By Oliver Ohmann
What is a snob? A new old novel provides the answer: one like Willy Lehmann.
Willy comes from a Charlottenburg family of gardeners, but he now lives on Kurfürstendamm. Willy spends the winter in St. Moritz, where he meets the other snobs from western Berlin and makes big plans. Willy doesn’t love just anyone, but the daughter of a nouveau riche textile manufacturer. Speaking of textiles – Willy dresses the way he lives, sophisticated and luxurious. A well-groomed person with impeccable manners, lots of quirks and even more style.
Edmund Edel wrote the portrait of this Berlin snob in 1906. The first novel by the writer, who had recently become known for his social satire “Berlin W.”
The novel has now been rediscovered and has been republished by Quintus-Verlag in Berlin. The pleasure of reading is at the same time a journey through time to Berlin during the imperial era. The Berlin of the fine West, the coffee houses and theaters on the Kudamm, the porter’s lodges and champagne nights. But the snob also travels because he can afford it and this is “easier to educate than simply studying books,” notes editor Björn Weyand.
Edmund Edel: “The Snob”, Quintus Verlag, 256 pages, 20 euros Photo: Quintus Verlag
At one point you also come across the BZ at midday, because Willy’s future father-in-law is reading it, but he is tired and hungry. “Sigismund yawned – even the exciting news from the BZ couldn’t suppress his yawn. Over time, his wife had become accustomed to so many noble stories that she could no longer even appear at the table at three o’clock.“
Edmund Edel (1863-1934) grew up in Charlottenburg and was an artistic jack of all trades. He was a gifted cartoonist and illustrator, but also a writer and later even a film director. He created advertising posters for our BZ.
Good thing we have his snob back now!