ABSTRACT
Adalbert Stifter's prose fiction belongs largely to the Biedermeier era, a period of transition that produced its own distinctive poetic realism. He opened his literary career in 1840 with three novellas that treated the figure of the artist, Der Condor (The Condor), Feldblumen (Wild Flowers of the Field), and Das Haidedorf (The Village on the Heath), and went on to publish some 30 works of shorter fiction and three major novels, Der Nachsommer (1857; Indian Summer), Witiko (1865-67), and Die Mappe meines Urgrossvaters (published posthumously in 1939; My Great-Grandfather's Notebook). A most careful stylist who was seldom satisfied with his first efforts, Stifter was given to reworking his material. He republished much of his prose in two collections entitled Studien (1844-50; Studies) and Bunte Steine (1853; Colored Stones). The latter cycle, introduced by its famous preface, contains Stifter's aesthetic creed, which proclaims a revaluation of all that is commonly perceived as "great" in nature and mankind. Stifter, who was also a competent scientist, identified a principle that he called "the gentle law" acting within the universe, inconspicuously working toward preservation, growth, and restoration. Stifter specifies as "great" the all-pervading, unseen, yet omnipotent forces that are analogous to scientific law. The occasional disruptive appearance of volcanoes, earthquakes, and storms he designates as having lesser status, since these are merely effects and not the superior causes. Despite these avowed convictions, Stifter's work contains many striking and memorable depictions of natural catastrophes and violent eruptions that are the more impressive for breaking through unexpectedly and disrupting the calm control of his prose.
