Theodor Storm (1817–1888)

This is another in a series of books collecting novellas by Storm, an important 19th-century German realist. Storm wrote almost exclusively about life in the small rural villages of far northwestern Germany, along the North Sea. His stories are often sad (or at least, as Leseratte noted, melancholy) and can be hauntingly nostalgic. Storm wrote about the lives and beliefs of these people and his writing is remarkable for its psychological insight. His novellas address topics like class tension, social problems, and religious bigotry, but regardless of ostensible subject, most of his work usually dealt with man’s isolation and his struggle with his fate. Storm really only wrote one novel and his mastery of the novella form was such that they are frequently considered among the best in German literature. His writing—at least in the translations of Denis Jackson—is captivating. This collection included the title novella plus “The Last Farmstead” (both of which concern reversals of fortune for farming and burgher families in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars), “The Swallows of St George's” (a love story) and—the only unsuccessful one in the book for me, “By the Fireside,” a somewhat disjointed series of ghost stories.… (altro)

Der Schimmelreiter ist eine Novelle von Theodor Storm aus der Literaturepoche des Realismus. Das im April 1888 veröffentlichte Werk ist Storms bekannteste Erzählung und zählt zu seinem Spätwerk.

Die Novelle, in deren Zentrum der fiktive Deichgraf Hauke Haien steht, basiert auf einer Sage, mit der Storm sich über Jahrzehnte befasste. Mit der Niederschrift der Novelle begann er jedoch erst im Juli 1886 und beendete seine Arbeit daran im Februar 1888, wenige Monate vor seinem Tod. Die Novelle erschien das erste Mal im April 1888 in der Zeitschrift Deutsche Rundschau, Bd. 55.(wikipedia)… (altro)