Der Kleine

Friedrich Glauser not only recorded autobiographical memories of his childhood in Vienna, but also processed individual episodes multiple times in his stories. His tales paint a very vivid picture of a Viennese childhood around 1900. There is a strict father who wants to "toughen up" his son for life. There is an understanding mother who dies when he is four. There are warm-hearted maids, scheming governesses, a grandfather who was a gold digger, a kind stepmother with money who soon divorces again. The son from a good family perceives that teachers measure their punishments according to the parents' income of the students with a keen sense of justice. Glauser's stories are a probing search for the origins of his restless life.