{"product_id":"motley-stones-paperback","title":"Motley Stones - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAdalbert Stifter\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eIsabel Fargo Cole\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first complete English translation of the nineteenth-century Austrian innovator's evocative, elemental cycle of novellas.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor Kafka he was \"my fat brother\"; Thomas Mann called him \"one of the most peculiar, enigmatic, secretly audacious and strangely gripping storytellers in world literature.\" Often misunderstood as an idyllic poet of \"beetles and buttercups,\" the nineteenth-century Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter can now be seen as a radical experimenter with narrative and a forerunner of nature writing's darker currents. One of his best-known works, the novella cycle \u003ci\u003eMotley Stones\u003c\/i\u003e now appears in its first complete English translation, a rendition that respects the bracing strangeness of the original. In six thematically linked novellas, including the beloved classic \"Rock Crystal,\" human dramas play out amid the natural cycles of the Alps or the urban rhythms of Vienna--environments so keenly observed that they emerge as the tales' most indomitable protagonists. Stifter's human characters are equally haunting--children braving perils, eccentrics and loners harboring enigmatic torments. \"We seek to glimpse the gentle law that guides the human race,\" Stifter famously wrote. What he glimpsed, more often than not, was the abyss that lies behind the idyll. The tension between his humane sensitivity and his dark visions is what lends his writing its heartbreaking power.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdalbert Stifter\u003c\/b\u003e (1805-1868) was born in the rural Bohemian market town of Oberplan, then part of the Austrian Empire but today in the Czech Republic. He published his first story in 1840, the success of which started him on a career as a writer and newspaper editor. His works include numerous stories and novellas, as well as \u003ci\u003eWitiko\u003c\/i\u003e, a historical novel, and \u003ci\u003eIndian Summer\u003c\/i\u003e, considered one of the finest examples of the German bildungsroman. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eIsabel Fargo Cole\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer and a translator of such authors as Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Franz Fühmann, Wolfgang Hilbig, and Klaus Hoffer. She lives in Berlin, Germany.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 288\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 04, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42162470584455,"sku":"9781681375205","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/a29250eb826c570f1433ba3d022e5764.webp?v=1733289730","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/motley-stones-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}