BEDROHTE ORDNUNGEN UND BEDROHLICHE ORDNUNGEN IN DEN NOVELLEN VON FERDINAND VON SAAR

The literary output of the Austrian prose writer Ferdinand von Saar reflects the salient presence of the considerations on the disturbance of the existing order and on the order which can pose a threat to itself. Being an attentive observer and participant of the political, economic, social and cultural changes taking place in the second half of the 19th century, Saar in his novels managed to depict the changes in the world contemporary to him subtly but expressively. The disturbance of order in the urban structure and in interpersonal relations resulting from the sudden industrialization and progressing urbanization in Saar’s stories is shown directly by means of contrasting the past with the presence. What is, however, shown in an oblique way, e.g. with the use of the symbolic ornamentation typical for literary realism, is the changing order pertinent to the relations between men and women. In this respect it is worth mentioning that this order, due to its restrictive system of norms, can pose a threat to the integrity of an individual representing the existing social order.