A novel:

The Rider of the White Horse
(The Dikegrave)

by Theodor Storm

(German title: Der Schimmelreiter)

"The Rider of the White Horse (1888) is a classic German novella, in which the individual wrestles with the mass, the man with the most elementary forces of nature. It is Theodor Storm's (1817-1888) last complete work.

The scene of the novella is characterized with vividness and grandeur in its setting of marsh and sea. Like the stories of Storm's youth, it glorifies love, the love of two beings who are faithful to each other unto death, and at the same time it touches themes which deeply occupied Storm, such as the problem of heredity or the relation between father and son. The charm of youth, to which Storm was always most susceptible, invests the chief characters, and they have that chaste reserve that holds all internal life sacred. Happiness is won, but it ends in tragedy. It is a man of sober intellect who tells the whole story - and yet, like human life itself, it stands out against a mystic background. Remembrance of long ago has clarified everything; loving comprehension fills everything with deepest sympathy.

It was granted to Storm to stand on a pinnacle of art at the end of his life, a pinnacle which he had to leave, but from which he did not need to descend." (Ewald Eiserhardt)

Authors and titles on this site: Bernhard Kellermann: "God's Beloved", E. T. A. Hoffmann: "The Sandman. The Elementary Spirit.", Franz Grillparzer: "The Poor Musician", Gottfried Keller: "A Village Romeo and Juliet", Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: "Minna von Barnhelm", Heinrich Heine: "The Rabbi of Bacharach", Heinrich von Kleist: "Michael Kohlhaas", Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: "Krambambuli" and "The District Doctor", Theodor Fontane: "Trials and Tribulations. A Berlin Novel", Theodor Storm: "The Rider of the White Horse" ("The Dikegrave").