89. “Hunger And Love” Novellas By Irma V. Troll-Borostyani Published by Wilhelm Friedrich, Leipzig. These short, concise stories are fighting pieces. Irma v. Troll-Borostyani fights for women's

1. “Hunger And Love” Novellas By Irma V. Troll-Borostyani Published by Wilhelm Friedrich, Leipzig. These short, concise stories are fighting pieces. Irma v. Troll-Borostyani fights for women's rights with courage and bitterness. The form in which she does so can be criticized: the material, one feels, is taken from reality, but it still gives the impression of being constructed. One believes in the existence of the beings who suffer bloodily here, in their being and their existence in the outside world, but one does not believe that the author actually met them, that she actually lived or looked at them. Bloodlessly and shadowy they stride along, alien in the milieu in which they move. The language, the dialogue, does not have the color of life either. The sentences flow broadly and smoothly, impeccably, but not characteristically; beautifully, but not decisively. The content, on the other hand, is all the more genuine. A tempestuous nature, warm and sensitive, hard and passionate, expresses its deepest, most sacred conviction. There is something priestly about this book, something hieratically solemn that is strangely moving. The fact that Irma v. Troll-Borostyani's love of women is not combined with hostility towards men is particularly impressive, as is her recognition of the existence of generous men (such as the old man who gives his young wife her freedom in the story “Kiss”) and, on the other hand, of wretched women (such as the dignified state councilor v. Hilldorf, who in “Lieb-Mütterchens Sorge” (Dear Mother's Care) unscrupulously hires clean maids in the interest of her son). Thus the inner truth in these novellas is greater than the external probability. Content and form are miles apart here, as already mentioned; two souls live in Mrs. v. Troll-Borostyanis breast: the strong, great soul of a Zola and the small, whitewashing soul of a Marlitt - perhaps this will double her readership, perhaps divide it.