- Germelshausen
"Germelshausen" is a story by
Friedrich Gerstäcker concerning a cursed village that sank into the earth long ago and is permitted to appear for only one day every century. The protagonist is a young artist (Arnold) who happens to traverse the locale at the time for the town's appearance. He encounters, and becomes smitten with, a young woman (Gertrud) from Germelshausen. The romantic tale ends with his leaving the vicinity just in time to avoid being entombed with the village and its denizens, but thereby being sundered from his love forever.The basic concept is an old German motif that appears in works of
Mueller ,Heine ,Uhland and others. The curse may affect a town, a castle, or even a single house, but thenarratable content remains largely unchanged. Germelshausen is noteworthy for the affecting nature of the story, and because it is widely credited as having inspired the musicalBrigadoon .References
*citebook|title=Germelshausen|last=Gerstäcker|first=Friedrich|others=Introduction and English notes by Carl Osthaus, M.A.|location=Boston|year=1893|publisher=Carl Schoenhof|url=http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=UykQAAAAYAAJ&dq=germelshausen&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=go5reU32ZJ&sig=vxN2GcQuYfFPTDL4T84dQoe9l0M&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPP5,M1|accessdate=26 August, 2008|chapter=Introduction
*citeweb|title=Zoetrope|url=http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?action=show_story&story_id=136|accessdate=26 August 2008
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