Seemingly the simplest of stories--a passing anecdote of village life--
Rock Crystal opens up into a tale of almost unendurable suspense. This
jewel-like novella by the writer that Thomas Mann praised as "one of the
most extraordinary, the most enigmatic, the most secretly daring and the
most strangely gripping narrators in world literature" is among the most
unusual, moving, and memorable of Christmas stories. Two
children--Conrad and his little sister, Sanna--set out from their
village high up in the Alps to visit their grandparents in the
neighboring valley. It is the day before Christmas but the weather is
mild, though of course night falls early in December and the children
are warned not to linger. The grandparents welcome the children with
presents and pack them off with kisses. Then snow begins to fall, ever
more thickly and steadily. Undaunted, the children press on, only to
take a wrong turn. The snow rises higher and higher, time passes: it is
deep night when the sky clears and Conrad and Sanna discover themselves
out on a glacier, terrifying and beautiful, the heart of the void.
Adalbert Stifter's rapt and enigmatic tale, beautifully translated by
Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, explores what can be found between
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day--or on any night of the year.
