Background
He was born in Bohemia on the 23rd of October 1805, the eldest son of Johann Stifter, a wealthy linen weaver, and his wife, Magdalena.
(Set around the events of the succession struggle of 1142 ...)
Set around the events of the succession struggle of 1142 in medieval Bohemia the main character, Witiko, the traditional founder of the Rosenberg Family, searches for the Right, finds it and his beloved, while never losing touch with the common folk. His quest is amid the panoramic backdrop of national Bohemian politics and history, with his fate paralleling that of the acknowledged rightful duke, Wladislaw, who is also seeking the path of justice. Witiko is considered one of the most significant German historical novels of the Nineteenth Century.
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(Each of these four stories is set in a recognisable world...)
Each of these four stories is set in a recognisable world depicted with a measured realism. But once the reader has learned to look beneath the calm, apparently seamless surface of the narrative, and in Stifter's words, 'to see with an eye of the heart', strange tensions are revealed.
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( Victor leaves the home of his foster mother to take his...)
Victor leaves the home of his foster mother to take his first job in another town but stops on a remote island to visit his uncle who he has never met. Surrounded by an atmosphere of death and decay Victor and his uncle symbolise opposite attitudes to life and their existential effects: stillness and movement, light and dark, openness and withdrawal. Ultimately, Victor, in balancing the differences between himself and the old man who has never known love, chooses his own path with hope.
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(Seemingly the simplest of storiesa passing anecdote of v...)
Seemingly the simplest of storiesa passing anecdote of village life Rock Crystal opens up into a tale of almost unendurable suspense. This jewel-like novella by the writer that Thomas Mann praised as "one of the most extraordinary, the most enigmatic, the most secretly daring and the most strangely gripping narrators in world literature" is among the most unusual, moving, and memorable of Christmas stories. Two childrenConrad and his little sister, Sannaset out from their village high up in the Alps to visit their grandparents in the neighboring valley. It is the day before Christmas but the weather is mild, though of course night falls early in December and the children are warned not to linger. The grandparents welcome the children with presents and pack them off with kisses. Then snow begins to fall, ever more thickly and steadily. Undaunted, the children press on, only to take a wrong turn. The snow rises higher and higher, time passes: it is deep night when the sky clears and Conrad and Sanna discover themselves out on a glacier, terrifying and beautiful, the heart of the void. Adalbert Stifter's rapt and enigmatic tale, beautifully translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, explores what can be found between Christmas Eve and Christmas Dayor on any night of the year.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159017285X/?tag=2022091-20
novelist painter pedagogue poet
He was born in Bohemia on the 23rd of October 1805, the eldest son of Johann Stifter, a wealthy linen weaver, and his wife, Magdalena.
Stifter was educated at the Benedictine Gymnasium at Kremsmünster, and went to the University of Vienna in 1826 to study law.
He became a tutor to the aristocrats of Vienna, and was highly regarded as such. His students included Princess Maria Anna von Schwarzenberg and Richard Metternich, son of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich. He also made some money from selling paintings, and published his first story, "Der Condor", in 1840. An immediate success, it inaugurated a steady writing career.
As early as 1840 Stifter had made his name known by bis Feldblumen, a collection of charming little sketches, but his fame chiefly rests upon his Studien (1844- 1851) in which he gathered together his early writings. These sketches of scenery and rural life are among the best and purest examples of German prose. Among other of his works may be cited Bunte Steine (1853), Nachsommer (1857), Witiko (1864- 1867), and Briefe, which appeared posthumously in 1869. Stifter's Samtliche Werke were published in 17 vols. in 1870. There are also editions of selected works in 4 vols. (1887) and in 6 vols. (1899). A critical edition by A. Sauer is in preparation. Stifter's letters were published by J. Aprent in 3 vols. (1869).
(Set around the events of the succession struggle of 1142 ...)
( Victor leaves the home of his foster mother to take his...)
(Seemingly the simplest of storiesa passing anecdote of v...)
(Each of these four stories is set in a recognisable world...)
Quotations:
“Everything that now exists, no matter how great and good it is, lasts for a time, fulfills a purpose, and then passes on. And so it will be with all the works of art that now exist; an eternal veil of forgetfulness will lie over them, just as there is now over those things that came before. ”
“Great beauty and youth capture our attention, excite a deep pleasure; however, why shouldn't our souls gaze at a countenance over which the years have passed? Isn't there a story there, one unknown, full of pain or beauty, which pours its reflection into the features, a story we can read with some compassion or at least get a slight hint of its meaning? The young point toward the future; the old tell of a past. ”
“Among the books there were also some containing bombast. They didn't try to portray Nature as it is within and outside of man; rather, they tried to make it more beautiful, seeking to elicit certain effects. I turned away from them. If reality isn't sacred to them, how are they capable of creating something more beautiful than God's Creation?”
Quotes from others about the person
Thomas Mann called Stifter "one of the most extraordinary, the most enigmatic, the most secretly daring and the most strangely gripping narrators in world literature. "
In 1828 he fell in love with Fanny Greipl, but after a relationship lasting five years, her parents forbade further correspondence, a loss from which he never recovered. In 1835 he became engaged to Amalia Mohaupt, and they married in 1837, but the marriage was not a happy one. Stifter and his wife, unable to conceive, tried adopting three of Amalia's nieces at different times. One of them, Juliana, ran away several times and finally disappeared, only to be found drowned in the Danube four weeks later.