Imperative

The central figure of this moral tale is Augustin, a lecturer of mathematics at a small German university. Because of his extraordinary gifts he has succeeded in everything easily and without toil, so as if things had to happen that way. The feeling that all the events which concern him occur by a self-evident necessity is the cause of his concentrate egocentric attitude towards life, his anxious looking for the sense of his existence. Neither his girl-friend, who leaves him, nor a theologian, one of his colleagues, are of any help to him. Although he doesn’t believe in God he gets into contact with a small group of Serbian emigrants belonging to the orthodox church.In order to verify the real existence of God he commits a sacrilege. He undergoes a psychiatric treatment. Everybody is ready to absolve him from his guilt. But Augustin feels only cured after having punished himself. He is “freed” and leaves the hospital.