Except for downloading and reading short works, such as novellas, as e-books, buying collections inevitably leads to overlap. I used to be very careful about that when buying music (LPs and CDs). Although the title suggests that this paperback Der Schimmelreiter. Erzählungen is a copy of Storm's most famous novella, the secondary title "Erzählungen" shows that it is a collection of stories or novellas. I did not read them all one after another in a short period of time, but rather used almost a year to read the novellas with long intervals in between. The collection also contained two shorter novellas, Viola tricolor and Psyche which were contained in Am grauen Meer, another collection of novellas by Theodor Storm, which I read in 2019.

This collection contains the following short stories and novellas: Immensee, "Posthuma", Viola tricolor, Psyche, Aquis submersus, Zur Chronik von Grieshuus and Der Schimmelreiter.

Aquis submersus is a dramatic novella by Theodor Storm is a variation of the theme of Romeo and Juliet. The story itself takes the form of a reconstruction, consisting of a young man reading a manuscript and wondering about the past of the life of painter whose painting is mysteriously signed C.P.A.S. Early on, the narrator correctly deducts that A.S. stands for "Aquis submersus", submerged by the flood. The novella is a brooding story thrown back in an older time. The painting is in the style of the Dutch masters. Many of Storm's novellas suggest links with the northern Netherlands, both in culture, landscape and history. The Nobel Prize winner Paul Heyse, a contemporary of Theodor Storm and famed for his novellas, wrote that Aquis submersus should be counted among one of his best.

Zur Chronik von Grieshuus is another dark, brooding novella by Theodor Storm, like much of his work set in north-western Germany. "Gries" means grey, and "huus" stands for house or mansion, so the title translates as "Chronicle of Grey House". In the opening pages of this novella, the narrator comes upon the ruins of the Grey House. As in several of Storm's novellas, the relics visible in the present are scant reminders of history long gone bye. The view of the ruin also sets the tone of doom as the inevitable outcome of the story.

Much of British Gothic literature is either set in Italy or has a distinct Italian feature, either in the setting, and important object or the presence of an Italian character. This is only partially true for German Gothic literature of the Nineteenth century, for example Joseph Eichendorff's Das Schloss Dürande is set in the south of France and has a character with an Italian name. But Gothic elements in German fiction are more likely to consist of eery crags and castles. The atmosphere of Theodor Storm's novellas set in rural northern Germany is much more reminiscent of the atmosphere of the Scottish moors, with dark skies, thundrous storms, and the lonesome moors.

Theodor Storm lived to quite a high age, although the age of about 70 was not rare in his time. What is quite unique about Storm's novellas is that many of them are set in the early Seventeenth century, that is 200 years before Storm's own time, or roughly three generations. This time divide ensures that the stories are completely free from witnesses or any living contemporary. Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho was likewise set back 200 years in time. Zur Chronik von Grieshuus is set during the second half of the Seventeenth Century, from around 1660 to 1700.

Apart from all the props of a Gothis story, including a ghost, the story unfolds a a classic tragedy, by the end of which everyone is dead. Characteristic of Storm's novellas is also the narrative structure of several parts, a kind of introduction, followed by a first book and one or more authentic chronicles or manuscripts which reveal the story.

At the core of the drama stands a woman, a marriage outside their own class, which ends prematurely with the birth of a son. Being twins, the two brothers are twained in this ill fortune, and in a fight one kills the other. Years later he returns to Grieshuus, and unrecognized dwell among the people. In the dramatic end the old man is recognized as the young man's father, but their deaths end their aristocratic line.

At about 100 pages, Zur Chronik von Grieshuus is a fairly long novella, but well worth reading, although less well-known than some of Storm's other work.

Finally, Theodor Storm's Der Schimmelreiter, in English translated as The rider on the white horse and as The dykemaster, is probably his best. Like some of Storm's other novellas, for instance Aquis submersus and Zur Chronik von Grieshuus have a somewhat complex narrative structure, and seem to have some lack of focus on the plot, but Der Schimmelreiter is crystal clear, and does not suffer from those impairments. Whereas in the other two novellas the plot consists of different manuscripts related within the framework of a narrator, Der Schimmelreiter is more straightforwardly narrated by one speaker （the schoolmaster) and with minor interruptions. Although the story includes some description of the main character's youth, the main events of the story have the main focus, and the story line leads to a climax. Like the other novellas, the sory is set more than a hundred years in the past.

Like many other works from the same period, the novella contains some Gothic elements. Published in 1888, Der Schimmelreiter belongs to the German literary epoch known as Realism (Realismus), but set in the 18th Century the main motive of the novella is the Enlightenment. The novella creates a stark contrast between the world of superstition and scientific progress.

Der Schimmelreiter is a very exciting tale, and a real page turner. It is also very dramatic. Although set in a distant past, it is more modern than Storm's other novellas, giving it a more enduring quality. Like many of Storm's other novellas, Der Schimmelreiter is set in northwest Germany, and much of the vocabulary, concepts of dike building and related vocabulary and the background to the superstition and the general atmosphere of the book will strongly appeal to Dutch readers. Highly recommended.

This volume of German classics is published in the series "Die Deutschen Klassiker" published by SWAN Buch Vertrieb. I have never seen any of these books in German bookstores in Germany. The series bring German classics in cheap paperbacks. ( )