Hedwig's Journey
Frederik van Eeden
Why did Hedwig end up in Paris after getting lost in London? Read more about it.
Summary
Outwardly, Hedwig is a typical girl growing up in a well-to-do family in a sleepy provincial town. Inwardly, she feels things very deeply and has a strong sense of self, and can all of the sudden feel very depressed.
‘It was the afternoon, between four and five o’clock, that she recalled with most dislike; ..., and the worst of all the first day of the week in the middle of winter.’
At first her mother is a steadying influence, but when her beloved mama dies it changes the family dynamics fundamentally. We follow Hedwig as she grows up and observe her repeated clashes with the unsympathetic housekeeper.
She is aware of her awakening sexuality and has many questions about how to relate to boys. Her behaviour and feelings are frowned upon and even worse treated as some sort of disease. The first of quite a few doctors she will encounter during her life orders physical exercise.
Her love of things that are beautiful and refined is brutally crushed by her severe and socially awkward tutor.
She finds a soul mate in Johan, a boy she meets on the family’s country estate, and they become great friends. When he falls in love with her she does not know how to handle it.
The turning point is the moment Johan turns up on her doorstep and begs to speak to her. She is embarrassed but she realises that what really damages her reputation in the eyes of her family is that Johan is a poor working class boy.
To escape her own feelings, she rushes into marriage with Gerard, who is a respectable solicitor’s son and ‘one of us’. With him there is no need to fear sinful sexual feelings as he is totally uninterested in this aspect of marriage.
Gerard brings her the stability she needs but at too great a cost and Hedwid descends into a deep depression.
Again her symptoms are treated as a nervous disease but the root of the problem is left untreated. Fatally, Hedwig is sent to the sea side alone.
Here she meets Ritsaart, a professional musician, who gives her the love she craves but none of the stability she needs. They travel abroad and a whole new world opens up to Hedwig.
Still, she remains the same person. In spite of their great love affair Ritsaart, too, cannot prevent depression taking possession of her again.
Hedwig stops fighting her demons and flees to London. Totally unequipped to face living in the metropolis alone she is taken advantage of and ends up penniless in Paris.
Will she at long last find peace and put her life in order by making her own choices? And will she find her spiritual home?
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The author’s reputation rests on this epic work.
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We kept the original translation by Margaret Robinson from 1902. The text has been edited and updated to reflect our house style.
We have changed the title from ‘the Deeps of Deliverance’ to ‘Hedwig’s Journey’. This highlights that the book is telling Hedwig’s life story and is more relevant to an audience today.
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