Der verwunschene Fels

The newly discovered stories of one of the great stylists of American literature. With seemingly simple words and the clear rhythm of her sentences, Willa Cather illuminates the inner lives of her characters and brings their surroundings to life: whether it’s six school friends dreaming of impending adventures on a sandbank in the river on a summer night, Nelly Deane reaching for the stars with unrestrained zest for life, the apprentice Paul sniffing the wide world in a New York hotel with ill-gotten money, or the elderly Mrs. Harris trying to fulfill a grand future wish for her granddaughter – Cather subtly raises the big questions of our existence. And she compellingly shows us how society and landscape shape who we are, until we break free from those constraints. Mostly translated for the first time by Agnes Krup, who in her afterword illustrates how the author’s life and work are interconnected.