Brilliant 19th century realist master; this is often cited as his best book. Absolutely fascinating, brilliant portrait of an isolated community along the north German coast. ( )

I was completely determined not (!) to reread Der Schimmelreiter which is included in the selection of novellas by Theodor Storm, but in the end, I did. I first read Der Schimmelreiter in 1999. They same happened last year, while reading the Norton edition of selected tales by Henry James (not yet finished reading). Despite my determination not to reread, I reread Daisy Miller and The Aspern Papers, anyway. Obviously all without the least regret. They are all masterpieces.

Theodor Storm's Der Schimmelreiter, in English translated apparently as The rider on the white horse and as The dykemaster, is probably his best. Some of Storm's other novellas, for instance Aquis submersus and Zur Chronik von Grieshuus have a somewhat complex narrative structure, and seem to have some lack of focus on the plot, but Der Schimmelreiter is crystal clear, and does not suffer from those impairments. Whereas in the other two novellas the plot consists of different manuscripts related within the framework of a narrator, Der Schimmelreiter is more straightforwardly narrated by one speaker （the schoolmaster) and with minor interruptions. Although the story includes some description of the main character's youth, the main events of the story have the main focus, and the story line leads to a climax. Like the other novellas, the sory is set more than a hundred years in the past.

Like many other works from the same period, the novella contains some Gothic elements. Published in 1888, Der Schimmelreiter belongs to the German literary epoch known as Realism (Realismus), but set in the 18th Century the main motive of the novella is the Enlightenment. The novella creates a stark contrast between the world of superstition and scientific progress.

Der Schimmelreiter is a very exciting tale, and a real page turner. It is also very dramatic. Although set in a distant past, it is more modern than Storm's other novellas, giving it a more enduring quality. Like many of Storm's other novellas, Der Schimmelreiter is set in northwest Germany, and much of the vocabulary, concepts of dike building and related vocabulary and the background to the superstition and the general atmosphere of the book will strongly appeal to Dutch readers.

Highly recommended. ( )

First encountered Theodor Storm in my teens, in his beautiful poem "Schliesse mir die Augen beide" (I want that on my gravestone!)
These short stories all have a real Storm feel to them...all set in his native Schleswig Holstein, a sense of almost a fairy tale setting...which can be lovely (beautiful young women, flower filled gardens) but simultaneously VERY eerie...but in a kind of uncertain way. There is, too, a brooding melancholy...regrets, sad recollections.
The title story wasn't my favourite, though it is considered one of the author's finest. It's a vey hard to analyse tale....a clever, dogged, determined local rises from obscurity to become overseer of dike building on the wild N Frisian coast. But is he a good guy (devoted to preserving the land; almost a Christ-like figure) or in league with the devil? ; (proud; at odds with his fellow men)... ( )

Gelesen im April 2020 ( )

This is another of those books that tends to get dismissed as a “school text” - I'm sure that's why it took me so long to get around to reading it. And it's a shame, because it's a great story, and you can read it quite comfortably in a couple of evenings. Preferably stormy winter evenings, of course.

The Frisian atmosphere, with plenty of dikes and storms and seagulls, is exactly what you'd expect, but it's a bit of a surprise to discover that it's a reflection on the conflict between conservative superstition and enlightened scientific progress cast in - of all things - the hackneyed format of a Romantic ghost story, complete with a stormbound traveller, a lonely country inn, and an indigenous storyteller. A nice touch, with plenty of scope for irony. Thomas Hardy eat your heart out... ( )