View source for Alraune

{{short description|1911 novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox book
| image             = Book cover "Alraune".jpg
| alt               = Book cover with a picture of a chameleon on it
| caption           = First edition cover
| author            = [[Hanns Heinz Ewers]]
| pub_date          = {{Start date and age|1911}}
| genre            = [[Science fantasy]], [[horror fiction|horror]], [[dark fantasy]], [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]]
}}

'''''Alraune''''' ([[German language|German]] for {{Transliteration|de|[[Mandrake]]}}) is a novel by German novelist [[Hanns Heinz Ewers]] published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18464748-alraune | title=Alraune }}</ref> The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/147183/hanns-heinz-ewers/alraune-die-geschichte-eines-lebenden-wessens |title=ALRAUNE. DIE GESCHICHTE EINES LEBENDEN WESSENS &#124; Hanns Heinz Ewers &#124; Eleventh printing |accessdate=2014-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105153018/http://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/147183/hanns-heinz-ewers/alraune-die-geschichte-eines-lebenden-wessens |archivedate=2016-01-05 }}</ref>

==Legend==
The basis of the story of Alraune dates to the [[Middle Ages]] in Germany. The [[humanoid]]-shaped [[Mandrake (mythology)|mandrake]] root or ''[[Mandragora officinarum]]'' was widely believed to be produced by the semen of [[hanged]] men under the [[gallows]]. [[Alchemy|Alchemists]] claimed that hanged men [[ejaculation|ejaculated]] after their [[neck]]s were broken and that the earth absorbed their final "strengths". In some versions, it is blood instead of semen.<ref name="Anthony John Myths & Mandrakes">{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Anthony John |title=Myths and Mandrakes |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |date=March 2003 |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=144–147 |doi=10.1258/jrsm.96.3.144 |pmid=12612119 |pmc=539425 }}</ref> The [[root]] itself was used in love philtres and [[potion]]s while its fruit was supposed to facilitate pregnancy. [[Witch]]es who "made love" to the mandrake root were said to produce [[offspring]] that had no [[feeling]]s of real love and had no [[Soul (spirit)|soul]].{{citationneeded|date=August 2022}}
[[File:Alraune_2.jpg|thumb|alt= Book page with an illustration of a topless person in a cave|Title page of 1929 U.S. edition.]]

==Fiction==
The novel deviates from the myth by concentrating on the issues of [[artificial insemination]] and individuality: [[genetics]] versus [[Nature versus nurture|environment]]. A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of [[heredity]], impregnates a prostitute in a [[laboratory]] with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse [[intimate relationship|relationship]]s throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.

==Adaptations==
A number of films and other works are based on or inspired by the novel ''Alraune''.

* 1918: ''[[Alraune (1918 film)|Alraune]]'', an 80-minute Hungarian movie which is now believed to be [[lost films| lost]]
* 1918: ''[[Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne]]'', an 88-minute German movie directed by [[Eugen Illés]]
* 1928: ''[[Alraune (1928 film)|Alraune]]'', also known as ''Unholy Love'', a 125-minute black and white, silent German film directed by [[Henrik Galeen|Henrik (Heinrich) Galeen]]. It stars [[Brigitte Helm]] as Alraune and [[Paul Wegener]] as the scientist Professor Jakob ten Brinken.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713130838/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae0f86d BFI]</ref> It uses the novel and is regarded by critics as the definitive version of Alraune.{{citationneeded|date=January 2024}} When this film was first shown in Britain, [[British Board of Film Classification|film censors]] removed the details of the woman's origins, thereby making the story and motivations confusing to British audiences.
* 1930: ''[[Alraune (1930 film)|Alraune]]'', also known as ''The Daughter of Evil'', a 103-minute black and white German film directed by [[Richard Oswald]] and again starring Brigitte Helm as Alma Raune (Alraune). This was a sound remake of the 1928 film.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713204829/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae22167 BFI]</ref>
* 1952: ''[[Alraune (1952 film)|Alraune]]'', or ''The Unnatural'', a black and white German feature film directed by [[Arthur Maria Rabenalt]]. This had an all-star German cast including [[Hildegard Knef]] as Alraune and [[Erich von Stroheim]] as the scientist.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120715045421/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ead6453 BFI]</ref>
* 1998–2004: ''Alraune'', a series of black and white German comic books illustrated by [[Tony Greis]].<ref>[https://lambiek.net/artists/g/greis_toni.htm Toni Greis (b. 30/8/1973, Germany)] lambiek.net</ref> The comic books deviate significantly from the novel. The main character is cursed and must live as if she is Alraune until she can find a way out from under the curse.

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*[[Alruna]]
*[[Artificial insemination]]
*[[Gynoid]]
*[[Homunculus]]
*[[Nature versus nurture]]
*[[List of films made in Weimar Germany]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1911 German novels]]
[[Category:1911 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:1911 fantasy novels]]
[[Category:1910s horror novels]]
[[Category:1910s Gothic novels]]
[[Category:1911 German-language novels]]
[[Category:German science fiction novels]]
[[Category:German fantasy novels]]
[[Category:German horror novels]]
[[Category:German Gothic novels]]
[[Category:Science fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Science fiction horror novels]]
[[Category:Dark fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Novels about legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Monsters in popular culture]]
[[Category:Science fiction characters]]
[[Category:German legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Fictional human hybrids]]
[[Category:Mythological plants]]
[[Category:German novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Science fiction novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Fantasy novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Horror novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels adapted into comics]]
[[Category:Novels by Hanns Heinz Ewers]]
{{Alraune}}
{{Authority control}}
{{1910s-gothic-novel-stub}}