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List Price: $12.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.36 You Save: $2.59 (20%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Not yet published
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.7
EAN: 9781590172858
ISBN: 159017285X
Label: NYRB Classics
Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 108
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Sales Rank: 927938
Studio: NYRB Classics
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Seemingly the simplest of stories–a passing anecdote of village life–Rock Crystal opens up into a tale of almost unendurable suspense that may also be read as a story of deep spiritual crisis and unlooked-for consolation. Certainly this jewellike novella by the writer that Thomas Mann called “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 who live one valley over. It is the day before Christmas but the weather is mild and welcoming, though of course night falls early in December, and the children’s mother warns them not to stay too long and not to linger on the way. The grandparents receive the children lovingly, feed them handsomely, and pack them off with kisses. However, a sprinkling of snow begins to fall, and soon it is coming down thickly and steadily. Undaunted, the children press on toward home, but along the way they 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 on a glacier riddled with crevasses and looming ice formations, terrifying and beautiful, the heart of the void. What can be lost and what can be found between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day–or on any night of the year–are the themes explored in Adalbert Stifter’s rapt and enigmatic tale, presented here in an outstanding translation by the great American poet Marianne Moore.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - a delightful, well-written triffle worth your time
While this is subtitled "A Christmas Tale", this wonderfully written story is a story of belonging in a small, isolated community - a wonderful gift that is set at Christmas. Two aspects of the story make this a memorable bit of literature: First, the discription of the physical setting and the small details making the village unique, isolated and realistic are superb. Second, the understanding of human group behavior is outstanding - both in the definition of "outsiders" and ... Read More
Rating: - Breathtaking!
This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The story is simple: A boy and a girl get lost in the mountains on their way home; it's Christmas Eve, and the two are somewhere in the Alps. What makes the books so unique is the way in which the children's ordeal is described: They are moving through a landscape that is made almost abstract by the snow; this is pure poetry! - Stifter is a forgotten genius of 19th century European literature; I'm glad that his touching Christmas Tale - and ... Read More
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.7
EAN: 9781590172858
ISBN: 159017285X
Label: NYRB Classics
Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 108
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Sales Rank: 927938
Studio: NYRB Classics