Narrative
The Lightship
Das Feuerschiff
Siegfried Lenz · 1960
Synopsis
A lightship anchored in the Baltic is on its last watch: in fourteen days, it will be decommissioned. Its captain, Freytag, has taken his son Fred on board, who accuses him of cowardice. The crew picks up three men from a drifting boat, Doctor Caspary and two brothers. They are armed, take control of the ship and demand that it leave its station to take them ashore. Freytag refuses: a lightship must not leave its position, and he does not want to expose anyone.
Context
The text gives its title to a collection of stories published in 1960 by Hoffmann und Campe. Lenz says he imagined it on seeing a lightship in the bay in the distance from his window, and picturing on that vessel a conflict between armed force and unarmed force. It is often read as a parable about violence, resistance and each person's responsibility, and it entered German school curricula as early as the sixties. It was adapted for the screen by Ladislao Vajda, then in 1985 by Jerzy Skolimowski, and for television in 2008.
Who it is for
A narrative of about a hundred pages, with no narrator commenting, in which the reader has to take sides alone.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English by Michael Bullock as early as 1962 and into French in 1986; Skolimowski's film, with Robert Duvall, competed at Venice.
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