Waves

Wellen (lit. Waves) is a novel by Eduard von Keyserling that was first published in German in 1911. Set during a long hot summer in a small fishing village somewhere on the Baltic Sea, most likely on the Curonian Spit, it depicts a group of aristocratic city-dwellers spending their holidays in that remote part of the German Empire. However, rather than painting a rural idyll, Keyserling focuses on the follies of a doomed fin de siècle society whose self-imposed repressions eventually lead to catastrophe. It was published in English as Tides (Arthur J. Ashton, 1929) and Waves (Gary Miller, 2019). Plot summary Doralice, Countess of Köhne-Jasky, has walked out on her much older husband and run off with Hans Grill, a young artist who had been commissioned by the Count to paint his wife's picture. Now, a year later, Hans and Doralice have come to the Baltic coast to spend a solitary summer's holiday in a fisherman's hut. They are said to have got married in London so their relationship is outwardly considered "correct" although their marriage is generally seen as a misalliance, especially by the society Doralice has left behind. While she herself is rather unsure about her future, Hans Grill is an optimistic free spirit, though not quite a libertine, who is full of plans in which Doralice figures prominently. He dreams of setting himself up as a successful painter in Munich — thus being eventually able to stop living off his wife's money – and of living with her in a small suburban house.