The Jews' Beech Tree: A Moral Portrait from Mountainous Westphalia

by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff

Book Overview

The book provides a line-by-line translation of Die Judenbuche (1842) by Annette von Droste-H lshoff, arguably one of Germany's greatest female poets. Often thought of as a mystery novella, The Jews' Beech Tree is as much an enigma to read today as it was in 1842.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761861912
• ISBN13: 9780761861911
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: University Press of America
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

things we do not know ,do not matter - in literature

you can read the book only once, you can read it more than that. it doesn't matter, you will have the same feeling. we cannot understand past events. 3 men die while the story develops, but we can never be sure about the reason of the murder (we're not even sure if we can categorize all these deaths as murders). a story that is set in a village of treefellers in the germany of the 18-th century. we witness the developing of the main character, from his childhood to his death, but there still are important facts we don't understand in his life. cleverly written, still using the romantic alter ego motive, this biedermeier story is perhaps one of the best pieces in german 19th century literature. in my opinion the technique of researching past crimes used by A. DROSTE-HULSHOFF resembles much to those used by G.G. MARQUEZ in "the chronic of an announced death" and M.V. LLOSA in "who killed palonimo moliero".