German literature, the greatest works: a critical view of the language in Adalbert Stifter's Bergkristall

The "Bergkristall" by Adalbert Stifter is one of the works of German literature, which causes a tormented exclamation to be drawn almost unanimously: "Laangweiliig!".

This is actually the case to enjoy the mountain crystal, you have to be stranded on a lonely island, with the mountain crystal as the only book, probably for the rest of life.

The story is actually a bar from which a producer, like Dick Wolf, would make a 46-part, street-eating TV series (see the article "German literature, the greatest works: the mountain crystal by Adalbert Stifter" )-why doesn't this text work at all?

Quite simply, the language is, nothing works with such a language, and the following is a little more precise why:

Among the 735 words of the first paragraph are 87 adjectives, which give us a good impression of what awaits us in this story - we only need to tell this adjective their "own history":

"Different things are lovely and then seriously. It seems to be completely approaching, it happens eight times. Sad and twice melancholy and cloudy, and endlessly lit, domestic and pretended until it is finally five -time, twice beautiful and most beautiful and very cheerful, shiny, wonderfully developed. A lot, as follows and again, until it becomes touching very late. Thing, twice and shimmering is getting better, and it is slowly again.

The last adjective is also accommodated in this slightly surreal summary of the first paragraph, and if you cannot see this sentence nonsense, no real meaning and, above all, no real mood, you are completely right - and at the same time you have learned one of the core sentences of style science for the linguistic expression: "Adjective should only be used where they are absolutely necessary."

Verbs, the words with which the people in history act, cry and suffer, cheer and victory are very occasionally occurring in Stifter's story - his people do not act, they are not alive, but their actions are only described, so unexpectedly has a written expression, and so his readers remain from his narrative.

Verbs are indispensable, they are the words that bring movement into the matter that ensure that something really happens in a story, they should make up most of a text. We instinctively look for verbs in a story, we would like to be told with these verbs a story that tells us something about certain individuals.

In this regard, too, we have a lot of bad luck with Stifter, at least in the first paragraph:

Most of the time, Stifter's story is not about acting individuals when he uses a verb.

But the church celebrates the festivities urgent to heart, about which “Man” can think of something. Sad and melancholy accompanying, the sun stands (against the realms) and the snow (all the corridors) covers, the church is celebrating again, the Christmas evening and the Christmas Eve. The church is now celebrating again and commits and sanctifies them the birth of the Lord, the bells load.

Now people perceive as an individual, if only as a mass of individuals - the residents, they rush.

That was already with the active action of people that the reader can identify, now "Man" shows the children, fly the memories of "one", which brings Christkindlein, "Man" lights lights, they hover on branches, the children can only come to the sign that is "given".

Then it is the door that opens, the little ones who are allowed to hang, and things hang on the tree and spread on the table that they do not dare to touch themselves because these things far exceed all the ideas of their imagination (obviously also exceed founders, he cannot imagine that people actively act - if you look at their life story, probably a basic problem of the person donors).

Then the children get active briefly - they finally got things and now carry them around in their arms all evening and take them to bed (but unfortunately they are not particularly exciting activities).

That was it again: the children hear bell tones at midnight, stand in the warm room early in the morning, but the gifts are lying around, father and mother adorn themselves to church, but they do not cook the ceremonial meal for lunch, but that "is always? Is it always?).

When friends and acquaintances come, sit around, talk to each other and look through the windows comfortably, the story will not be more exciting and more flexible, even if flakes fall down, a fog around the mountains or the sun falls down.

Winter passes, spring comes, the summer, then again, a person becomes active again, the mother who tells of the Holy Christian, and after founders we like to stand there - which is simply not true, we can no longer stand, we have fallen asleep for a long time.

If you object that later in history people with names, i.e. individuals, Konrad and Sanna and Tobias and Philipp and Sebastian and Michael, is right - but until then Stifter has lost every normally impatient reader for a long time, and something illuminating does not tell us about these people.

Speaking of 17,406 words that founders lined up for his story: At this line, there are sentences that are already looking for them, such as: B. the following:

"The Catholic Church commits the Christmas Day as the day of the birth of the Savior with its greatest church celebration, in most areas the midnight lesson is sanctified as the birth of the Lord with a pronging night party, to which the bells load through the silence, dark, wintry midnight air, to which the residents with lights or dark, well -known paths out of tires. Creaking orchards rush to the church from which the solemn tones come, and the village wrapped from the middle of the trees in beieieste trees with the long illuminated windows. ”

95 words, 555 characters without spaces, 25 nouns, which are put together with 23 connectors (as, with, in, in, in, to) and 22 articles (the, the, that, the) and then garnished with 18 adjectives. A total of 7 verbs are supposed to bring life into action, but with churches that commit, midnight hours that are sanctified, bells, the shops, tones, the come and windows, the only element that expresses movement - the hurried residents - no longer tear around.

It would also work differently, e.g. so:

The villages of Gschaid and Millsdorf are still in their snow-filled Alpine valley on both sides of the Gars mountain, the residents are very busy. Schuster Sebastian is just coming from the forest, where he marked the most beautiful fir, his wife Marie pulls the third sheet out of the oven with delicious cookies, and the children Konrad and Sanna want to cost immediately.

Christmas in Gschaid and Millsdorf, the bells ring and call the villages to the pre -Christmas mass, Sebastian and Marie and Konrad and Sanna rush across the ice -smooth paths in the church, and shepherd Phillip and Holzknecht Michael go to church every day.

Still boring, but at least not unemployed, and we have already met a few people.

As a summary of the article, we have to admit that Adalbert Stifters Bergkristall will hardly get his readers for sleep, but that on the contrary, it is not a shame when he occasionally nods away when reading.

But only those who have read this article can indignate with that, and if the conversation goes a little deeper, he should have read the whole story better, maybe he will do so voluntarily now out of curiosity.

By the way, if you enjoy the German language, you will also find a few nice formulations from the boring founder: the "strong mutuality of ignorance" , "fine -grubbed forests" , "the sun that is the most crooked" , and the "Zaubrische gifts" , which may then make him wear with humor that founders did a hell

You can find more thoughts on the German literature and the mountain crystal of Adalbert Stifter in the articles "German literature, the greatest works - why it is worth reading" , "German literature, the greatest works: after a look at the life of the author, they are more fun" and "German literature, the biggest works: the Bergkristall by Adalbert Stifter" .