Heinrich Mann

Lina is a painter. She is beautiful, intelligent, and courted by all. Whether professionally or romantically, her life is rich in variety. But for her, the spicy taste of art and a free existence has gone stale. With a bourgeois marriage, she hopes to experience real feelings, even if they are small. But a morally "perfect" existence must be hard won in the "golden" twenties, in which the strict guidelines of the Code of Conduct are still valid for the bourgeoisie. It is a bad thing to have a “past,” if you are a woman. Lina has a past, and it catches up to her. Her ex-lover, a bon vivant, who bewitches every woman with his charm, wants her back and is willing to fight for her.

After several verbal circular arguments, Lina succeeds in telling her husband about her past. He shows greatness of spirit, even if his petty family does everything to drive the couple apart. For her sake, he renounces his duel, even though the date has already been set. She, in turn, gives way to the next temptation.

Heinrich Mann's character constellation is refined: in Munich's carnival, he brings together bourgeois, artists, moralizers, libertines, scholars and ignorants. Their dialogues draw the portrait of a bygone era. They are interspersed with biting wit and revealing falsehoods. In the character of the women's rights activist Meitgen, a new option is already opening up on the horizon: equal rights, rights which also allow women to have a past. Ideology, however, is suspect even here. Heinrich Mann turns even this into satire.