Colorful stones

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Frontispiece of the first editions with illustrations of granite and rock crystal (Ludwig Richter) Frontispiece of the first editions with illustrations of granite and rock crystal (Ludwig Richter)
Frontispiece of the first editions with illustrations of granite and rock crystal ( Ludwig Richter )

Bunte Steine is the name of six stories by Adalbert Stifter , which were published in two volumes by Gustav Heckenast in Pest in 1853 . The subtitle is: A festive present .

content

The first volume contains Stifter's well-known programmatic preface about the "gentle law", followed by an introduction and the first three stories: granite , limestone and tourmaline . The second volume contains the stories Bergkristall , Katzensilber and Bergmilch . Stifter describes Bunte Steine as "gimmicks for young hearts", but contrary to the main child characters in rock crystal and granite , it is not a children's book, but rather a book for young people. Initially, an extensive series of books was planned, because at the end of the introduction it says: Because there are an immeasurable number of stones, I cannot predict how big this collection will be.

The preface

The well-known preface is a response to Friedrich Hebbel's ridicule that the “new nature poets” could only write so well about beetles and buttercups because they lack a sense for people and great nature.

Among other things, Stifter writes:

The blowing of the air, the trickling of the water, the growth of the grain, the waves of the sea, the green of the earth, the shimmering of the sky, the shimmering of the stars, I consider great: the splendid thunderstorm, the lightning that divides houses, the storm that divides them The surf drifts, the fire-breathing mountain, the earthquake that sheds countries, I do not consider them to be greater than the above phenomena, yes, I consider them to be smaller, because they are only the effects of much higher laws. They occur in individual places and are the result of one-sided causes. The force that makes the milk swell up and pass over in the poor woman's potty is also what drives the lava up in the fire-breathing mountain, and lets it slide down on the surfaces of the mountains.

Journal versions

Limestone manuscript page

Earlier versions exist of five of the six stories:

  • Granite 1848 as Die Pechbrenner (Forget-me-nots. Paperback for 1849)
  • Limestone 1847 as Der arme Wohlthäter (Austria. Austrian universal calendar for the leap year 1848)
  • Tourmaline 1851 as the porter in the manor house (Libussa. Yearbook for 1852)
  • Bergkristall 1845 as the holy evening ( The present. Political literary daily newspaper )
  • Bergmilch 1843 as the effects of a white coat ( Viennese magazine for art, literature, theater and fashion )

Katzensilber ( Kazensilber ) is the only story without a journal version.

expenditure

  • Adalbert Stifter: Colorful stones
  • Adalbert Stifter: Colorful stones . Journal versions and book versions. Edited by Helmut Bergner. Stuttgart u. a. 1982 (Adalbert Stifter: Works and Letters. Historical-Critical Complete Edition. Ed. By Alfred Doppler and Wolfgang Frühwald, Vol. 2.1 and 2.2)
  • Adalbert Stifter: Colorful stones . Apparatus and commentary. Edited by Walter Hettche. Stuttgart u. a. 1995 (Adalbert Stifter: Works and Letters. Historical-Critical Complete Edition. Ed. By Alfred Doppler and Wolfgang Frühwald, Vols. 2,3 and 2,4)

literature

  • Norbert Langer: Stifter's Confidence: The Soft Law . In: Sudetenland, year 33 (1991), issue. 3, pp. 206-216.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Quoted from the first edition from 1853 (Google Books)
  2. ^ Project Gutenberg: The old nature poets and the new ones (accessed on January 12, 2020)
  3. ↑ Information from: Adalbert Stifter (Ed. Wolfgang Matz) Complete stories from the first prints , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2005 Commentary on the stories, pp. 1581ff ISBN 3-423-13369-4

Web links