Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls
Encyclopedia
Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls (German: Mine-Haha oder Über die körperliche Erziehung der jungen Mädchen) is a novella
by German dramatist Frank Wedekind
, first published in its final form in 1903.
. Theodor W. Adorno
placed it, alongside Edgar Allan Poe
’s Pym
, among the "greatest works" of "fantastic art". More recently, the singer Marianne Faithfull
has described it as "a fairy tale that morphs into something far more grotesque – a psycho-sexual Expressionist fable". Mine-Haha was the basis for the films Innocence
(2004) by Lucile Hadžihalilović
and The Fine Art of Love (2005) by John Irvin
.
The title Mine-Haha is a Germanised form of "Minnehaha
", the name of Hiawatha’s lover in The Song of Hiawatha
by Longfellow
.
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by German dramatist Frank Wedekind
Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind , usually known as Frank Wedekind, was a German playwright...
, first published in its final form in 1903.
Plot
The novella purports to be an autobiographical manuscript handed to the editor by an 84-year-old retired teacher, Helene Engel, shortly before she committed suicide. The "manuscript" itself describes the bizarre education and socialisation of a young girl, Hidalla, in two boarding establishments, the first co-educational, the second all-female. At the age of seven Hidalla is placed in a coffin-like crate and transferred to the "park", a location that is both idyllic and hermetically sealed by high walls, where she spends the next seven years, learning only gymnastics, dance and music. The regime is rigidly hierarchical, with the older girls supervising and teaching the younger ones, the aim being to learn to "think with the hips". Transgression is severely punished. The "park" is financed by the takings from a theatre, where the girls must perform nightly in "pantomimes" of an adult nature they do not understand. At one point a delegation of "ladies" arrive to select the girls for unspecified tasks, but Hidalla is not chosen. With the onset of menstruation, Hidalla and her peers are required to take an underground train to the outside world where they are united with boys of their own age. At this juncture the "manuscript" breaks off.Reception
The critic Elizabeth Boa has suggested that the story can be read in at least three ways. In the first, the children inhabit a utopia, an alternative childhood, where "a bodily culture of the senses is set against the mind as the source of illusion". The second reading is dystopian: a "nightmare world of rigid control" enforced by the children themselves. The third way is to view it as a "grotesque satire of the way in which girls are actually brought up". The English translator of Mine-Haha points to Wedekind’s equivocal attitude towards the feminist movement of his day, his taste for voyeurism and biological essentialism conflicting with his radical ideas on education and marriage: "we applaud Wedekind’s insight, while perhaps fretting about his motivation in arriving at it". The work was praised, with reservations, by Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
placed it, alongside Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
’s Pym
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus...
, among the "greatest works" of "fantastic art". More recently, the singer Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
has described it as "a fairy tale that morphs into something far more grotesque – a psycho-sexual Expressionist fable". Mine-Haha was the basis for the films Innocence
Innocence (2004 film)
Innocence is a 2004 French film written and directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović, based on the novella Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by Frank Wedekind, and starring Marion Cotillard. It takes place at a mysterious girls' boarding school, where new students arrive in coffins...
(2004) by Lucile Hadžihalilović
Lucile Hadžihalilović
Lucile Hadžihalilović is a French filmmaker. She became the first woman to win the Stockholm International Film Festival annual Bronze Horse award for best film for her 2004 film Innocence....
and The Fine Art of Love (2005) by John Irvin
John Irvin
John Irvin is an English film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...
.
The title Mine-Haha is a Germanised form of "Minnehaha
Minnehaha
Minnehaha is a fictional Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha. The name is often incorrectly said to mean "laughing water", though in reality it translates to "waterfall" or...
", the name of Hiawatha’s lover in The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...
by Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
.
Works cited
- Adorno, Theodor W.Theodor W. AdornoTheodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
1997. Aesthetic Theory, trans Robert Hullot-Kentor. London: Athlone. ISBN 0485300699. - Boa, Elizabeth. 1987. The Sexual Circus: Wedekind's Theatre of Subversion. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0631142347.
- Faithfull, MarianneMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
. 2008. Memories, Dreams and Reflections. London and New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0007245815. - Ward, Philip. 2010. "Introduction". In: Frank Wedekind, Mine-Haha, or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls. London: Hesperus Books. ISBN 1843914557.