The Sun Sets In The East
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| Author | Herman von Welinróden |
|---|---|
| Original title | Dí Sone Unergét im Osten |
| Country |  Hendalarsk |
| Language | Hendalarskisch |
| Genre | Historical fiction, romantic fiction, Romantic fiction |
| Publisher | K. W. Schmid u. Sóne GmbH |
Publication date | 12th June 1837 |
| Pages | 901 (first edition) |
The Sun Sets in the East (Hendalarskisch: Dí Sone Unergét im Osten) is an epic historical novel by the Hendalarskara writer Herman von Welinróden. A key example of late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Gothic Romanticism, The Sun Sets takes place in and around the Kupferberg at the time of Kun'erel's War and charts the lives of the star-crossed lovers Alger, a lowly soldier in the Hendalarskara Archroyal Army, and Gredschen, the beautiful eldest daughter of the ruthless frontier noble Hertóg Gundobad Álensdén.
The novel caused a sensation at the time of its release, drawing praise and criticism alike for its (by contemporary standards) frank depictions of lust, familial violence and cross-class romance, and has never been out of print in Hendalarsk in the two centuries since. The novel is widely taught in schools across the country, and remains a cultural touchstone to this day; Gundobad Álensdén in particular is considered an iconic villain of Hendalarskara culture, and is the subject of several proverbs and frequent allusions. The novel is also notable as the first work in Hendalarskisch ever to make sustained use of Nünsyi, earning the attention of many scholars of colonialism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as a consequence.
Reception
The work was hailed by many Hendalarskara literati on publication, with the eminent poet Wilibrand Schwerer fulsome in his praise for its "uncannily keen eye for everyday detail, even amid the extraordinary". In the twentieth century, the playwright Gredschen Hak was similarly effusive, noting in her landmark essay collection Reflections (Abwégungen) that The Sun Sets is "unsparing in its view of horrors past, uncannily prescient in its haunted dreams of horrors future" while nevertheless criticising some of the novel's depictions of women. This warm reception was not, however, unanimous; the conservative Frehmenwerth newspaper Frémenwerdsche Tagsblat was, at the time of the novel's release, scathing in its dismissal of the work's transgressive themes and of its perceived distaste toward the upper classes, denouncing The Sun Sets as "empty provocation that, infantile in its outlook, aims only to stir up the hot blood of the youth against tradition, against famiyl, against military valour; against, that is, all that is righteous in the world. Were it better-written, it would be dangerous; instead it is merely offensive." Some conservatives towards the end of the century sought to recuperate the novel as an ultimately patriotic work, but they were in the minority. The Sun Sets, despite the ambivalence of von Welinróden's own politics, was widely associated with liberal and reformist currents in Hendalarsk until after the Hendalarskara Civil War. Today, for all that some of its attitudes are acknowledged as outdated, The Sun Sets is widely understood as a foundational text of Hendalarskara culture, with even conservatives largely reconciled to it as a patriotic work opposed to the "degeneration" characteristic of the late imperial period.
Themes
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Legacy
The Sun Sets in the East exerts an enduring influence on Hendalarsk to this day. Lines of the novel are regularly quotes in speeches and are the subjects of intertextuality in other works, Alger and Gredschen's doomed romance has become a cultural archetype in its own right, and the villainous Hertóg is commonly evoked as a timeless example of evil. The novel has been adapted for the screen multiple times, most notably in a 1937 film released to mark its centenary and a widely-acclaimed 2029 television series which also remains the most expensive television series ever produced in Hendalarsk.