Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (; 14 September 18174 July 1888), commonly known as Theodor Storm, was a German writer. He is considered to be one of the most important figures of
German realism.
Life
Storm was born in the small town of
Husum
Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...
, on the west coast of
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
, then a formally independent duchy ruled by the king of Denmark.
His parents were the lawyer ''Johann Casimir Storm'' (1790–1874) and ''Lucie Storm'', née Woldsen (1797–1879).
Storm attended school in Husum and
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
and studied law in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
While still a law student in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
he published a first volume of verse together with the brothers Tycho and
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
(1843).
Storm was involved in the
1848 revolutions and sympathized with the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
goals of a united Germany under a constitutional monarchy in which every class could participate in the political process. From 1843 until his admission was revoked by Danish authorities in 1852, he worked as a lawyer in his home town of Husum. In 1853 Storm moved to
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, moving on to
Heiligenstadt in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
in 1856. He returned to Husum in 1865 after Schleswig had come under
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n rule and became a district magistrate ("Landvogt"). In 1880 Storm moved to
Hademarschen, where he spent the last years of his life writing, and died of cancer at the age of 70.
[Adolf Stern, Biographical Note in ''The Rider on the White Horse'', The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, 1917](_blank)
/ref>
Storm was married twice, first to Konstanze Esmarch, who died in 1864, and then to Dorothea Jensen.
Work
Storm was one of the most important authors of 19th-century German Literary realism
Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with ...
. He wrote a number of stories, poems and novellas. His two best-known works are the novellas ''Immensee'' (1849) and '' Der Schimmelreiter'' ("The Rider on the White Horse"), first published in April 1888 in the ''Deutsche Rundschau
''Deutsche Rundschau'' is a literary and political periodical established in 1874 by Julius Rodenberg. It strongly influenced German politics, literature and culture was considered one of the most successful launches of periodicals in Germany. Am ...
''. Other published works include a volume of his poems (1852), the novella '' Pole Poppenspäler'' (1874) and the novella ''Aquis submersus
''Aquis Submersus'' (Latin for ''Drowned in the Waters'') is a painting by the German dadaist and surrealist Max Ernst created in 1919. Influenced by the Italian metaphysical art it is one of Ernst's earliest works showing surrealistic accents. ...
'' (1877).
Analysis
Like Friedrich Hebbel
Christian Friedrich Hebbel (18 March 1813 – 13 December 1863) was a German poet and dramatist.
Biography
Hebbel was born at Wesselburen in Dithmarschen, Holstein, the son of a bricklayer. He was educated at the ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneu ...
, Theodor Storm was a child of the North Sea plain, but, whilst in Hebbel's verse there is hardly any direct reference to his native landscape, Storm again and again revisits the chaste beauty of its expansive mudflats, menacing sea and barren pastures — and whilst Hebbel could find a home away from his native heath Storm clung to it with what may be called a jealous love. In ''Der Schimmelreiter'', the last of his 50 novellas and widely considered Storm's culminating masterpiece, the setting of the rural North German coast is central to evoking its unnerving, superstitious atmosphere, and sets the stage for the battleground of man versus nature: the dykes and the sea.
His favourite poets were Joseph von Eichendorff
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 178826 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism.Cf. J. A. Cuddon: '' ...
and Eduard Mörike
Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...
, and the influence of the former is plainly discernible even in Storm's later verse. During a summer visit to Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
in 1864, where he had been invited by his friend, the author and painter Ludwig Pietsch
Ludwig Pietsch (25 December 1824 – 27 November 1911) was a German painter, art critic and feature writer and a friend of Theodor Fontane. , he made the acquaintance of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
. They exchanged letters and sent each other copies of their works over a number of years.
Hungarian literary critic Georg Lukács
Georg may refer to:
* ''Georg'' (film), 1997
*Georg (musical), Estonian musical
* Georg (given name)
* Georg (surname)
* , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker
See also
* George (disambiguation)
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* G ...
, in '' Soul and Form'' (1911), appraised Storm as "the last representative of the great German bourgeois literary tradition," poised between Jeremias Gotthelf
Albert Bitzius (4 October 179722 October 1854) was a Swiss novelist; best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf.
Biography
Bitzius was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. The Bitzius family had once belonged to the Bernese patrici ...
and Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
.
Samples
A poem about his hometown Husum, ''the grey town by the grey sea'' (german: Die graue Stadt am grauen Meer).
Analysis and original text of the poem from ''A Book of German Lyrics'', ed. Friedrich Bruns, which is available in Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
.UNC.edu
/ref>
Translated works
* Theodor Storm: ''The Rider on the White Horse and selected stories''. Translated by James Wright. New York 2009.
* Theodor Storm: ''Carsten the Trustee & Other Fiction''. Translated by Denis Jackson. Angel Books 2009.
* Theodor Storm: ''Paul the Puppeteer and Other Short Fiction''. Translated by Denis Jackson. Angel Books 2004.
* Theodor Storm: ''Hans and Heinz Kirch with Immensee & Journey to a Hallig
The ''Halligen'' (German, singular ''Hallig'', ) or the ''halliger'' (Danish, singular ''hallig'') are small islands without protective levee, dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen isl ...
''. Translated by Denis Jackson & Anja Nauck. Angel Books 1999.
* Theodor Storm: ''The Dykemaster''. Translated by Denis Jackson. Angel Books 1996.
* Theodor Storm: "Grieshuus: The Chronicle of a Family". Translated by Denis Jackson. Angel Books 2017.
References
Sources
* David Dysart: ''The Role of Paintings in the Work of Theodor Storm''. New York / Frankfurt 1993.
* Norma Curtis Wood: ''Elements of Realism in the Prose Writings of Theodor Storm''. Cambridge 2009.
External links
*
*
*
Theodor Storm and his world
Biography and many works by Storm
(Audiobook in German)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storm, Theodor
1817 births
1888 deaths
People from Husum
People from the Duchy of Schleswig
19th-century German novelists
Writers from Schleswig-Holstein
German male novelists
19th-century German male writers