Angel Classics Paul the Puppeteer

This third selection in Denis Jackson's pioneering series of translations, which began with The Dykemaster (Der Schimmelreiter), contains three contrasting works of Storm's middle period, the 1870s, when, in the words of Paul Heyse, he moved from 'watercolours' to 'oils'. Paul the Puppeteer is a magical tale which speaks to all ages. Storm's affectionate portrayal of the vanishing world of the marionette theatre also contains sharp social comment. The jeer in the Low German title, Pole Poppenspaeler, is that of solid, guild-dominated society at the travelling puppeteers and their gypsy-like way of life. The Village on the Moor arises directly out of Storm's professional career: it is an account, told through an investigating lawyer's eyes, of the case of a mysterious death out on the moor, the chief suspect being a girl of sinister aura with whom the young deceased was in love. Both these works are translated into English for the first time. Renate records the memories of an eighteenth-century Lutheran pastor and his love for a farmer's daughter who is persecuted by the local community for alleged witchcraft; the clash between religious bigotry and spontaneous emotion drives one of the most moving stories in all Storm's fiction. The translator's lively introduction and end notes, and six pages of maps, will add to the reader's enjoyment of these stories.