Rock Crystal

Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal is a Christmas story and a story about the heart of the ice, the crystal.The charm of this quasi-fairy tale is made even more poignant by the knowledge of the author's eventual suicide. This seemingly simple fable of two children lost in an icy landscape is eloquent in its innocence, but is implicit with an unremitting consciousness of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. This is a wintry story of village life in the high mountains, but also a parable of belief and faith. The Rock Crystal of the title are shards of ice of the glacier that dominates the landscape that Adalbert Stifter describes.Translated from the German by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal is published by Pushkin Press.
A beautiful, enigmatic story by one of the greatest German-language novelists
This seemingly simple fable of two children lost in a frozen landscape is eloquent in its innocence. A Christmas story set in a terrifying and beautiful world of snow and ice, Rock Crystal is a classic of German literature, loved by children and adults alike.Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.