The rider on the white horse

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 show more of scope for irony. Thomas Hardy eat your heart out... show less

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 show more preserving the land; almost a Christ-like figure) or in league with the devil? ; (proud; at odds with his fellow men)... show less

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 show more 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. show less

The Rider on the White Horse (1888) is Theodor Storm's best known work. Michael Dirda says it is arguably the best 19th century German novella. Michael Mann gave it high praise. It concerns the coastal region of North Friesland, Germany where dykes against the sea have been built since the earliest times and storms occasionally break through to flood entire towns. The descriptions of the geography and people are memorable, the next best thing to going in person, in fact a recent National Geographic travel guide recommends the book before going. I won't try to summarize the story but it's often described as being "uncanny" because it's both realistic and ghostly, and you are never sure which side prevails. It's the "uncanny valley" in show more terms of rationalism vs mysticism. This essay by "praymont" goes into more detail. I found the ambiguity unsettling, but symbolic of the way a dyke is man-made while the ocean, the sub-conscious, threatens to undermine it. Psychologically we build dykes in our minds that define who we are, but when faced with an existential crisis all can be wiped away if we are not attune to the forces that work beneath the surface.

Today we know that global warming is causing measurable sea level rise. The lowlands of northern Europe are among the world's most sensitive places, due to being developed, highly populated and below sea level. When the novel was written, in 1888, global warming and sea level rise was an unknown science. Yet the story is uncannily prescient on this subject showing how human progress can actually cause, or magnify, natural disaster. It would be interesting to examine - through the lens of this novel - the argument of science vs mysticism (faith vs reason) that often characterizes the "debate" over global warming. The novel is innocent of any present day politics and thus offers a universal message for understanding a looming natural disaster caused, in part, by man himself.

I read it from the 1917 translation in the Harvard Classics series which is not too bad though there are at least two modern translations available (1964 and 1997). show less

This was a novella that blends folklore and mystery. The setting is a Frisian (had to look it up!) village and centers upon the return of a ghostly rider on a white horse that brings suspicion, change, and tragedy. I think perhaps some of the symbolism went over my head as this is supposed to be a great work and I found it to be meh. 288 pages

Theodor Storm (1817-1888) began his career as a lyric poet. He eventually turned to prose and the novella became his preferred medium. His poetic gift lent itself well to the form, enabling him to evoke mood, landscape and character with simple yet lyric majesty. He is the prime artisan of poetic realism.

Many of his novella are set in the past yet the tales are often enclosed within the framework of his own contemporary times. This simple yet effective technique enables Storm to explore the often conflicting viewpoints of the narrator with the main characters of his tale, to examine shifting historical perspectives and, ultimately the transcience of life.

Der Schimmelreiter (The Dykemaster) is recognised as his masterpiece and is show more definitely one of the cornerstones of 19th Century German Literature. I have just indulged myself reading the wonderful translation by Denis Jackson, published by Angel Clasics. It's a translation which does justice to Storm's prose - it reads as though it were an original English text.

Quoting from the blurb on the cover:

"The Dykemaster is a tale of a visionary young north Friesian Deichgraf of the 18th centruy, creator of a new form of dyke. The short-sighted and self-seeking community with which he is at odds turns him into a phantom, seen riding his grey along the dyke whenever the sea threatens to break through. The rationalistic storyteller, in a highly sophisticated narrative structure, belongs to a later age, and what he relates is a veiled critique of the dyke officials of his own day.

The eerie west Schleswig-Holstein coast, with its vast, hallucinatory tidal flats, hushed polders and terrifying North Sea, is the setting for a tale which grips from first page to last with its dynamic tensions and shifts of focus, mood and pace. Storm's dense narrative further invites the reader to ask whether progress is possible, how the historical record is established , what parts are played by the rational and the irrational in human existence."

All that in just 117 pages! Simply magnificent. show less

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.