Brigitta: with Abdias, Limestone, The Forest Path

by Adalbert Stifter

The heroine of "Brigitta" makes a corner of the Hungarian plains bloom. "Limestone" tells of a priest whose erotic encounter determines his behaviour. "Abdias" is the epic story of a Jew raised in the African desert. The hero of "The Forest Path" is a comic counterpart to Brigitta.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literature, German Literature, 19th Century, Hungary

Paperback

First published January 1, 1844

About the author

Adalbert Stifter was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was especially notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing, and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while almost entirely unknown to English readers.

Reviews

[sasha ౨ৎ]

un plot twist muy simple el de “brigitta” pero aún así no me lo esperaba.

[Mary Anne Meyering]

The edition I read was Rodale Press, 1957, beautifully illustrated by Peter Emmerich. Adalbert Stifter is a 19th century Austrian author who writes beautiful prose in a rather minimalist style. In the novella Brigitta he describes the natural world in a style rarely seen. I suppose I'm attracted to authors who have a tragic end (Joseph Roth, for one, who died an alcoholic in a pauper's hospital)--Stifter slit his own throat with a razor after suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.

[Cooper Renner]

Not nearly as interesting to me as Theodor Storm's work. Abdias and Limestone were most congenial, the first with its greater sense of narration, the second with its amenable narrator and his subject. None of the four long stories is well served by the jacket copy, which for each seems to focus on a minor aspect of the story or to miscast its tone.

[Rick]

Never cared much for German romaniticism. Still don't.

[Brendon Hamacher]

I only read Brigitta, once I finish the others a longer review will appear. Oh and Stifter is an amazing writer.

[Michael]

I liked The Forest Path.