082). Marie sketched the Kurhaus employee Muhle ("round, drunk, red, smiling"), encountered Empress Eugenie and Princess Thyra of Denmark, and had an acquaintance named Schwarz whom she "execrates when he speaks German but would like to draw" (carnet 082, August 10, 1878). From Soden she sent letters in German via the Coube family traveling to nearby Wiesbaden (carnet 082, August 14, 1878), and considered a possible marriage with Count Doenhoff -- but rejected the idea of living "en Prusse a la Cour de ce Prince Charles ou a celle de l'Empereur" (carnet 082, October 3, 1878).

Schwalbach (1875)

Marie visited Bad Schwalbach, another Taunus spa, daily during her Schlangenbad stay: "De retour de Schwalbach, tous les jours j'y vais" (carnet 039, August 24, 1875).

Marie's German Proficiency

Unlike her Italian (conversational by 1873, fluent by 1876) or English (native-level), Marie's German remained rudimentary throughout the diary: 1873 -- Formal studies begin: First lesson September 9, 1873, in Nice, after the Vienna trip inspired enthusiasm. She listed German among her five languages of study alongside English, French, Italian, and Latin (carnet 009, September 12, 1873). She acquired a "livre de lecture allemande" (German reading book) from a shop in November (carnet 012, November 11, 1873). 1874 -- Exposure through acquaintances: At the Belgian spa town of Spa, the multilingual Walitsky composed verses in French, English, and German for the ladies (carnet 023, September 5, 1874). A German admirer at the baths "parlait allemand" and confided his passion to another German-speaker, overheard by Marie's aunt (carnet 023, September 4, 1874). Marie noted a German nobleman's "tante allemande" with comic horror after accidentally destroying his hat at the theater (carnet 016, February 7, 1874). 1875-1877 -- Spa immersion: During the Schlangenbad, Wiesbaden, and Soden stays, Marie was surrounded by German but never became comfortable. At Schlangenbad she dismissed the provincial German clientele; at Wiesbaden she operated in French and Russian within the international set. 1876 -- Berlin visit: Marie's visit to Berlin and Potsdam (carnet 064, July 1876) revealed both her fascination and her limitations. She "s'amuse a barbouiller l'allemand" ("amuses herself dabbling in German") while visiting Bellevue-Schloss and the mausoleum of King Friedrich and Queen Luise (carnet 064, July 29, 1876). She bought thirty-two English volumes "en partie traduits des premiers ecrivains allemands" ("partly translated from the leading German writers") (carnet 064, July 28, 1876). Sitting at an antique German desk surrounded by books, she compared herself to Goethe's Faust: "Me voila en Faust. Un antique bureau allemand devant lequel je suis assise, des livres, des cahiers, des rouleaux de papier..." (carnet 064, July 28, 1876). 1878 -- Practical attempts: At Soden, Marie wrote a note in German sent via the Coube family to Wiesbaden (carnet 082, August 14, 1878), suggesting some written competence, even if spoken fluency remained elusive. Marie's attitude toward German as a language was marked by aesthetic ambivalence. She found it unsuited to French wordplay ("l'allemand ne se prete pas aux calembours francais") and associated it with heaviness -- "la gravite allemande, si bete et si lourde" ("German gravity, so stupid and heavy") (carnet 064, August 11-12, 1876). Yet she acknowledged its attractions and studied it with periodic bursts of ardor.

Marie's German Acquaintances

Several German or German-speaking figures recur in the diary:
- Count Doenhoff (Comte Doenhoff) -- Chamberlain to Kaiser Wilhelm I and Marshal of the Court of Prince Charles of Prussia. First encountered at Ostende in 1874, he reappears at Naples (1876), Nice (1877), Soden (1878), and Berlin (1882). He courted Marie as a prospective wife, and she calculated: an embassy in Paris or Rome would be acceptable, but Prussian court life was unthinkable "avec un mari comme Doenhoff" (carnet 082, October 3, 1878). When the family passed through Berlin in 1882, Doenhoff visited them at the station and sent "trois charmants bouquets" with his card, his gilded carriage and livery impressing Marie's father (carnet 097, November 15, 1882).
- Prince and Princess Charles of Prussia -- The Prussian royals whose court Doenhoff served. They appeared at Nice, Naples, and various spa towns. The princess was "eblouie" (dazzled) by Marie's photograph and kept it for a day (carnet 059, May 5, 1876).
- Schwarz -- An acquaintance at Soden whom Marie "execrates when he speaks German" but wanted to sketch (carnet 082, August 10, 1878).
- The German ambassador in Paris -- Encountered at Countess Kessler's soiree in 1882, where "l'element allemand dominait naturellement." A German dancing partner told Marie, who was complaining of a cold, that "one doesn't dance with the nose but with the feet" -- a witticism she found characteristically heavy (carnet 094, January 20, 1882). The same ambassador reported that Prussian indignation over the Prince Imperial's death in Zululand had forced British parliamentary inquiries (carnet 085, June 25, 1879).

Germany in Marie's Political and Cultural Imagination

Political Views

Marie's political thinking about Germany was sophisticated and contradictory. In Berlin, she reflected on the difference between German and French attitudes to authority:

> "Le musee de Berlin est beau et riche mais le doit-il a l'Allemagne? Non, a la Grece, a l'Egypte, a Rome!" (carnet 064, July 28, 1876)

She noted that Germans respected their princes while France suffered from the "infection" of republicanism, yet she herself oscillated between republican idealism and bonapartist pragmatism. Visiting Moscow, she contrasted it favorably with German-influenced St. Petersburg: "Petersbourg est une copie allemande, mais comme il est copie par des Russes il vaut mieux que l'Allemagne cependant" (carnet 064, August 11-12, 1876). In the same entry, she dismissed "l'effronterie francaise et la gravite allemande, si bete et si lourde" while praising Russian simplicity -- and complained of "les odieuses jaquettes allemandes" (German-style jackets) and German shop signs proliferating in Moscow.

German Music

Marie's diary reveals a deep engagement with German composers, even as Wagner remained a politically fraught figure in France:

Beethoven: Marie's most beloved composer. "J'adore Beethoven" (carnet 010, October 4, 1873), she declared while learning the Sonate pathetique at fourteen. She played Beethoven's funeral march on the day of the Duke of Hamilton's wedding as a personal requiem (carnet 014, December 10, 1873). She reported spending "three hours playing the most delicious music, Beethoven" at the piano -- "je n'ai jamais joue que lui et Mendelssohn" (carnet 073, August 11, 1877). She played Beethoven while Plowden and Antonelli competed for her attention in Rome (carnet 055, March 27, 1876). She spelled his name "Bethoveen" throughout.

Mendelssohn: Marie's other preferred pianist composer. She played his G minor concerto without errors for her teacher Manotte (carnet 005, June 8, 1873), his A minor andante at a disastrous dinner party where the guests preferred popular operetta (carnet 010, September 29, 1873), and his Songs Without Words while Antonelli sang his romance to her (carnet 055, March 16, 1876). At Spa in 1878, she planned a satirical serenade alternating funeral marches (Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn) with "Mein lieber Augustchen" and a Galop infernal (carnet 081, July 22, 1878).

Schubert: Marie heard a "bel homme" sing Schubert's Serenade at a soiree, finding his posing ridiculous -- "une main appuyee sur le piano, lance a l'assistance des regards de vainqueur" (carnet 088, April 26, 1880).

Richard Wagner: The most politically charged figure. After the Franco-Prussian War, Wagner's operas were effectively banned in Paris -- his association with German nationalism and his own anti-French writings (notably the farce Eine Kapitulation mocking the siege of Paris) made his music toxic in French cultural life. Marie admitted she had "never heard anything by Wagner" yet judged him "by inspiration" (carnet 103, February 3, 1884). Her analysis was strikingly original: "Wagner c'est Manet" -- both were incomplete originators of new schools seeking truth and feeling in art. She compared Massenet to "un Wagner melodique francais." After Wagner's death in February 1883, Marie used him as the standard for the "artiste-dieu" (artist-god) -- the supreme genius who deserves "toutes les musiques, tous les encens, toutes les fleurs de la vie" (carnet 102, November 16, 1883). She imagined that if a painter achieved Wagner-like divine status, even her limited capacity for love would suffice for "l'amour-passion le plus complet et le plus fou" (carnet 100, July 15, 1883). The Marechale de Canrobert expected her daughter to be able to "parler de Wagner" as part of a proper education (carnet 105, July 30, 1884).

King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Marie fantasized about becoming the mistress of Wagner's famous patron, the eccentric unmarried king (carnet 046, October 5, 1875).

German Literature

Marie's engagement with German literature came primarily through French translation. In Berlin she bought English translations of "les premiers ecrivains allemands" (carnet 064, July 28, 1876). Her Faust comparison is literary rather than linguistic -- she knew Goethe's Faust through Gounod's opera (which she saw multiple times in Rome, carnets 055) and through cultural osmosis. She also referenced "ces fantomes malheureux des legendes allemandes" -- the unhappy ghosts of German legends -- when she frightened herself with her own reflection in a white nightgown (carnet 062, June 3, 1876).

Code-Switching Patterns

Marie's use of German in the diary is notably different from her confident Italian and English code-switching. German appears in several distinct patterns: 1. Overheard German: Marie transcribes German exclamations heard from others -- "Frisch Wasser!" from station girls, "Was?" from a bewildered conductor (carnet 007, August 1, 1873), "schreck" used by Bihovetz (carnet 062, June 24, 1876). 2. Spa and institutional terminology: Kursaal, Kurhaus, Schloss, Bellevue-Schloss, Deutsches Reich (a restaurant/venue in Vienna), Theater an der Wien -- these are environmental terms used without translation, as any traveler in German-speaking lands would use them. 3. Aristocratic markers: The "von" particle as a sign of German nobility -- "il a un von" (carnet 074, September 11, 1877). Full titles: "chambellan de Sa Majeste l'empereur d'Allemagne et roi de Prusse" (carnet 058, April 18, 1876). 4. Musical terms: "Mein lieber Augustchen" (a Viennese waltz), Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte rendered as "sans paroles," Schubert's Serenade. 5. Self-deprecating attempts: "Je m'amuse a barbouiller l'allemand" (carnet 064, July 29, 1876) -- Marie acknowledges her German as "dabbling," unlike her assured Italian. 6. Wordplay and invention: The fabricated "Hermann von Zuleimann" (carnet 074, September 11, 1877) shows Marie playing with German naming conventions for comic effect. 7. Reported speech: A German admirer "parlait allemand" about his desire to meet her (carnet 023, September 4, 1874); Marie's dancing partner's Germanic witticism about noses and feet (carnet 094, January 20, 1882).

Common German Words and Phrases in the Diary

Exclamations and Conversation

- "Frisch Wasser!" -- "Fresh water!" (cried by station girls, carnet 007)
- "Was?" -- "What?" (bewildered conductor, carnet 007)
- "Mein lieber Augustchen" -- "My dear little Augustus" (Viennese waltz, carnet 081)
- "schreck" -- fright, shock (used by Bihovetz, carnet 062)
- "ich dieu" -- Marie's garbled version of "ich dien" ("I serve"), the Prince of Wales's motto (carnet 024)

Spa and Architectural Terms

- Kursaal -- spa assembly rooms, cure hall
- Kurhaus -- spa house, central resort building
- Schloss -- castle, palace (Bellevue-Schloss at Potsdam)
- Bad -- bath, spa (as in Baden-Baden, Bad Soden)

Proper Names and Titles

- "von" -- nobility particle (Marie notes: "il a un von")
- Deutsches Reich -- German Empire (also a Vienna venue)
- "Theater an der Wien" -- famous Viennese theater

Idiomatic French Expressions Referencing Germany

- "pour le roi de Prusse" -- for nothing, in vain (recurring idiom)
- "tailleur allemand" -- German tailor, stereotype of petit-bourgeois appearance (carnet 103)
- "la gravite allemande" -- German gravity/seriousness, used pejoratively (carnet 064)

Usage Notes

Tagging rules for paragraph annotation:
- When Marie writes German text within a predominantly French paragraph, tag the paragraph with both `#German` and `#French`
- If a paragraph is entirely in German, tag with `#German` only (no `#French`)
- German spa terminology (Kursaal, Kurhaus, Schloss) counts as German text and should trigger the `#German` tag
- German proper nouns alone (Berlin, Wien, Bismarck) do not trigger the tag -- the tag is for German language, not German topics
- Reported speech in German ("il parlait allemand") should be tagged even when the German words are not transcribed
- The French idiom "pour le roi de Prusse" does not trigger the tag -- it is a fully naturalized French expression
- Standard French loanwords from German (e.g., bivouac, valse) do not trigger the tag Density by carnet: The highest concentrations of German are in carnets 007-008 (Vienna, August 1873), 064 (Berlin/Prussia, July-August 1876), 074 (Wiesbaden, August-September 1877), 082 (Soden, August-September 1878), 038-040 (Schlangenbad, August 1875), and 023 (Spa/Belgium, August-September 1874, with multilingual company).

Translator Notes

German code-switching in Marie's diary requires different treatment from her Italian or English: 1. Lower proficiency marker: Unlike Italian (which Marie wielded as a social weapon) or English (natural bilingual fluency), German signals effort and imperfect command. Her "barbouiller l'allemand" should be translated to convey fumbling rather than facility. Preserve the contrast between her assured multilingualism in other languages and her tentative German. 2. Political charge: German words carry implicit Franco-Prussian tension. When Marie writes "ces fichus Prussiens" ("those damned Prussians") or "la gravite allemande, si bete et si lourde," the anti-German register must be preserved. Equally, her genuine admiration for Germany ("Comme j'aime l'Allemagne!") should not be softened. 3. Spa terminology: German spa terms (Kursaal, Kurhaus, Schloss) should remain in German in all translations, with footnotes on first occurrence. They are environmental vocabulary, not code-switching. 4. Musical context: German composers (Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Wagner) and their works should retain standard forms. Note Marie's consistent misspelling "Bethoveen." 5. Fabricated German: The "Hermann von Zuleimann" joke (carnet 074) requires a translator's footnote explaining the wordplay on Suleiman Pasha's name and German naming conventions. 6. National stereotypes: Marie's generalizations about Germans (heavy, serious, stupid) reflect standard French prejudices of the era and should be translated without softening. Her simultaneous admiration for German orderliness and culture creates productive ambiguity.

Related Languages

- [[FRENCH]] -- primary language of the diary; Marie uses French to describe German encounters and filters German culture through French sensibility
- [[ITALIAN]] -- Marie's most confident foreign language; she sometimes uses Italian to confuse Germans ("je m'amusais a leur parler italien," carnet 007)
- [[ENGLISH]] -- Marie's strongest second language; she uses English alongside Italian to bewilder German-speakers on trains
- [[RUSSIAN]] -- Marie's family language; the Russian aristocratic circuit through German spas creates the primary context for German encounters
- [[LATIN]] -- studied alongside German and Italian; Marie recognized linguistic connections