Der Nachsommer - Themes

Themes

According to the English translator of Der Nachsommer, Wendell Frye, the novel "presents an ideal world, in contrast to what Adalbert Stifter saw to be a degenerating period." He goes on to explain that in this novel "the reader finds one of the most complete statements of the 'Humanitätsideal' : the young geologist becomes totally immersed in traditional values and culture, thereby becoming a more complete and fulfilled human being."

James Sheehan writes, "Heinrich's Bildung is a gradual, indirect process; he does not learn by confronting crises or dramatic events (of which Stifter's plot is totally devoid), nor does he gain much implicit instruction from Risach. Instead, the hero is slowly absorbed into Rosenhaus and the social and moral order it represents. Eventually, he sees that, just as Rosenhaus's beauty comes from its integration into its natural setting, so Risach's moral strength comes from his harmonious relationship to the external world. In art and in life, one must seek to avoid the dislocations that can be caused by unbridled passions and excessive spontaneity."

As Christine Oertel Sjögren notes, in her discussion of the importance of light to the novel, Der Nachsommer is not one-dimensional. In fact, "while Heinrich's attainment of full and perfect manhood is the goal of the action, death, the extreme form of solitude, is also woven into the world of Der Nachsommer, for awareness of death is essential to maturity. The malignant forces in nature and the insignificance of man in the face of the universe are problems not ignored in the novel. The threat of annihilation has here, however, no final dominion over the man with a capacity for love."

Milan Kundera discusses Der Nachsommer in his non-fiction book The Curtain. He describes it thus: "I wonder who first discovered the existential significance of bureaucracy. Probably Adalbert Stifter." and goes on to describe the section of the novel where Risach explains his office of a civil servant that he had to leave. "His break with bureaucracy is one of the memorable breaks of mankind from the modern world. A break both radical and peaceable, as befits the idyllic atmosphere of that strange novel from the Biedermeier period."