Adalbert Stifter

Catriona Macleod (University of Chicago)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 23 Oct 1805
Died 28 Jan 1868
Activity 1840-1868

Places

Born in Czech Republic
Active in Austria

Activities

Primary

Educationalist
Novelist
Painter
Story-writer

Resources

Stifter's Works

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A major figure in German Poetic Realism, Adalbert Stifter is known for his numerous novellas, among them the collection

Bunte Steine

[

Colored Stones

], and for the novels

Der Nachsommer

[

Indian Summer

] and

Witiko

. His adult life, always torn between art and financial necessity, was divided into two periods: two decades spent in Vienna, and two in the provincial town of Linz, where he settled into a career as a schools administrator.

Stifter was born on 23 October 1805 in the tiny market town of Oberplan, Austria (today the Czech town of Horni-Planá), the eldest child of linen weavers and merchants Johann and Magdalena Stifter. (Stifter in later life gave his birth year as 1806, because his parents were married only two months before his birth.) Along with four other siblings, his maternal

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2017 words

Citation: Macleod, Catriona. "Adalbert Stifter". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5413, accessed 23 November 2024.]