The Rider on the White Horse
Storm, Theodor
New York Review Books, 2008 edition of 1964 translation by James Wright of works spanning 1848 – 1888
This book, though titled as one of the works, is a collection of 8 stories by Storm. All are very reflective of his upper class Friesland background and of the period he wrote. They are, in general, deep , intergenerational stories without happy endings. Without doing justice to the stories, here are brief overviews:
In the Great Hall – At the christening of a child, a family gathers and the grandmother reminisces.
Immensee – A young man leaves his sweetheart behind when he goes to study, but loses her to one of his friends who stayed home.
A Green Leaf – A soldier reminisces about a peasant girl he met while traveling to the war.
In the Sunlight – The daughter of a well-to-do merchant falls in love with an officer, against the wishes of her anti-military father.
Veronika – The young wife of an older man spends lots of time in the company of his younger cousin, who falls in love with her.
In St. Jurgen – A young man happens to meet the old man who was in love as a young man with an old woman who the young man had spent much time with as he grew up.
Aquis Submersus – A painting of a dead child with a mysterious signature hanging in a church becomes impressed on the mind of a boy; as a young man he stumbles across another painting of the same boy while alive, and uncovers the story behind it.
The Rider on the White Horse – A traveler sees a spectral white horse and rider pass by him in a storm, and when he mentions this at the inn he stops at later it is seen as an important and well-known omen, and he is told the story behind it.
rurikia 