Rock Crystal (New York Review Books Classics)
by Adalbert Stifter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Adalbert StifterTranslator: Marianne Moore
Translator: Elizabeth Mayer
Introduction: W. H. Auden
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-16
ISBN: 159017285X
Number of pages: 108
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Book Reviews of Rock Crystal (New York Review Books Classics)
Book Review: A Beautifully Written Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
The Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter, translated from the German by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, was first published by Pantheon Books, Inc., New York, in 1945, and now republished in 2008 by The New York Review of Books, New York. The book contains an introduction by W.H. Auden who described the book as "a quiet and beautiful parable about the relation of people to places, of man to nature." The New Yorker aptly described it as, "A miracle of quiet beauty."
That is what it is: an extraordinarily beautifully written ninety-nine page, 19th Century novella of two children who after visiting their Grandmother on Christmas eve, have to traverse through a high mountain pass in the Alps to return home. They get caught in a blinding, heavy snow storm, making their proceeding with ever increasing difficulty as the temperature falls to a bone chilling coldness. Not being able to see clearly, with tress and rocks indistinguishable in the snow and darkness, they make a wrong turn and get to a point from which they are only able to climb higher and higher. They finally realize that they are lost and in desperate need of finding shelter before they freeze to death as another traveler had some years earlier. The shelter that they eventually find is a combination of large boulders which nature caused to form into a hut, enclosed on all sides but one. There, huddled together, and drinking some very strong coffee their Grandmother was sending home to their parents, they struggled to keep awake so as not to freeze to death. As the snow storm dissipated, stars appear, slowly, one by one, transforming the dark night into a wondrous, magical world of glistening silent beauty. Outside their stone hut they see a glacial field glittering with ice crystal diamonds. After spending a starry night on the glacier's edge, filled with mystery, magic and splendor, they attempt with great difficulty to descend the mountain, resigning eventually to emerge at any point, and then finding their way back to their home village. Although they were able to ascend the night before, descending proved to be almost impossible. They had to constantly turn, ascend again, and then descend only to find again that they had to find another path. The children eventually see a red flag and hear the Alpine horns of their rescuers. They are rescued by their fellow Villagers on Christmas day who assist them to traverse the difficult terrain and descend to a log cabin where they are able to get warm, have food to eat and something to drink, and rest before they continue down the mountain to their home.
What rescues this story from being another typical, banal, overly melodramatic Christmas story is the simplicity of the writing style (it has a grade reading level of 7.8 years, and a readability index of 74.6) and that every sentence, every paragraph is a jewel of exquisite writing, seamlessly interweaving a very realistic, compelling tale of surprising complexity and numerous relationships: that of Conrad and his trusting little sister Sanna; the close family's relationship with their Mother's family; and their family's relationship with their fellow Villagers who treat them with aloofness, as outsiders until fear of the loss of the two children unite all of them in an heroic effort to save them. That is the true gift that the Christ Child has brought to all of them that Christmas.
Some may object to the catholic themes in the book, the descriptions of Christmas as a religious, holy event, others its portrayal of a far simpler way of life than what we experience today in the modern world. Nevertheless, it takes a tale such as "Rock Crystal" to put the reader back in touch with the real fundamentals of life, those most important basic values. I find the book to be a wonderful, refreshing change of pace and an especially fine for Middleschoolers to read, discuss, and enjoy the story; and for them to experience the beauty of an extraordinary writing skill.
Submitted by Richard P. Caro
Summary of Rock Crystal (New York Review Books Classics)
Seemingly the simplest of stories?a 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 children?Conrad and his little sister, Sanna?set 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 Day?or on any night of the year.Classics Books
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