The Bachelors

Description

With a mixture of hope and melancholy, young Victor leaves the home of his foster mother to begin his working life. His journey takes him to a remote island, where he visits his only relative - an uncle he has never met. The old man, a lifelong bachelor, lives in a barricaded mansion, enveloped by an atmosphere of decay. The two men are immediately at odds. With his uncle hardly speaking to him, Victor finds himself a virtual prisoner on this mysterious island. As the frost between the men slowly begins to thaw, Victor realises he must confront his own past to regain control of his life.

Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868) was an Austrian writer, painter and poet closely associated with the Biedermeier movement in European art. Following his studies at the University of Vienna, he worked as a tutor for aristocratic families before becoming a supervisor of elementary schools. He is particularly renowned for the vivid descriptions of natural landscapes in his writing, and has been celebrated by both German and English writers including Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann, W.G. Sebald, W.H. Auden and Herman Hesse.