Auf der Universität

Auf der Universität, a Novelle by Th. Storm, written in 1862 and published in 1863. Philipp, the narrator, relates in eight sections his memories of the low-born daughter of a French tailor and a German mother, Lenore (Lore) Beauregard; the heading of the fifth section provides the story's title. Lore's exotic southern grace and beauty attract the attention of the sons of a select upper-middle-class circle of a class-conscious small town at a dancing class, at which Lore stands in for a missing partner. Through this experience she becomes torn between hatred and longing for a social class from which her parents are excluded. Her engagement to Christoph, a sturdy, good-natured carpenter, opens the prospect of a settled future. But when she believes a false report of Christoph's unfaithfulness in a distant town, she abandons her self-respect and gives herself up to a life of pleasure and luxury with a wealthy but irresponsible student known as the Raugraf. On receiving an invitation from Christoph to marry him, she drowns herself in the lake near the students' dance hall.