Wally die Zweiflerin

Wally die Zweiflerin, a short novel by K. Gutzkow, published in 1835. Wally, a spoilt and coquettish young woman, consents to marriage with a Sardinian nobleman whom she does not love, having previously entered into a spiritual marriage with Cäsar, a cynical man of the world, who undermines her vague and unreasoning faith. Her husband, for financial reasons, encourages the passion felt by his brother for Wally, an episode which culminates disastrously in the brother's suicide. Wally leaves her husband for Cäsar, who, however, abandons her for the rich Jewess Adolfine. Wally, deprived of her love and of her faith, stabs herself.

The book, written in a cool ironical style, was bitterly attacked, notably by W. Menzel, for its supposed immorality, manifested in Wally's life and in Cäsar's strictures on marriage and on the Christian religion. The novel was later revised and was republished in 1852 under the title Vergangene Tage. Gutzkow indicates in the preface to this edition that, in portraying Wally's fate, he had in mind the suicide of Charlotte Stieglitz.