Ellinor's Litventures

I had no internet access for the past 4 days so I'm finally catching up here.

This is another difficult category with many options.

I picked Wellen (Waves) by Eduard von Keyserling because I was surprised that I liked it so much.

I have to admit that I was very prejudiced before I read this book - negatively prejudiced. At school we had to read a few novels by Heinrich Mann and I really hated those. Wellen is set in the same era and so I really wasn't looking forward to reading it much. But it is part of the SZ Bibliothek and I wanted to read all the books from this edition. I thought, well it's not a big book, I think I can deal with it. And I'm so glad I did!
Wellen is excellent. The story must have been quite provoking at the time it was written (1911). The setting is a very hot summer at the Baltic Sea. Doralice, a divorced countess lives with her new husband, a liberal-thinking painter. Several other people, including the family of another countess, are on vacation next to this place. Doralice provokes very different reactions: while some find her liberal ways repellent others - men and women - find her extremely fascinating and also sexually attractive. All this culminates in a fascinating final which exactly mirrors the setting.
I'm really looking forward to reading more of Eduard von Keyserlings work.