THE VISIT OF THE OLD LADY (Der Besuch der Alten Dame) Book Review

The place of the action is Gllen, a formerly blossoming small town which has lost his original shine by closing its industrial plants and suffering the consequent economic decline. Impoverished and fallen into oblivion, Gllen''s inhabitants have got used to a modest life and spend their days primarily with recollections of better times, until one day the arrival of the " old lady “ changes the existence of the Glleners all of a sudden. Gllen will warmly receive in the railway station of the citizens Claire Zachanasian, a born Glleneri who became by wealthy marriages to oil magnates, artists and industrialists one of the richest persons and her strange household consisting of two blind servants, two former gangsters, a butler and husband number 7. The Glleners hope for a donation from Claire to animate the economy again, which should help the inhabitants to some prosperity. And they are not disappointed. Claire promises the town a billion, under one condition: Gllener businessman ill should be killed. Ill had a love affair with Claire long ago. Claire became pregnant and filed a paternity suit against Ill. However, Ill was able, with the help of two friends – the servants blinded now – to reject his responsibility. Claire had to leave Gllen and lived as a prostitute until she got to know her first rich husband. The murder she demands is a well prepared revenge against Ill and the Glleners. Claire had bought the industrial plants and even the whole town in the course of the time to bring them to ruin. The first reaction of the Glleners is a determined solidarity with Ill which starts to crumble, however, bit by bit. The opinion about Ill changes from " poor man, who has committed only one youthful folly “ to " immoral and irresponsible evildoer. “ At the same time the Glleners allow themselves new luxuries – on credit, shown by new yellow shoes, which soon everyone, from ordinary fellow citizens, to the police, on up to the Mayor are wearing. Even his own family is not spared from the temptation of the upcoming property. His wife buys a fur coat, his son a car and his daughter takes tennis lessons. Only the teacher appeals to a humanistic tradition and does at first rather timid attempts to go against this; in the meantime, already the death sentence has become inevitable. In the end, Ill accepts the death sentence from the town assembly, which the Glleners execute immediately. "The Visit of the Old Lady" is a tragic comedy in three acts which first appeared in 1956.

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