Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Stolen Spring

 The Stolen Spring
type
TVTItem
 The Stolen Spring
label
The Stolen Spring
 The Stolen Spring
page
TheStolenSpring
 The Stolen Spring
comment
The Stolen Spring (Det Forsømte Forår - In English: "The Neglected Spring") is a novel from 1940 by the Danish author Hans Scherfig. It has been translated to a number of languages and is considered one of the all-time classics in the field of school-time fiction.The novel starts with a murder. The elderly Latin teacher Professor Blomme dies after eating a poisoned piece of barley sugar. The action then moves forward twenty-five years to the reunion of his last class of students, all now respected members of society, (except one, who has become a reclusive eccentric).Most of the book, however, is taken up by a description of the old students' schooldays, which turns out to be a far cry from "those sunlit, happy, good childhood days," they were waxing drunkenly about at the reunion. The pupils' lives are made a living hell by ambitious, snobbish parents and bitter, neurotic teachers, the worst of which is professor Blomme, who derives outright sadistic pleasure from mocking and humiliating his students. The spring of their youth disappears in mindless grinding, exam anxiety, and daily humiliations and beatings, until they are worn down to functional members of society, ready to conform to its norms without question - and in one case to commit murder.The book is based on Scherfig's own schooldays at "Metropolitanskolen" in Central Copenhagen, one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Denmark. In spite of its description of school as a soul-destroying hell, the book remains a perennial favorite for class reading among Danish teachers.A well-regarded film of the book was made in 1993, starring Frits Helmuth as Professor Blomme.
 The Stolen Spring
fetched
2023-11-16T19:16:58Z
 The Stolen Spring
parsed
2023-11-16T19:16:58Z
 The Stolen Spring
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Stolen Spring / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 The Stolen Spring / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: The Danish title is dropped in connection with the description of another spring neglected in favor of exam reading.
 The Stolen Spring / int_18d15922
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_18d15922
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_18d15922
 The Stolen Spring / int_1e1afc1b
type
Framing Device
 The Stolen Spring / int_1e1afc1b
comment
Framing Device: The reunion. Most of the book takes place 25 years in the past, while the protagonists were in school.
 The Stolen Spring / int_1e1afc1b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_1e1afc1b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_1e1afc1b
 The Stolen Spring / int_2a6a8e89
type
Sadist Teacher
 The Stolen Spring / int_2a6a8e89
comment
Sadist Teacher: Professor Blomme, and HOW! The other teachers, such as Oremark, the choleric French teacher, are by no means nice people either.
 The Stolen Spring / int_2a6a8e89
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_2a6a8e89
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_2a6a8e89
 The Stolen Spring / int_2be74be
type
Sucky School
 The Stolen Spring / int_2be74be
comment
Sucky School
 The Stolen Spring / int_2be74be
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_2be74be
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_2be74be
 The Stolen Spring / int_3bc88a7f
type
Foregone Conclusion
 The Stolen Spring / int_3bc88a7f
comment
Foregone Conclusion: The book starts with Professor Blomme being murdered.
 The Stolen Spring / int_3bc88a7f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_3bc88a7f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_3bc88a7f
 The Stolen Spring / int_4e3d253b
type
Downer Ending
 The Stolen Spring / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: All the former pupils at the anniversary are more or less broken and neurotic, as a result of their school days.
 The Stolen Spring / int_4e3d253b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_4e3d253b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_4e3d253b
 The Stolen Spring / int_8470aa73
type
Roman à Clef
 The Stolen Spring / int_8470aa73
comment
Roman à Clef: Some of the characters are based on Scherfig's former schoolmates and teachers.
 The Stolen Spring / int_8470aa73
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_8470aa73
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_8470aa73
 The Stolen Spring / int_8c681acc
type
Third-Person Person
 The Stolen Spring / int_8c681acc
comment
Third-Person Person: The adult Mogensen is prone to this:
 The Stolen Spring / int_8c681acc
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_8c681acc
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_8c681acc
 The Stolen Spring / int_8ed5c6e4
type
Asshole Victim
 The Stolen Spring / int_8ed5c6e4
comment
Asshole Victim: You will not feel sorry for Professor Blomme, after finding out what kind of teacher he was.
 The Stolen Spring / int_8ed5c6e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_8ed5c6e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_8ed5c6e4
 The Stolen Spring / int_96d2ce42
type
In Vino Veritas
 The Stolen Spring / int_96d2ce42
comment
In Vino Veritas: As the old pupils gets more and more drunk at the reunion they start to reveal some unfortunate truths. Harald Horn admits that his nationalism is only a gimmick, the reverend admits that he does not really believe in God, and the murderer accidentally lets slip that he killed Professor Blomme (only one person notices, and he states that he would wish that he had done it himsef).
 The Stolen Spring / int_96d2ce42
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_96d2ce42
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_96d2ce42
 The Stolen Spring / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 The Stolen Spring / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: The ridiculously nationalistic failed poet and literature critic Harald Horn is likely a caricature of Real Life conservative intellectual and critic Hakon Stangerup.note  The name Stangerup is derived from the verb "at stange" = to butt (as you do with horns = Harald Horn)
 The Stolen Spring / int_b53077b3
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_b53077b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_b53077b3
 The Stolen Spring / int_c335b9ec
type
Irony
 The Stolen Spring / int_c335b9ec
comment
Irony: A hallmark of Scherfig. One example is the opening of the flash-back, where we follow a pupil having a really crappy morning, and then, when he finally gets to school, having to sing along with the popular Danish hymn: "The bright, blessed day with joy we see arising to meet us".
 The Stolen Spring / int_c335b9ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_c335b9ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_c335b9ec
 The Stolen Spring / int_c70fc0a2
type
Pretentious Latin Motto
 The Stolen Spring / int_c70fc0a2
comment
Pretentious Latin Motto: The words »Disciplina sollerti fingitur ingenium« are written over the school gates.note  As was the case with Scherfig's school in Real Life. The narrator translates it as: "Beatings are good for spiritual development".
 The Stolen Spring / int_c70fc0a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_c70fc0a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_c70fc0a2
 The Stolen Spring / int_cf92fea8
type
Cassandra Truth
 The Stolen Spring / int_cf92fea8
comment
Cassandra Truth: At the party, Ellerstrøm at one point openly admits to several of his former classmates to have been the one who caused Blomme's death. They quickly come the conclusion that he is just joking and laughs it off.
 The Stolen Spring / int_cf92fea8
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_cf92fea8
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_cf92fea8
 The Stolen Spring / int_fb3576b2
type
The Dog Bites Back
 The Stolen Spring / int_fb3576b2
comment
The Dog Bites Back: It is no surprise that Blomme is murdered by one of the students he has bullied, the only surprise is that it is his former favorite Ellerstrøm, after Blomme tells him in advance that he is going to flunk him at the exam, mainly because he can.
 The Stolen Spring / int_fb3576b2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_fb3576b2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_fb3576b2
 The Stolen Spring / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Stolen Spring / int_name
comment
 The Stolen Spring / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Stolen Spring / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
The Stolen Spring / int_name
 The Stolen Spring / int_name
itemName
The Stolen Spring

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
Boarding School of Horrors / int_741be378
 The Stolen Spring
hasFeature
Sucky School / int_741be378